TJ Ford takes aim at Shaka Smart, direction of Texas program after blowout loss
Monday night’s blowout loss at Wast Virginia has many fans and also a prominent former player concerned about the state of Texas Basketball.
The Texas Longhorns got destroyed 97-59 at West Virginia and looked like they did not belong on the same floor as the Mountaineers. West Virginia went on a 20-0 run during the first half where Texas didn’t score for a stretch of seven minutes. The Mountaineers led 45-20 at halftime and were up by as many as 43 at various points in the second half.
The defeat was so ugly that legendary former Texas point guard T.J. Ford said the direction of the program was “disappointing and disheartening.”
It’s very disappointing and disheartening to watch the direction Texas Longhorn has now taken. I’ve never witnessed a blowout of this magnitude in BIG12 play like tonight.
— TJ Ford (@tj_ford) January 21, 2020
That’s clearly a criticism of Shaka Smart, under whom the program is 12-6 and 2-4 in conference this season.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said the loss wasn’t on Smart.
WVU coach Bob Huggins: "It’s not Shaka. Shaka’s a good coach. It’s not that. We made shots, and we’re coming off being embarrassed."
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) January 21, 2020
Smart is in his fifth season at Texas and was an extremely high-profile hire by the Longhorns. They fired Rick Barnes to bring in Smart, who had taken Virginia Commonwealth to the Final Four. But the hire has not worked so far, as Texas seems to have gone downhill since Smart’s first season, when they went 20-13 and 11-7 in conference. They are on their way to making it four straight losing seasons in Big 12 play.
Smart has three years and $10.5 million remaining on his contract with Texas.
Reminder: Shaka Smart’s contract is fully guaranteed. He has 3 years and $10.5 million remaining after this season.
— HornSports (@HornSports) January 21, 2020
