Texas A&M (24-4 overall, 12-2 Big 12)comes to town tonight to face the Longhorns in a game that both must win in order to keep themselves in the mix for the conference title. Add that bit of drama to the passion always attached to this rivalry, and the Drum is bound to be absolutely electric. Can you remember the last time there was this much excitement about a basketball game with the Aggies? This newfound rivalry is nothing but great for basketball in the state of Texas, and the energy surrounding this game is contangious.

If you don’t recall what happened last time out, this handy-dandy link should help refresh your memory. Texas hung with the Aggies for 30-35 minutes by attacking the rim and getting to the line. In the end, A&M pulled away with a ton of offensive rebounds and fast-break points against a Texas team that looked like it had hit the wall.

The key players for the Ags are Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas in the paint and Acie Law IVXCLMIIX at the point. For a more detailed rundown on the team, you can check out the game preview from the first match-up.

While these three are the most reliable stars for Coach Billy Gillispie, all of his players are scoring threats and he even gets quality contributions from the bench. To stop Texas A&M, it’s really a game of pick your poison. Work too hard on guarding the perimeter, and AK and Jones will destroy you inside. Pack the lane, and the Ags will shoot right over the Horns. Fortunately, A&M does not often grab their offensive rebounds, so Texas will need to corrall those misses and limit the Aggie possessions to one-and-done.

On the offensive end, the Horns need to continue with what worked in College Station. Namely, attack the rim and draw the fouls that come with A&M’s aggressive defensive style. It’d also be great to keep knocking down the free throws that gets you, something the Horns had a hard time doing in the second half in College Station. Of course, they shot something like 99.9999999% at the line in the first half, so it really was just the law of averages setting in.

In the second half of the first game, Texas A&M sagged their zone and dared the Horns to shoot over it. Too often, Texas obliged and went away from what had worked so well for them. I would not be surprised to see Gillispie utilize the same defensive scheme tonight. It’s key that Texas not fall into the trap a second time.

I’m not holding out a whole lot of hope for a victory tonight, but I would love to be proven wrong. I had the same sinking feelings before we headed to the neutral-site game against LSU, and that turned out well. Of course, A&M is a much stronger team than the Tigers and are ridiculously good on both sides of the ball. Fortunately, the crowd should be fired up tonight and the Erwin Center uncharacteristically deafening. Hopefully that means the home-court advantage will come into play. We’ll find out at 8 P.M. tonight.

There’s only four days left in the Big 12 regular season — six if you count that pointless Monday night make-up between OSU and Nebraska — which means the post-season picture is getting a bit clearer. Thanks to the Oklahoma State win over K-State last night, Texas is now guaranteed to finish no worse than third place and of course will enjoy a first-round bye in Oklahoma City.

As we all know, tonight Texas takes on the rival Texas A&M Aggies at 8 P.M.in Austin. Later today I’ll bring you a re-preview of this very talented Aggie team. But for now, let’s look ahead at the games left on the conference slate that can affect the Horns.

Wednesday, 8 P.M. - Texas A&M (12-2) at Texas (11-3)

Saturday, 11 A.M. - Texas (11-3) at Kansas (13-2)
Saturday, 3 P.M. - Missouri (6-8) at Texas A&M (12-2)

Although it’s a heck of an uphill battle, the Longhorns do control their own destiny. If they win both of their remaining games, they will force a tie for first place, which results in a co-championship. But for the sake of seeding in Oklahoma City, the Horns would come out with the 1-seed. They would own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Jayhawks, while that same criteria would be a split between A&M and the Longhorns. In that case, the tie would move on to divisional record, which the Longhorns would win thanks to an 8-2 mark against the “south.”

Besides that longshot to claim the top spot in the post-season tournament, all permutations but one would put Texas squarely on the 3-seed line. However, if the Longhorns win tonight against A&M, but lose to Kansas, there is still a slim chance they could earn a 2-seed. That’s because if Missouri were to then upset the Aggies on Saturday, both the Horns and Ags would finish with 12-4 marks. Once again their head-to-head marks would be split, while Texas would have eight “south” wins to A&M’s seven.

To recap in concise, easy-to-read equations:

Defeat A&M + defeat Kansas = 1 seed
Defeat A&M + lose to Kansas + Aggies lose to Mizzou = 2 seed
Everything else = 3 seed

For those of you planning ahead to travel or watch the Longhorns next Friday, this means that Texas will most likely be playing in the nightcap at 8:20 P.M., which actually ends up being roughly 30 minutes after the 6 P.M. game finishes. If the Horns somehow pull off the miracle and the 1-seed, they would open on Friday morning at 11:30 A.M. And that reeeeeeally unlikely 2-seed scenario would result in the 6 P.M. game.

