Texas basketball coach Sean Miller still abides by the piece of wisdom that Rick Pitino imparted during the 1986 Five-Star Basketball Camp — at the 13th station, to be exact.  

Miller, 18 years old then, attended the camp hosted by college and NBA coaches not far from his house in Pittsburgh. Speaking to the media Monday night following the Longhorns’ 95-69 win over Southern, Miller called upon Pitino’s lesson to highlight a fouling problem that UT’s coach says will handicap his team if left unfixed. 

“Fouling negates hustle,” Miller, now 57, said, quoting Pitino. “It’s not a good thing. Fouling negates effort, negates hustle. And sometimes, when you watch us play through the first 10 games, we’re flying around, and we have guys giving great effort, but it only takes one player to reach in, to be undisciplined, to grab a jersey, and that foul just completely takes the air out of the building.” 

The Longhorns (7-3) sent Southern (4-5) to the free-throw line 25 times. The Jaguars showed their pluck in a double-overtime loss Nov. 18 to Washington, but are nonetheless 1-5 against Division I opposition this season. Texas’ size and superior athleticism meant Southern would have a difficult time keeping up, no matter how many free throws the Jaguars shot. 

But the success of Miller’s first season in charge of the Longhorns won’t be defined by whether his team can pulverize overmatched opposition like Southern. More talented tests lie ahead. And Miller knows, in those games, free throws will matter. 

“It’s a major problem,” Miller said. “We got to defend and pressure the ball better, and we just have to get good across the board schematically. Have to take a look at everything we’re doing. In addition to just working at it, we might have to make some changes, which includes playing players who might play better defense.” 

Texas came into Monday committing 19.6 fouls per game, more than 301 of 365 Division I programs. That number will jump after the Longhorns fouled Southern 23 times.

Both of UT’s primary big men, Matas Vokietaitis and Lassina Traore, finished with four fouls. Vokietaitis helped offset his contributions to that total by sinking all 14 of his free throws. Miller spent the majority of his postgame press conference harping on the fouling issue, but the Longhorns shoot more free throws than they concede. 

Vokietaitis spearheads that effort. The 7-foot Lithuanian draws more fouls per 40 minutes than anyone in the country. 

“When they foul me, I’m happy,” Vokietaitis said after the game. “I can help the team to win by making free throws.” 

Still, Miller is demanding improvement. 

He pointed toward last season’s Xavier team to illustrate that growth is possible. The Musketeers’ nonconference opponents attempted 18.5 free throws per game. In Big East play and the postseason, Xavier — now coached by Pitino’s son, Richard — gave up 15.9 free throws per game. 

“It’s a really big deal,” Miller said. “Undisciplined players are coached by an undisciplined coach. I really mean that. I have to be able to, on an everyday basis, explain, teach, drill and demand. Create a standard of what is a bad foul, and it’s up to me to fix it.”