Not a ton of time to write about last night’s win, as the quarterfinals tip off in a little over an hour. With that time constraint in mind, let’s quickly hit some of our key thoughts about last night’s game.

1) Damion James and Dexter Pittman looked like leaders – While Texas struggled to put the Cyclones away for the entire ballgame, Damion James tried his hardest to do it single-handedly. Midway through the second half, he became a human vacuum, grabbing practically every board in sight. When Iowa State went over seven minutes without a single field goal, a huge cause of their offensive ineptitude was James’ dominance on the glass. The Cyclones were simply unable to get second chances.

Meanwhile, Dexter Pittman finally showed some swagger as the Longhorns started to put it together. While Big Pitt still had some early issues with making weak moves to the basket that resulted in missed shots, his 19 minutes on the court were extremely efficient. Pittman scored 16 points and grabbed five boards on the night. Having a confident Dexter in the middle instead of a frustrated one makes a huge difference in not only the team’s performance, but also its entire demeanor.

2) Gary Johnson doesn’t have to be the sixth man – There was some theorizing that Gary Johnson didn’t work his way into the starting lineup very often this season because he just felt more comfortable coming off the bench. But after posting a 15/10 double-double against the Cyclones, Johnson seems right at home as a part of the starting five. The junior forward played 39 minutes, including the entire first half. With Pittman’s performance still unpredictable from night to night, Gary’s emergence as a breakout star has been the most exciting storyline down the stretch.

3) J’Covan Brown is back in the doghouse – When Justin Mason picked up his second foul just six-and-a-half minutes into the game, Jai Lucas hopped off the bench to take over point guard duties. Lucas responded well, truly playing the role of bus driver. He didn’t do anything flashy, but didn’t make any mistakes either. He simply made sure the team ended up where it needed to be.

What’s worthy of a raised eyebrow, however, is the fact that J’Covan Brown stayed on the bench until the final three minutes of the half. Brown certainly struggled against Baylor on Saturday — but honestly, which Longhorns didn’t? — and it seems that put him firmly back in Rick Barnes’ doghouse.

While Lucas has shown his ability to be a serviceable point, he lacks the slashing ability that Brown can bring to the table. Texas settled for a lot of threes and long jumpers, something that could have been avoided if there was a guard on the floor with strong driving ability. And, of course, there’s no reason that both Lucas and Brown couldn’t have been on the floor at the same time.

Texas moves on to face Baylor in the quarterfinals tonight. The Longhorns are hoping to avoid a third loss to the Bears this season, and a fourth consecutive one. We’ll be back with a brief game preview in between the afternoon and evening sessions. In the meantime, keep up with all the action from the Sprint Center by following the LRT Twitter.

With the final regular season game just a few hours away, let’s dive right into our notes from Monday night’s win over Oklahoma…

1) The Longhorns did not fold down the stretch – For a Texas team that has often found itself trailing by large margins during the last two months, it was refreshing to see the Horns respond despite OU’s hot start. The Longhorns were down by thirteen points just eight minutes into the game, thanks in large part to Oklahoma’s 7-of-11 three-point shooting in the first half. But Texas did not fold, and slowly chipped away at the lead. When the Sooners came out strong again in the second half, the Longhorn deficit climbed to eleven once again. But something changed in the team at that point, like their competitive switch had finally been flipped to “on.”

The Texas players really fed off of the crowd down the stretch, with Jordan Hamilton imploring the fans to get louder when OU was forced to take timeouts. J’Covan Brown even taunted the Sooner players by flashing his biceps after he sunk a floater in the lane. While it’s incredibly satisfying to see the team finally wake up and show some fire, the concern is that it seemed like the players needed the crowd energy to do so. The rest of the games this season will be on the road or at “neutral” sites, so the Longhorns have to be able to show that same level of effort and determination when the crowd is not on their side. Chances are very, very good that the fans of the old Big 8 will be rooting against Texas next week in Kansas City, particularly those fans in blue or purple.

2) Backcourt roles were more defined – For the first time in ages, each member of the Texas backcourt seemed to contribute exactly what was required of them. Justin Mason made the start and provided solid defense, along with a few strong, slashing moves to the bucket. Jai Lucas was also in the starting lineup, and although he ultimately only played seven minutes, his offensive contribution came the way it needed to. Lucas drained a three in the first half on a simple kickout. He is only a catch-and-shoot guy, so having him play off the ball allowed him to make a small, but useful contribution to the offense, as opposed to forcing him into the point guard role where he is ineffective.