So now that you know our Friday possibilities, who’s joining me in Oklahoma City? Anybody? Bueller?

A&M re-preview coming at you later this morning.

Booing was a favorite fan activity in Norman on Saturday (Photo: G. Austin)

Road games are never easy, and the crowds never friendly. But the Oklahoma Sooners and their fans took things to a whole new level on Saturday, as Coach Jeff Capel earned a technical foul and a fan threw a cell phone across the court. Yet despite the hostile environment and a second half in which they shot only 14 percent, the Longhorns were still able to earn a 68-58 victory in Norman.

Texas (21-7 overall, 11-3 Big 12) came out firing and jumped to a quick 9-0 lead. In the first half, the Horns hit a ridiculous 8-of-13 shots from behind the arc, while Kevin Durant had 19 points in the first twenty minutes. They led by ten to fifteen for most of the half and headed to the locker room with a 41-28 advantage.

The second half was a completely different story. The game was bogged down on both ends by a lot of whistles, although Texas was fortunate enough to draw most of their fouls in shooting situations. The Horns did not even make their first field goal until almost twelve minutes had elapsed in the second half. It was one of only two baskets they would get in the entire twenty minutes.

Instead, the Longhorns made all of their second half points at the line. They took 30 free throws in the second stanza, sinking 22 of them. Texas was in the bonus with over 12 minutes left in the half, and Sooner fans were growing restless. Boos rained down from the half-empty seats. Jeff Capel was throwing tantrums on the sideline. Then, with the Sooners chipping away at the lead, their coach ultimately killed any building momentum by picking up the technical foul on a missed 10-second violation. The Horns sunk their free throws and rebuilt the lead.

Later, with a little over five minutes on the clock, a Sooner fan threw their cell phone across the court as Connor Atchley prepared to shoot free throws. He missed both, perhaps because he was a little jumpy. A boot or a soda could’ve come flying towards him at any moment, after all. Or maybe the keys to a trailer.

In the end, it was an ugly game that was painful to watch. The Horns spent a lot of time standing around in the second half hoping that D.J. Augustin or Durant were going to create some offense. But the adjusted Sooner defense seemed content to play physically and not allow our players to reach the rack. So as the fouls mounted up and the Horns padded the lead, many Texas fans may have overlooked the fact that three-fifths of the team were just holding down the floor.

In the big picture, this is a huge win for seeding — not only in the conference tournament but the NCAAs as well. Personally, I’d rather put it in the rearview and not think about it for a while. If the Horns continue their second-half offensive woes on Wednesday night, it’ll be a long, long game. But if the Saturday first-half team is the one that shows up, an upset is certainly possible.

Tomorrow night I’ll bring you the last Big 12 update of the year, focusing on the top four teams.

It’s almost time to hit the road, and it appears that Oklahoma is a rain-soaked, thunderstorm-ridden area under a tornado watch. So now not only do we have to worry about running into Jason White’s mother, but there’s the danger of flying trailer homes. Faaaaantastic!

This has led me to an important conclusion, one that you may dissect and discuss with friends throughout the day. You see, my theory is that OU still sucks.

In roughly twelve hours, we hit the road for Norman, Oklahoma. This may elicit sympathy from you, the reader. Perhaps you even instinctively let out a small cry of pain. It’s okay. That reaction is completely normal. For me, the feeling is a lot like sitting in the waiting room when you’re four and need your immunizations for the first day of school. Except, of course, that being in Oklahoma sucks a lot more.

The Texas Longhorns (20-7 overall, 10-3 Big 12) head into this road trip on a roll, winners of their last four. The homestanding Sooners (15-11, 6-7), on the other hand, come in on a slide. They’ve lost three in a row and now have both Texas and Kansas in the next three days. If the Sooners can’t pull off the win tomorrow, things could get ugly.

If you don’t remember much about Oklahoma from the first match-up, feel free to re-read my preview of that game. The biggest difference this time around will be the addition of Longar Longar, who was suspended the first time the two teams met. He’s one hell of an offensive rebounder and will be a big match-up problem for Texas down low.

In addition to Longar, senior Nate Carter is a force in the Sooner frontcourt. Although it seems like he’s been at OU for 16 seasons — breaking Hollis Price’s record by one year — he doesn’t play like an old man. Carter is averaging eleven points per game, and is also going to challenge Connor Atchley and Damion James in the paint.

