Longhorns' Tyrese Hunter Shut Down in Return to Iowa State
After a deep triple from guard Tyrese Hunter silenced the rowdy crowd at James H. Hilton Coliseum in the first half Tuesday night, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns looked like they were headed toward a productive game in Ames after jumping out to 20-11 lead over the No. 12 Iowa State Cyclones.
Hunter, who was making his first return to Ames since transferring to Texas in the offseason, had six quick points in the opening minutes despite being showered with constant boos and expletives. His inevitable breakout after a recent scoring slump seemed like it was finally here against his former team.
But against a Cyclones defense that entered the game allowing by far the fewest points per game in the Big 12 this season (57.9), sustaining the early offensive success was far from plausible, as Hunter and the Longhorns stumbled their way to a 78-67 loss in his highly-anticipated return.
"I told him I appreciated what he did for our program last year," Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "I told him I respect him. I told him to stay healthy and keep doing his thing."
Hunter won Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season with the Cyclones and was a primary catalyst in their run to the Sweet 16. But similar magic, though there at first, hardly lasted on Tuesday.
Hunter's deep 3 came near the 12-minute mark of the first half to put Texas up nine, and ultimately proved to be his final field goal of the game. He scored just one more point the rest of the way and went scoreless in the second half before finishing with 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting while adding two rebounds and two assists.
The blame hardly falls on Hunter in what was likely an emotional night for the stoic-faced guard.
The entire Texas offense fell into a downward spiral after leading 22-13 midway through the first half. After not committing a turnover during the first handful of minutes, the Longhorns succumbed to the terrors of Iowa State's full-court pressure and never recovered.
Hunter's final points came as he hit 1 of 2 free throws at the 4:34 mark to extend Texas' lead to 30-28, but the momentum change and damage had already seemed like it had settled itself in for the Cyclones.
Iowa State overcame a double-digit deficit and led 36-35 headed into halftime. Despite a few early answers from Texas to begin the second half, the lack of offense from Hunter and some brutal scoring droughts from the Longhorns put a bow on a impressive Cyclones win long before the final buzzer.
Texas had zero field goals for over a nine-minute stretch in the second half. Marcus Carr nailed what proved to be a meaningless 3 at the 2:24 mark, which was the Longhorns' first field goal since Carr had given them a 51-49 lead with 11:44 left.
Hunter's struggles in the second half was simultaneous with Texas' disappearing act as an offense. If there's any positives to take away, it's that the initial emotions at the start of the game didn't faze him from coming out strong.
But if the Longhorns want to prove themselves as true contenders, they'll need Hunter for all 40 minutes in every game the rest of the season.
Texas (15-3, 4-2) will visit the West Virginia Mountaineers (10-7, 0-5) in Morgantown on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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