While Avery Bradley had a rough night from the floor, he once again provided solid defense once Texas started rotating and helping. J’Covan Brown was the big story in the backcourt, though, playing 33 minutes off the bench. He showed leadership and poise down the stretch, and his willingness to attack the rim led to 15 points on the night, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. If Brown can give that kind of performance the rest of the way, the blow from the loss of Dogus Balbay will be much, much softer.

3) Free throws are improving – For the second-consecutive game, the Longhorns made at least 80% of their attempts from the charity stripe. For much of the season, the team’s average has hovered in the low-to-mid 60% range, so this drastic change is certainly worth noting. While the 6-of-6 line from Brown is not a shocker, seeing Damion James go 8-of-12 and Dexter Pittman sink all four of his attempts is certainly reassuring. Statistically, the two players should be expected to miss more shots this afternoon, as their percentages naturally regress to the mean. But what if they’ve actually been practicing and improving over the last week or so? Then perhaps the physical inside play could finally pay off in the post-season, as the Texas big men actually make the free throws they work so hard to earn.

4) Texas has two offensive identities – Not only did the Longhorns show two different offensive styles on Monday night, but they both actually worked. It was reminiscent of the early part of the season, when Gary Johnson famously said that Texas could “beat you any way you want it.” When the Longhorns can play different styles of basketball with equal success, it makes it incredibly hard for opponents to gameplan and defend. Of course, this is just one game against a team that has struggled all season long. But if this newfound offensive duality can continue this afternoon and into the postseason, there is reason for optimism.

The two offensive looks from Texas differ when it comes to the post presence. In the first look — the traditional one we’ve seen all season — the Longhorns are built around Pittman. The team focuses on getting the ball inside, where the big man is expected to either make a quick move to the basket, or kick it back out to rinse and repeat.

Early in the season, defenses sagged off of Mason and Balbay to create more pressure inside on the big man and deny those entry passes. On Monday night, having a backcourt involving Bradley and Brown meant that the OU defense couldn’t sell out to help inside. In addition, after a rusty start, Pittman finally began to make quick moves with the ball, so the defense didn’t have time to react. If these factors hold as the season winds down, the “big” lineup should be quite effective.

When Dex isn’t on the floor, the Longhorns go with the fiesty Gary Johnson down low. He’s five inches shorter than Pittman, and is versatile enough to mix in a midrange game. That added threat spreads out the floor and allows Brown and Mason to slash to the rim for easy points or to draw the foul and get to the line. Johnson’s ability to pull the defender away from the paint also makes it easier for James to get offensive boards and putbacks. And, of course, the pure hustle and determination that Gary brings to the floor leads to extra possessions and second chance points.

Again, it should be noted that all of this happened against a Oklahoma team that will likely finish in the bottom quarter of the league when today’s game are through. But for once, Texas fans had something to be excited about after Monday’s game. Now, we just must wait and see if those things carry over to a game against a very, very good Baylor team this afternoon.

For the first time in more than a month, the Texas Longhorns have a winning streak.

While two wins in a row is not a whole lot to crow about, Wednesday night’s 69-59 victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys is a huge step in the right direction for a team that had lost six out of its last ten. The win pushes the Longhorns to 8-6 in league play, and into a three-way tie for fourth with Baylor and Texas A&M, two teams they will face — on the road — in their last three games.

Things didn’t start off beautifully for Texas, as Oklahoma State shot nearly 50% from the field for a majority of the first half, including a 6-of-12 mark from behind the arc. The Longhorns did force eight turnovers in the first half, but the flurry of long-range scoring for the Pokes ensured that Texas could find no breathing room in the first twenty minutes.

James Anderson also couldn’t find much breathing room for those first twenty minutes, as Justin Mason and solid help defense limited the Big 12 Player of the Year candidate to just six first half points. Five of those came in the first three minutes, but Anderson was held scoreless from the field for more than 24 minutes after that.

In the second half, it was the entire Oklahoma State offense that couldn’t breathe. The Pokes were limited to 2-of-10 shooting from behind the arc, and shot just 33% from the field. Anderson was able to add another eight points to his total, but OSU managed just 24 total points in the final twenty minutes. The Texas defense took all of its little lapses from the first half and completely eliminated them in the second.

Beyond the defense, the biggest storyline of the night came from the biggest player on the court. Against a much smaller Oklahoma State lineup, Dexter Pittman finally turned in the performance fans have been waiting for since Fayetteville. After Texas mustered only six points in the paint during the first half, the start of the second half was all about Pittman. The Longhorns made a concerted effort to get him the ball inside, and his strong moves with the ball made it clear he wasn’t going to be stopped.