For a Texas team that often struggles to defend the perimeter, this poor-shooting OU team is a great match-up. David Godbold is leading the Sooners from behind the arc, with only a 36% success rate from three-point range. But percentages aside, Michael Neal is truly the biggest long-range threat for OU. Although he is only at 30% on the season, he has warmed up during Big 12 play, hitting at a 44% clip against league opponents. If Coach Barnes continues to challenge A.J. Abrams defensively, this is the man I’d expect to see him guarding.

The first meeting between these two teams was a one-sided affair that the Longhorns absolutely ran away with. Although the final score only showed an 11-point victory for Texas, they coasted with a 20-point advantage for much of the game before most of the starters were pulled. A huge reason for the Longhorn domination was a lopsided 32-20 tally on the boards, which helped lead to a 16-6 victory in second-chance points.

The addition of Longar inside is going to make it more difficult for the Horns to rebound, but I feel that they still can control the rebounding margin. If they don’t, the Sooners have a much better chance of ending the skid and defending their home court. They simply don’t have the outside shooters to keep up with Texas, so they are going to need as many easy buckets inside as they can get. If the Horns keep OU off the offensive glass, I don’t think the Sooners have a chance.

With Oklahoma State losing on Wednesday night, the Longhorns secured a first-round bye in the conference tournament. That makes these final three games a bit like gambling with someone else’s money. The Horns are likely already in the NCAAs, and are now only playing for better seeding. The OU contest is the one of the three remaining games that they are most likely to win, so it’d be great to steal a road win and push the victory total up above twenty. But a loss is not the end of the world, and that is a great relief after the amount of turnover the Horns experienced in the offseason.

The Time Warner DVR guide in Austin says that the game will air on Channel 23, but apparently there were some issues with Tuesday night’s game on that channel. My best advice would be to check out a sports bar with a satellite package, just in case Time Warner somehow botches the broadcast again. But if you’re feeling a little more adventurous, there are still tickets available. Feel free to come join us in the sixth circle of Hell Norman.

The Texas starting five, who all scored in double digits against the Red Raiders

Everything was clicking for the Longhorns on Tuesday night as they crushed Texas Tech in Austin for the second straight year, coasting to an 80-51 victory in front of a sellout crowd. The win gave Texas (20-7 overall, 10-3 Big 12) their eighth-straight season with at least 20-wins, and also likely ensured that the team will be playing in the Big Dance. A four-game losing streak to end the season could certainly change that, but for now let’s just enjoy the victory.

Texas Tech (17-11, 6-7) opened up the game with an early 2-0 lead. It was the only one they’d hold all game. Texas quickly jumped ahead and stretched the score to 20-9 by the second media timeout. By halftime, the Longhorns had nearly doubled the Red Raiders’ output, heading to the locker room with a 48-26 lead.

Once again, Texas found offense from everybody in the starting lineup. For the first time all season, no Loghorn hit the 20-point plateau, but all five starters did reach double digits in scoring. By comparison, the high-scorer for the Red Raiders finished with nine.

Early on, Justin Mason was the spark. Jay scored twelve points in the first half, making both of his three-point attempts. He finished the night with thirteen points and four assists while only turning it over once.

Damion James again had a big game, and is proving to be a key player in the stretch run for the Longhorns. He was hitting midrange jumpers and throwing it down inside. But most importantly, he was able to control a ton of the Tech misses. James finished with a double-double on the night, scoring twelve and grabbing ten rebounds — nine of them on the defensive end.

When the Horns were in a man scheme, A.J. Abrams was again tabbed to frustrate the opponent’s high-scoring guard. For Tech, that was Jarrius Jackson, who had only seven points on the night. Two of those seven came on technical free throws, making the Horns’ defensive effort even more impressive.

Once again, it seemed that having Abrams focus on a defensive task opened up his offensive game. He took very few bad shots on the night, even hitting a pair of two-point buckets — something practically unheard of for the guard this season. Abrams was 4-of-9 from behind the arc and finished the night as the leading scorer with 18 points.

For much of the night, Texas was able to sag back on defense, daring Tech to shoot over them. The Red Raiders hit only 20 percent of their three-point attempts (3-15), making it necessary to try to drive the lane for easier buckets. But oftentimes Kevin Durant was hanging out in the middle, using his incredible wingspan to disrupt the offense.

One of the only things Texas did poorly on Tuesday night was bite far too often on pump fakes from the Red Raiders. But help defense was really solid, and oftentimes the open look disappeared almost instantaneously. Connor Atchley and Dexter Pittman both had a particularly hard time staying on the ground against those fakes, and saw limited minutes as a result. To be fair to Atchley, it’s unclear if his nine minutes were completely in response to his three fouls and poor defense, or if he was still feeling the effects from the injury he suffered against Baylor on Saturday night.

