No. 6 Cincinnati presents a few matchup problems for No. 11 Texas in the two teams' Friday matchup in the Second Round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. But while Peter Bean of Burnt Orange Nation thinks that the Longhorns might go to a zone to deal with foul trouble, he suspects that Rick Barnes will stick to man defense on Yancy Gates:
I think Texas can live with a productive game from (Yancy) Gates if it does a good job preventing Cincinnati from getting easy looks from three, whether in transition or the halfcourt. Moreover, as effective as Gates can be, the one thing he doesn't do nearly as well as you'd expect is draw fouls -- as reflected in his very pedestrian 31.7 FTRate.
Given all that, I expect that a zone defense will be something that Rick Barnes retreats to if Texas finds itself in foul trouble, but that otherwise the Longhorns will do their best to defend Gates in man defense, aggressively try to deny entry passes, live with whatever he's able to score, and force Cincinnati's guards to be productive without open three pointers to shoot. As another Texas coach was fond of saying: "Dance with the one that brung ya."
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