Dexter’s final line on the night was 16 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks in 20 minutes. If that is the kind of production Texas can get from him down the stretch, there’s not much more you can ask for. Pittman is not a guy who needs to be playing 25-plus minutes per game because it limits his effectiveness. Dexter can’t hang with run-and-gun teams, and big men with long range can pull him out of the paint and limit his defensive presence. But in games like this one, he’s one of the most effective weapons the Longhorns have, and he’ll have to produce at that level the rest of the way.

As always, Damion James turned in a huge effort for the Horns. He knocked down a ton of midrange jumpers in the first half to kickstart the offense, and pulled down seven boards on the night. His 19 points were certainly important, but what was much more notable was his 6-of-8 performance at the line. Heading into the game, James was shooting just 64% from the charity stripe.

Also impressive was Jordan Hamilton, who did so many little things right tonight. For one, his defense was much improved. Even when he was beat my his man, it wasn’t for lack of effort. Oftentimes this season it has seemed like Hamilton only cared to play on one side of the ball, but not in this game. Not only did he move laterally and pressure the ball on defense, but he made smart decisions with the ball on offense. He took the open three-point looks against the zone in the first half, then took the ball to the rim when OSU played the perimeter later in the game. And, most importantly, Hamilton passed the ball instead of forcing it when there was nothing there.

Apart from the continual free throw woes (21-of-36 on the night), the biggest disappointment in this game was J’Covan Brown. Coach Rick Barnes inserted the freshman back into the starting lineup after limiting him to just five minutes against Texas Tech on Saturday. Unfortunately, Brown seemed to be trying to prove himself the entire time and looked completely uncomfortable on the floor. When J’Covan is playing freely, attacking the defense, and finding his open teammates, the Longhorns are tough to stop. But if Brown is going to respond to the spotlight the way he did tonight, Texas is going to have to struggle through the rest of the year with a point guard by committee.

Looking ahead

The regular season sweep of Oklahoma State has positioned the Longhorns to make a late-season push for one of the first-round byes in the league’s conference tournament. Texas, A&M, and Baylor are all tied for fourth place, and are just a game behind Missouri in third. The Tigers still have games left with Kansas and Kansas State, while the Longhorns travel to both College Station and Waco. With just three games left on the schedule, everything is truly still up in the air.

When a team has lost five of its last seven games, any win is a big win. When a team has lost five of seven and then wins by forty points, that’s flat-out monumental. While Texas’ 91-51 win did come against the league’s cellar dwellers, this afternoon’s performance was so different from what fans have seen from the Longhorns the last three weeks that it can’t help but to inspire some hope.

Naysayers will latch on to Nebraska’s record and paint this as nothing but an anomaly from a Texas team that is on life support. But what is lost amidst the 1-9 conference record and the absolute mudholing that took place at the Frank Erwin Center is the fact that this Nebraska team is very, very stingy on defense.

The Cornhuskers led the Big 12 in field goal percentage coming into this game, while their defensive efficiency of 0.936 points per possession was 66th in the nation. By our rough math, Texas posted an efficiency mark of more than 1.2 points per possession against that typically-stout Husker defense. An offensive explosion like that could mean that maybe — just maybe — after nearly four months of tinkering with the lineup, Rick Barnes has finally found something that works.

What looked good

The story of the game was the promotion of J’Covan Brown to the starting lineup, and the difference was quickly apparent. With a slashing guard in the lineup who actually possesses the ability to finish at the rim, the Longhorns were able to make the Husker defense react and leave other men open. This resulted in an excessive number of open looks, and Texas shot more than 61% from the field in the first half, including 7-of-11 from behind the arc.

As Barnes continued toying with new lineup combinations, Dexter Pittman and Dogus Balbay saw their playing time decrease. Shockingly enough, the Longhorn offense looked even better for it. Texas’ half-court sets suddenly featured excellent spacing, while having Jordan Hamilton and Gary Johnson on the court for longer stretches meant that defenses had to defend tall, quality shooters even further from the paint.

Hamilton’s play was the most impressive, when you consider where he’s come from. Sure, Avery Bradley lit up the scoreboard with an insane 6-of-6 start from behind the arc. But it was Hamilton who had clearly made adjustments to his game, as he tried very hard to avoid the mistakes that had hampered his play in previous weeks. Jordan was passing up the types of contested shots he willingly threw up against the likes of Oklahoma and Kansas, instead opting to work the ball inside. Lo and behold, when the Texas post players drew defensive help, Hamilton was left with open looks — and he often made them count.