The Longhorns took their largest lead with 8:38 still to go in the ballgame. But up by 33 points, Barnes started milking the clock with a fifth of the game still left. For some reason, he left the starters in to essentially dribble around the perimeter for another five minutes. Perhaps he wanted them to keep working on their defense, but the argument could easily be made that our overworked starters need any breathers they can get.

In the end, all five did see some rest as Barnes cleared the bench. Harrison Smith and Ian Mooney both saw the floor and earned a huge cheer from the remaining crowd. The fans even roared when Mooney fouled a Tech player; after all, that does go in the official record.

This weekend’s game now has a lot less pressure attached to it. The Longhorns have their 20 wins and ten conference victories. At this point, more wins are just gravy. But the threat of a four-game losing streak does still loom large with games at OU, vs. Texas A&M, and at Kansas to finish the year. Add in a loss to the 5 or 6 seed in Oklahoma City, and things could get dicey.

If Texas can carry over the defensive efforts seen at home against Oklahoma State and Tech, they have a very great shot at their 11th conference win up in Norman. And, as a result, the Horns would also eliminate the tiny shred of doubt that still surrounds their NCAA future. Enjoy the win, and I’ll have your Oklahoma re-preview sometime tomorrow afternoon.

The Longhorn Road Trip story on Fox 7 News is going to air twice tonight and twice during tomorrow’s morning show. For those of us at the game or watching the Horns on TV, that means the showing at 9:40ish is going to be missed. But that 9 P.M. news does follow American Idol, so maybe I can pull in the coveted 10-14 year-old brain-dead demographic.

The other showings will be 5:40ish P.M. tonight, and at 5:15 and 6:15 A.M. tomorrow morning. A huge thanks once again to John Hygh for taking the time to do the piece. If you get a chance to see it, let me know what you think. Fingers are crossed that I don’t make too big of an ass out of myself, although I’d be willing to bet I do.

Texas Tech (17-10 overall, 6-6 Big 12) comes to town tonight in a game that is bordering on “must-win” for the Longhorns. Texas (19-7, 7-3) has an absolutely brutal finishing stretch, which makes tonight’s game with the Red Raiders their best chance to secure a 20th victory during the regular season. And, for the first time all season, the Horns will be playing in front of their first home sellout.

The last time the two teams met, Texas blew out Tech in the second half and pulled away for a 76-64 victory. Coach Bob Knight had Kevin Durant double teamed for most of the night, and the freshman phenom still managed to make the Raiders pay. In addition to Durant’s 37-point, 23-rebound output, the youngster also consistently found the open man while double-teamed for easy buckets in the first half.

Starters Jon Plefka and Charlie Burgess both played with injuries for Tech, and their production seemed to suffer for it. But Jarrius Jackson gave an outstanding game, despite playing the final eight minutes with four fouls. He scored 27 points and played every minute of the game.

While Durant’s game was huge, the Horns were fortunate that Tech couldn’t find much of a groove from behind the arc. The Red Raiders are a great three-point shooting team, but only managed 31% against the Horns in Lubbock. We all know that Texas has a major problem defending the perimeter, so if Tech comes out firing, the Horns could be in a big hole early.

The Longhorns also out-rebounded the Red Raiders 43-38 in their first meeting, and it’s going to be important to once again control the glass. Texas can’t afford to allow Texas Tech a lot of second chances, because they will quickly make teams pay with their great shooters and motion offense. Those expecting an easy repeat of the road victory need to be prepared for the very real possibility that the Red Raiders will score a lot more points tonight.

Two of the biggest coaching questions in tonight’s game regard how players will be defended. Last time, Knight put at least two men on Durant almost every time he touched the ball. How does he plan on neutralizing Durant in this contest when a double-team allowed 37 points the first time? If he decides to go with the double-team again, Texas has also shown that the other four players on the floor can also be viable scoring options. Last time the two teams played, D.J. Augustin scored fourteen points, and is coming into this one averaging 21 points in his last four games.

As for Coach Barnes, will he choose to once again challenge A.J. Abrams by giving him the man assignment of their best player? Against Oklahoma State, this scheme worked to frustrate star JamesOn Curry. In this one, the key player would be Jackson. And considering that he scored 27 last time, even a poor defensive showing by Abrams couldn’t be much worse. Regardless of where he puts Abrams, expect to see the 2-3 zone when Barnes is using Dexter Pittman in the middle, and also if Durant or Augustin find themselves in foul trouble.

