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When the Texas Longhorns take the floor on Saturday morning as part of a road rivalry meeting with the Oklahoma Sooners, they’ll do so without senior and starting guard, Kerwin Roach II.
On Friday, the school announced that Roach has been suspended from the team indefinitely for a violation of team rules, which will force him to miss at least the Oklahoma game. 247Sports’ Chip Brown was the first to report the news of Roach’s suspension.
The suspension marks just the latest for Roach, who missed two scrimmages and the season-opener this season due to a violation of team rules, as well as the season-opener in 2017-18 as punishment for a violation of team rules.
The Longhorns’ leading scorer, Roach is averaging a career-high 15 points per contest this season, and he’s contributed at least 13 points in 12 consecutive games. Without him, at least temporarily, Texas’ NCAA Tournament aspirations become a bit more daunting down the stretch. With five regular season games remaining, Texas is 15-11 overall and 7-6 in Big 12, but the Longhorns, currently projected as a 9-seed in ESPN’s Bracketology, are far from a lock to dance.
Beginning with Oklahoma on Saturday, Texas will be on the road for three of its next four games, with a home stand against No. 19 Iowa State in between trips to Baylor and No. 14 Texas Tech. Texas will then close the regular season at home against TCU, which topped the Longhorns last month, 65-61.
In Roach’s absence, however long it proves to be, the Longhorns will look to either Jase Febres or Elijah Mitrou-Long to fill in as a starter in the backcourt alongside Matt Coleman III and Courtney Ramey.