Jordan’s final line was a staggering 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal. After going 3-of-21 in his last two games with just one assist to four turnovers, Hamilton’s performance against Nebraska was the definition of a 180. He certainly still needs to work on his defense and was still getting an earful from Coach Barnes in the second half, but if that is the kind of night Hamilton can have on a regular basis, it will be tough to beat the Longhorns in the future.

At the point, Brown continued to show his own growth. While he still favors the flashy pass to the safe one — sometimes to his own detriment — Brown now seems to recognize where the ball needs to go and isn’t always in shoot-first mode. His ridiculous alley-oop to Bradley late in the first half will likely be on every set of Texas highlights the rest of the year, but he made an equally impressive no-look feed into the post in the second half that left Nebraska frozen. Brown’s defense was much better tonight, and he posted a 2-to-1 assist-to-TO ratio in his 30 minutes on the court.

The play of the experienced frontcourt might have been overshadowed by the fantastic performances from the freshman trio, but it was definitely worth noting. Johnson and Damion James quietly posted identical 13-point, 9-rebound lines, but perhaps more importantly combined to shoot 8-of-10 from the line. For Texas to be successful, James and Johnson have to play well both in the midrange and in the paint, which means that they must make it count when they are fouled inside. It’s been well-documented how Damion’s free-throw woes have cost Texas in the past, but the importance of him converting from the stripe cannot be overstated.

What needed work

While the win was dominating and the offense impressive, there were still some things that were disappointing for the Longhorns. Perhaps most troubling was another weak performance from Pittman. The big man played just 16 minutes this afternoon, and his offensive woes against the constant double-teams continued. Defensively, Dexter still played very, very well, stifling the Nebraska bigs and logging an authoritative block. But considering the Texas offense looked much more fluid without him taking up space inside, it may be time to think about the role Big Dex serves in the Texas gameplan. Perhaps the Longhorns are best served by utilizing Pittman in short stretches, where he serves to ramp up the physicality and defensively own the paint.

In addition, Jai Lucas did not show much in his twenty minutes on the court. It should be noted that Jai didn’t do anything particularly poorly, and in fact made quite a few hustle plays that are worth mentioning. His scramble for a loose ball led to the Brown-Bradley alley oop, and he pulled down a pair of boards amidst much taller traffic.

Unfortunately, Jai gives up so much height that it’s nearly impossible for him to get off a shot, which makes him as much of an offensive liability as Balbay and Justin Mason. The difference is that those two players bring a defensive intensity to the court which earns them solid minutes, while Lucas’ vertical shortcomings make him a liability on defense, too. It’s not that Lucas is really doing anything wrong when he’s on the floor, but there’s no question that there are other players who can provide more if given some of Jai’s minutes.

Looking ahead

Seeing Texas play a free and open style of basketball was exciting and certainly came as a breath of fresh air after the last few weeks. But looking ahead to the next opponent, this up-tempo style might be a tad worrisome. The Missouri Tigers live for high-speed basketball where they can force mistakes and score easy buckets, so if Texas elects to continue this style of play, they will have to be very, very careful to maintain ball control.

Meanwhile, the picture in the muddled Big 12 became a little clearer on Saturday afternoon. At the beginning of the day, there were just two games separating second place from eighth place. Thanks to losses by Texas Tech and Oklahoma, the group vying for those first-round byes became a little bit smaller. Now, K-State and A&M are tied for second at 7-3, while Baylor, Missouri, and Texas are just a game behind. While a win on Wednesday night will not be easy, knocking off the Tigers would be a huge boost as Texas works towards one of the top four seeds in the conference tournament.

Ten out of twenty-seven. That’s 37%, or the embarrassing performance the Texas Longhorns turned in at the free-throw line on Saturday afternoon. Damion James did his part in scuttling the team’s percentage, making just four out of thirteen attempts from the stripe. Meanwhile, the Sooners made 20-of-28. Look at those numbers for just a second. James missed more free throws than the entire Oklahoma team, and they took fifteen more shots from the line!

It wasn’t just free-throw woes that cost the team. The Longhorns wasted possessions with stupid shot selection, and had a ton of missed opportunities at the rim. Dogus Balbay twice made nice moves to get to the basket, but instead of providing his typical two or four points, he missed the easiest shot in the sport. Jordan Hamilton’s Edward Hyde showed up just one game after he had performed as Henry Jekyll, resulting in selfish possessions that ended with bad decisions and forced shots.

The only bright spots in the game for Texas were Dexter Pittman and Avery Bradley. While Bradley took some poor shots of his own early in the game, he settled down and provided a fantastic 21-point performance, including 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. As Avery improved his offensive game, his defense tightened up as well. Oklahoma’s Tommy Mason-Griffin was no longer able to create the minuscule separation he needs to sink threes, and Bradley moved with exceptional quickness to shut down TMG’s drives down the stretch.

