Even with a 1-2 start to Big 12 play, Texas men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry doesn’t want to panic. He knows public perception and power rankings can change with every conference contest, and he knows two straight homes games — against Central Florida on Wednesday and Baylor on Saturday — offers an immediate opportunity to climb back toward the top of the Big 12 standings.

But that doesn’t mean Terry won’t tweak his team, especially after a 76-73 loss to a middling West Virginia squad Saturday.

Terry didn’t get into specifics about any rotation changes for the Longhorns (12-4, 1-2), especially on the eve of facing a dangerous Central Florida team that upset Kansas last week. But he did say that forward Brock Cunningham could return to the bench, where he thrived a year ago as a bolt of blue-collar energy for a team that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

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“We've had guys get nicked up a little bit here and there, and (Brock) has stayed in the lineup,” Terry said. “And he'd been very productive in terms of being a star in his role. But he was very productive coming off the bench a year ago, and it is something that we've looked at. It’s possible we may try to do in upcoming games.”

Looking for Cunningham's long-range touch

Terry hopes the move can help Cunningham regain his shooting touch, which is needed for a team that lacks any consistent starters outside of guard Max Abmas (18 points a game) and forward Dylan Disu (15.1). After making 13 of 30 shots from 3-point range through the first 11 games of the season, Cunningham has gone 1-of-11 from long distance over the past five games. Terry likes the hard picks, pinpoint passes and sharp elbows that Cunningham brings to the court, but he loves it when Cunningham challenges a defense from behind the arc.

“Brock, we need him to make an open shot that stretches the floor for us,” Terry said.

Texas' choices at shuffling the lineup

If the 6-foot-6 Cunningham, who’s been starting at the small forward spot, does go to the bench, which bench player could get a starting nod? Graduate transfer Ithiel Horton started all 34 games for Central Florida last season while averaging 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, but he’s posted just 7.1 points a game and has shot 0-for-5 without a point over the past three games. Perhaps a start could serve as a spark for the sixth-year player.

Kadin Shedrick, a 6-foot-11 transfer from Virginia, started for the first six weeks of the season with Disu sidelined until mid-December after offseason foot surgery, but he’s battling a sore back and is questionable for Central Florida even though he’s practiced this week.

If Terry wants to go small, 6-foot-3 Chendall Weaver could start alongside the 6-foot Abmas and 6-foot point guard Tyrese Hunter and provide instant energy as well as a pernicious perimeter defense. But Weaver has made just 5 of 19 3-point shots this year, which doesn’t give Texas that additional offensive threat from the outside.

Options still abound for a squad that’s only had its full complement of players for five games.

“This team still has a high ceiling,” Terry said. “We're still working through playing with that urgency that you have to play with for 40 minutes. But, you know, we're going to keep working and we're going to stay the course and we're going to keep trying to get better every day. And that's been our mindset go from one play to the next play. No one's negative, no one's down on anybody. Let's be positive, let's stay connected. And let's just keep working.”

Wednesday's game

Central Florida (10-5, 1-2) at Texas (12-4, 1-2), 7 p.m., LHN, 1300

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball squad eyes some tweaks as Big 12 homestand approaches