Texas SG Kerwin Roach II set to return for Big 12 Tournament

After missing the final five games of the regular suspension due to a violation of team rules, Texas Longhorns senior guard Kerwin Roach II is set to rejoin the team this week for the Big 12 Tournament, head coach Shaka Smart said on the Big 12 conference call, per Brian Davis of the Austin American-Statesman.

With Roach sidelined, the Longhorns won only one game, slogging to a 1-4 finish to cap the regular season at 16-15.

The Longhorns leading scorer, Roach is averaging 15 points per game as a senior, in addition to 4.5 boards and 3.1 assists. In his absence, sophomore Jase Febres emerged momentarily, stringing together the most successful three-game stretch of his career before struggling down the stretch against Texas Tech and TCU, totaling only four points on 1-of-15 from the field.

As a result of such struggles, not only Febres’ but the team’s as a whole, Texas still has work to do in hopes of making the NCAA Tournament, and that work will have to come on Thursday evening in the Big 12 Tournament against the Kansas Jayhawks.