In the preview for the first game, I outlined the other key players for Tech. In addition to Jackson, Martin Zeno is still a big threat for Coach Knight, while Burgess is hitting threes at a 46.6% clip. While other Raiders chip in a few points each night, these three guys are the ones that the Horns need to key on. And in a worrisome wrinkle, all three are the best Tech shooters from behind the arc.

Many of the keys to tonight’s game will be the same as last time, but here’s a quick rundown for your Fat Tuesday reading pleasure…

Defend the perimeter - Tech is going to hit threes. But in most of Texas’ frustrating losses this season, the culprit has been shoddy three-point defense. The Horns need to limit the Red Raiders to a reasonable amount of points from behind the arc, and when they force a miss they need to ….

Crash the defensive glass - In reality, the Horns would love to win the rebounding margin overall. But limiting second-chance points has been killer in some crunch-time situations, and Tech is a quality shooting team that will take advantage of multiple chances per possession.

Draw fouls - Durant and Augustin are great at getting to the line, but oftentimes seem to forget to do so until the second half. A.J. Abrams would benefit from getting to the line as well, but I’m not holding my breath for that development. Last time out, the Horns had Tech’s Jackson in foul trouble. They need to once again get fouls on the key players for the Red Raiders and knock down those tries from the charity stripe.

Buenos días, readers. This morning, I’ve got three new photo galleries up for you to peruse — Houston, Stillwater, and Lincoln. After I get the Tech re-preview posted, I’ll get back to the rest of the photo galleries and hopefully get them all knocked out before the OU trip this weekend.

The Google Maps feature is coming along quite nicely and should also be ready to roll once the last photo gallery is posted. That will make it a lot easier to find all of the content that’s spread out across the site in an easy-to-navigate map.

Then all that’s left is to finish updating the trip blogs. (Phoenix was posted on Friday night, for those of you who may have missed it over the weekend.) If all goes according to plan, everything should be up-to-date and all of the bells and whistles functional before conference play is over. Which sets us up quite nicely for all of the tournament action, of course.

Can you smell that? March is right around the corner.

There’s only four games left for each team in the conference race — five for the Cowpokes and Cornhuskers, who were iced out back in January — which means that the final picture is slowly coming into focus. Thanks to losses this weekend by both Oklahoma schools, the Longhorns are now three games ahead of the fifth place teams.

Here, for your convenience, are the teams that still matter to the “bye race.”

If you want to think of it in another way, the “magic number” for a Texas first-round bye is only two. Any combination of wins by the Longhorns or losses by the fifth-place team will seal a bye. So if the Horns win both games this week, they’ll be guaranteed an extra day of rest in Oklahoma City for the tournament. And if they happen to split this week’s schedule, they’ll be ohsoclose to locking up that bye.

Here’s a look at the week ahead for the other six teams…

Kansas - at Kansas State (Monday), vs. Iowa State (Saturday)
The Jayhawks face a small challenge against an up-and-coming Wildcat team in their house. If they can get through tonight with a win, they should be sitting pretty at 12-2 heading into the final week.

Texas A&M - at Oklahoma State (Wednesday), vs. Baylor (Saturday)
Like Kansas, A&M is opening the week with a solid road test. The Cowboys have been reeling lately, although their incredibly loud arena really gets hopping for the big games. Texas A&M should also be 12-2 next Monday if they take care of their road game.

Kansas State - vs. Kansas (Monday), at Colorado (Saturday)
K-State could be on the verge of a huge week for their team, or simply a ho-hum split. Either scenario helps immensely in their quest for a first-round bye, but a win over Kansas would have to make them feel safer on Selection Sunday.

Texas Tech - at Texas (Tuesday), vs. Oklahoma State (Saturday)
Tech needs to keep winning to prevent their NCAA hopes from withering away. A tough road win in Austin could not only help them in the Big 12 race, but also pad their upset-filled resumé. The Cowpokes are horrible on the road, so Tech should be 8-6 or 7-7 at the end of the week.

Oklahoma - at Missouri (Tuesday), vs. Texas (Saturday)
Mizzou is a middle-of-the-pack club that can hurt a team when they are hitting on all cylinders. The Saturday contest with Texas is sure to be a hate-filled one in front of the rabid, toothless fans of Lloyd-Noble. This is a make-or-break week for the Sooners, as they could easily win each game, but just as easily fall flat on their faces.

Oklahoma State - vs. Texas A&M (Wednesday), at Texas Tech (Saturday)
Judgement day is fast approaching for OSU, a team once considered a lock for the NCAA tournament. They are absolutely abysmal on the road, so it’s a safe assumption to chalk up a loss in Lubbock on Saturday. That means defending the home court against the Aggies is key.