Tennessee St. @ Texas preview

Tennessee St. at Texas

Not much was made of the news when Tulane sophomore Dylan Osetkowski decided to transfer to Texas, but two years later and with the Longhorns coming off an 11-22 campaign, the 6-9 forward has proven to be the most indispensable player on the team. Having helped Texas to a 7-3 start, Osetkowski will be shooting for an eighth consecutive double-digit scoring outing Monday when Tennessee State visits in a nonconference matchup.

Osetkowski, who averaged 11.4 yards as a sophomore in 2015-16 before sitting out all of last season, leads the team in rebounds (7.5) and steals (1.3) and is second in scoring (15.1 points per game) after pouring in a season-high 22 points in a 75-60 victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. “He's probably our most important player from the standpoint of all of the things that he does,” Texas third-year coach Shaka Smart said after the game. ”He's like a connective tissue for us. I think that the combination of having a high basketball IQ and being in his fourth year as a college basketball player, he's further ahead than pretty much everyone else on our team.” Forward Mohamed Bamba contributed 14 points, a team-high nine rebounds and matched a career high with five blocks in just 18 foul-plagued minutes on Saturday, and fellow freshman forward Jericho Sims registered season highs in both points (nine) and rebounds (eight). “I think at the end, [Bamba] just went in and said, 'I'm going to attack and whatever happens happens,'” Smart said.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT TENNESSEE STATE (5-4): The Tigers, who return two starters from a 17-win team that played both Duke and North Carolina State tough last season in nonconference play, are coming off a 64-54 defeat to North Carolina A&T on Friday despite 17 points from Delano Spencer and 15 from Ken’Darrius Hamilton. Senior guard Spencer leads the team in scoring (15.7 points per game) and junior forward Christian Mekowulu chips in 11.4 points and a team-best 9.6 rebounds. The Tigers play at a slow pace, yielding just 67 points per contest, but as a group shoot just 41.4 percent from the floor and have more turnovers (126) than assists (98).

ABOUT TEXAS (7-3): The 6-11 Bamba, considered by many as one of the top five high school recruits in the country last season, is averaging 11 points on 51.4 percent shooting, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game. Andrew Jones, a 6-4 sophomore guard, leads the team in scoring (15.2 points per game) and 3-point shooting (16-of-36, 44.4 percent) and shoots 53 percent from the floor overall. Matt Coleman, another highly touted freshman prospect that Smart was hoping would solidify the point guard position, is averaging just 7.2 points on 31.9 percent shooting, including 25.8 from beyond the arc, and 3.8 assists in a team-high 31.6 minutes per game.

TIP-INS

1. Three-point shooting is a big area of concern for the Longhorns, as they shoot just 29.3 percent from that range.

2. Tennessee State played one other major-conference team in the nonconference, losing 92-56 to Kansas on Nov. 10.

3. Bamba ranks second in the nation in blocked shots behind Minnesota’s Reggie Lynch (4.3).

PREDICTION: Texas 76, Tennessee State 51