First, Texas lost its coach.
Then, it lost its identity.
Or at the very least misplaced it for one night.
The sixth-ranked Longhorns men’s basketball team may never regain the first, given the firing of head coach Chris Beard seems all but a fait accompli. But a team that has already whipped up on top-10 teams Gonzaga and Creighton this season will have to rediscover its trademark claustrophobic defense if it plans on living up to its billing as one of the best teams in college basketball and making something out of this star-crossed season.
The responsibility falls chiefly on interim head coach Rodney Terry, who up until Tuesday night was doing a stellar job in filling in for Beard, who will likely be permanently dismissed at some point this month after a family domestic violence episode with his longtime fiancée.
“I’m super proud of Rodney and our entire coaching staff and players,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said before the game. “They just bonded together and have done an incredible job. It tells you the team itself is just galvanized, and that’s a testament to the entire team.”
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Terry should be commended for filling in admirably. As associate head coach under Beard, he’s had his hand in nearly every facet of the program after spending 10 seasons as a head coach at UTEP and Fresno State.
But if he was trying to impress a school administration that’s likely to be looking for Beard’s successor in the next two months, this wasn’t the best way to go about it on Tuesday.
Terry had kept the ship afloat and the players on point through a five-game win streak in his new role, but the level of play ratchets up quickly in a league that’s projected to send nine of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament, according to bracketologists.
The Horns (12-2) are regarded as high as a NCAA Tournament No. 3 seed, higher than any Big 12 team except defending national champion Kansas, which is listed as the overall top seed.
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But all that momentum unraveled with a dismal defensive performance in a 116-103 beatdown from a surprisingly good Kansas State team that was picked to finish last in the best conference in the nation. Terry, to his credit, owned the defeat, only the second this season after an overtime loss to then-No. 17 Illinois.
“K-State played extremely well, and we weren’t able to get the stops we needed to get,” Terry said. “We’ve…
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