Notes from Moody: Observations on Texas men’s basketball after a media practice window

Texas opened the doors for the first half of a preseason Longhorn men’s basketball practice on Wednesday as Rodney Terry prepares his team ahead of his first season as permanent head coach. Here are as many notes as Inside Texas could gather.

-Off the top, Kadin Shedrick was limited and wearing a red jersey to indicate limited contact. Dylan Disu was not participating in basketball activities, as IT has previously reported. He did not have a noticeable brace on anywhere. Disu was working on the side with strength and conditioning coach Cory Schlesinger and other members of the training staff.

-Practice had a similar look to a Steve Sarkisian football practice, at least in its opening portion. There were a few basketball drills that took place to warm the players up after a brief film study, including one specifically on how to evade traps on screens. Then, the Horns went into their stretching period that focused on limbering up but also utilizing a basketball to work some dribble skills at the same time.

-The teams were split between Orange and Gray.

Orange: Kadin Shedrick Max Abmas, Ithiel Horton, Chris Johnson, Dillon Mitchell, Dylan Disu, Ze’rik Onyema, Jackson Prince (walk-on)

Gray: Tyrese Hunter, Brock Cunningham, Devon Pryor, Preston Clark, Gavin Perryman, Cole Bott. I believe Alex Anamekwe was with this group as well.

-Some of the drills that were run included one that emphasized “one more” pass, often to a spot-up shooter in the corner, though the “one more” pass sometimes was to a player on the wing. Abmas and Horton shot the ball well, with Weaver and Hunter behind them.

-Then, there was a charge-taking drill. Self-explanatory.

-In some of the drills where offense and defense could be emphasized at the same time, Mitchell worked to showcase more offensive acumen with the ball in his hand including post moves and some dribbling. He did not, however, start to spot-up shots from around the key or even outside of it in the viewing window.

-Mitchell, along with Hunter and Cunningham, were three of the most vocal players in practice. They were also the top players on the floor during the brief window.

-Weaver has a significant amount of bounce and can get above the rim. He’ll have some highlight plays this year via the dunk.

-Pryor has excellent measurables and athleticism but he is a work in progress.

-Next up was fast break work that featured five players going end-to-end working on outlet passes and running down the right part of the court. While Texas was efficient in making its fast-break looks, the coaches also worked with players to get their rebound angles and efforts up to standard. Some of the fast-break lineup combos were…

Cunningham, Weaver, Hunter, Anamekwe, ShedrickAbmas, Horton, Johnson, Onyema, Mitchell

-The fivesomes had to run up and down the court until they made 10 fast break opportunities. The makes were a mix of dunks, layups, and oops.

-There were then some pseudo one-on-one drills that trained defenders how to follow their man and still stay within the structure of the no-middle defense. There would be a strong closeout on the offensive player, then once the offensive player drifted to the weakside, the defender would find the right spot to occupy in the structure of the no-middle before picking up the offensive player as he became an active participant in the play again. All the assistant coaches helped out, but there were two occasions where Steve McClain himself paused things in order to make a coaching point.

-More defense was emphasized in a four-out, one-in drill that tasked the big with making entry passes as difficult a task as possible. Guards were asked to close out and cut down passing lanes in various ways Terry plans to utilize this year, but the rotations by the bigs were the biggest emphasis of the drill.

-The defensive chemistry appeared to be an aspect that the coaches emphasized more than anything, at least in this early practice. The veterans like Mitchell and Cunningham knew where to go and what calls to bark. Some of the transfers and newcomers, as is to be expected during the early stages of preseason practice, were acclimating themselves to the defensive system and some of the specific responsibilities (hand and foot placement guarding entry passes, for example) that Terry demands.

-Terry is active coaching both sides of the ball. After watching a practice, it’s pretty clear why his voice is constantly raspy. He’s talking and coaching all the time, and his support staff is consistently providing information to the players.

-Free throws were interspersed in between drills, and throughout the 45 minutes period there were not very many misses. Any extended streak of misses, of which there was one or maybe two, resulted in everybody… everybody… doing 10 pushups.

-Texas will be back on the floor in front of fans on October 17 for the Orange-White Scrimmage at Gregory Gym.

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