The No. 13 Longhorns (13-5, 7-4) learned from their close encounter with disaster at Kansas State. When they had an opportunity to bury TCU (11-8, 4-6), they did with their best, most complete performance since their home win against Kansas State and perhaps even earlier than that. Here are 10 postgame thoughts after UT’s 70-55 win:

1) “Yes. I’ll give you a simple answer. Yes,” replied Matt Coleman matter-of-factly when asked if this was the best Texas has played since it began to deal with COVID-19 issues the first week of January.

It’s hard to debate that. Texas, for the first time in a long while, played pretty close to a complete game. After a slow start on both ends of the floor, Texas adjusted to take total control of the game heading into halftime. When TCU came out of the locker room more aggressive, Texas made the plays necessary on both ends of the floor to create a huge cushion heading into the final minutes.

“We played well on both ends. Defensively, we had our nine kills, 32 deflections. I felt like we did a great job just guarding the guards,” responded Coleman when asked why this was the best game Texas has played in a long time. “And I think Jericho was... he really played violent. He set the tone early for us. And we were able to feed off him. And also, I just think with Jericho, Kai and Greg being on the floor together, they [gave] us a different look. That it worked well today.”

According to BartTorvik.com, Texas’s game score of 94, based on its defensive and offensive efficiency relative to its opponent, was the best since the Kansas State home game. The Longhorns held TCU to just 0.85 points per possession, won the battle on the glass, had more assists, shot 61.1% on two-point shots, and had four fewer turnovers.

2) While the game at Kansas State looked like a team trying to learn how to close out and win games in a complete way again, today looked like a therapeutic performance for the home team. The emotional basketball release began pouring out of Texas around the nine-minute mark in the second half.

TCU cut the Texas lead to 49-46 thanks in part to a really uncharacteristic turnover by Coleman. And after Andrew Jones came off the bench to make a mid-range jumper, he committed his fourth foul and immediately went back to the bench.

Instead of playing not to lose, the Longhorns began to attack the game. Off a really nice drive and dish from Coleman, Jericho Sims tried to dunk on half the TCU defense and went to the free throw line. Greg Brown was more fired up than anyone in the gym after Sims’s dunk attempt and immediately greeted the Texas big with a huge hug and even bigger smile.“

It was really fun. There was one time, It was like in mid-second half. I looked up and I was like, ‘Bro, what is the score?’ I was just having so much fun out there, I don't even know the score was,” said Brown.

Smart discusses players losing themselves in the fight. That’s an example.

Sims made both free throws and on the next possession, Coleman ripped a loose dribble and sprinted down the floor just ahead of a defender to convert a layup. He didn’t elect to try to dunk this time. Coleman’s layup made it 55-47 Texas and was followed by a Courtney Ramey jumper and then a dunk for Sims off a Ramey pick-and-roll feed to put Texas ahead 12. The looks on the faces, body language, and the way Texas attacked the game with joyful aggressiveness looked like a team exorcising some hoops demons built up from the previous weeks.

“Yeah, I think it was,” responded Coleman when asked if this felt like a release for the team after all the frustration that’s built up in recent weeks. “I think in the game we dealt with a little bit of… they went on a run; some questionable calls. And then like you said, a lot has been going on through these past couple weeks. And it was just fun to just see everybody just let it out. I let it out a little bit, which is good. Sometimes, you gotta let it out. Sometimes, you got to cry. Sometimes, you got to smile, man. You need someone to talk to every now and then. Just gotta do what you gotta do. Whatever it takes.”

3) Speaking of those Ramey and Sims makes, the Texas bench did a good job attacking TCU’s man-to-man with pick-and-roll...

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