High-low action gives the Texas offense a new dimension
With wing Cam Heide playing the four position, Texas rarely used the action that Miller wants to be a key part of his offense — when the taller Nic Codie was in the game, the Horns ran it more often, but Codie played sparingly until late in the season and wasn’t as trustworthy as the steady Punch.
Key points
- “I think that they both are grateful that the other one is their teammate.” Through the first three games of the season, the impact of Punch’s addition as it affects Vokieaitis is most apparent offensively in high-low offensive sets where the TCU transfer serves as an effective entry passer into the big Lithuanian.
- Texas Longhorns junior center Matas Vokietaitis “relishes having a partner that can take some of the punishment off of him and help him in that vital area — in-the-paint rebounding,” head coach Sean Miller said Monday.
- Because Texas was able to regularly get out in transition in Monday’s win over Grambling State, Vokietaitis was making runs to the rim to establish early post position, putting pressure on 7’2 Tigers forward Isaiah Miranda and getting him into foul trouble early.
The Longhorns can also use high-low action with Punch and freshman forward Marcus Spears Jr., but Vokietaitis will be the primary beneficiary, allowing him more opportunities to get opponents in foul trouble and convert easy looks at the rim.
Additional details
- Because defenses have to apply ball pressure to Punch to make those entry passes more difficult, it reduces the need for shot credibility from the perimeter to create that spacing Texas needs to allow Vokietaitis room to operate.
- Of the 29 shot attempts by Vokietaitis, 11 are dunk attempts and 27 are classified as close twos, the most high-percentage looks in basketball.
- I just call credit to him.” Although the early stats for Vokieaitis are aided by the poor level of competition, there’s no denying his level of execution after three games — he’s averaging 21.3 points per game on 79.3-percent shooting.
- In contrast, entry passes from the wing, where the Longhorns tried to get the ball inside last year, allow more effective weak-side double teams that are more difficult for the big man to pass out of, requiring a cross-court pass.
- “The problem is he keeps hitting you and he’s like those old-school heavyweights that I grew up with that just keep hitting you and hitting you and hitting you.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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