Pittman, meanwhile, played with fire in the paint. When Texas made a concerted effort to feed him in the post, he made good decisions with the ball and had the patience to take what the defense gave him. Unfortunately, Dexter spent half the game on the bench, and not due to foul trouble. While Coach Barnes was electing to use slashers like Hamilton, the lack of a true post player made it difficult for the Longhorns to capitalize once the defense collapsed on the driving wingman. As a result, Jordan didn’t have a wide-open outlet down low, and rather than kicking it out to reset, he often chunked up ugly, contested shots.

If you’re into moral victories, you could also say that the second-half comeback by Texas was something to hang your hat on. And to be fair, it truly is reassuring to see that the team didn’t fold at half and just mail it in for the final twenty minutes. But at the same time, that very comeback is what makes this loss so incredibly frustrating. After a first half where Ray Charles would have made a three if he were wearing a Sooner jersey, Texas fought back from an 18-point deficit and was down just six with ten minutes left. Oklahoma gave Texas every chance to erase the deficit and win the game, but the Longhorns simply ignored the opportunities. Whether it was the missed free throws, the empty possessions, or just stupid turnovers, Texas refused to capitalize.

Perhaps the only positive that can come from this game was the delicious cherry turnover I enjoyed at an Arby’s in Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma. Thanks to the 11 Texas turnovers in the game and an awesome marketing department at OU, my delicious treat was free.

Oklahoma State led the visiting Longhorns by nine points with two minutes left in the first half. Junior guard James Anderson had 22 of his team’s 34 points on 8-of-9 shooting, incuding a perfect 3-of-3 behind the arc. Gallagher-Iba Arena was rocking, and it looked like the Texas Longhorns could be on their way to a fourth loss in five games.

Then Jordan Hamilton took over.

The freshman swingman scored seven points in the final two minutes of the first half while Anderson added a pair of OSU free throws, and Texas closed the gap to just four points heading to the locker room. Hamilton added 18 more in the second half, part of a career-high 27-point performance, and the Longhorns stormed past the Cowboys in the final twenty minutes, cruising to a 72-60 win.

What looked good

Obviously, Hamilton’s breakout performance was the highlight of the night. His shot selection was much better, and even the two questionable ones he threw up in the first half somehow found the bottom of the basket. Perhaps fueled by his unconscious shooting, Hamilton also worked a lot harder on the defensive end. He was pressuring OSU ballhandlers past the perimeter, making it nearly impossible for the Pokes to get any offense going outside of drives by Anderson and Obi Muonelo.

While Anderson’s first-half explosion keyed the early Oklahoma State lead, a few of his baskets were coming even in the face of good pressure. However, quite a few of his buckets were coming when he beat the defense off the dribble and sailed to the rack for easy points. In the second half, though, Dogus Balbay played incredibly on defense, holding Anderson to just four points in the final twenty minutes. Even though Anderson had a full six inches on Balbay, the Cowboys didn’t ever look for him when he actually tried to isolate his defender on the blocks.

J’Covan Brown also had a very solid night, a fact that might be overlooked since he only scored five points. When Balbay started piling up fouls late in the game, Brown was able to lead the team with a steady hand from the point guard position. J’Covan had just one turnover to four assists and played a full 30 minutes off of the bench. In fact, when the teams came out for the second half, Coach Rick Barnes opted to make just one change from his starting lineup — Brown was on the floor in place of defensive stopper Justin Mason.

Another Horn giving big production from the bench was Gary Johnson. He played very good defense inside, denying access to the bucket and forcing his man to take well-contested shots. Gary was the only Longhorn with double-digit rebounds, as he grabbed ten boards to go with his eight points.

Finally, it should be noted that Texas shot 6-of-7 from the free throw line in this game. Before anyone gets too excited and thinks the team has turned some sort of corner, keep in mind that all seven attempts came from the team’s three best free-throw shooters — Brown, James, and Johnson. (Jai Lucas technically has the second-highest free-throw percentage on the team, but has just seven total attempts all year.) The free-throw monster is still definitely going to affect future games, but it was nice not having to watch free points clank off the iron.

What needed work

A recurring theme in these games is Texas’ inability to knock down incredibly easy shots inside the paint and just outside the lane. In the first half, the Longhorns missed six layups according to the official play-by-play. While Texas has a bunch of good shooters that can knock down midrange jumpers and treys, on some nights those shots aren’t going to fall. The Horns have to be able to get the ball inside and actually convert on the easy looks.

The other point of concern was rebounding, as Texas again had trouble corralling boards that hit them right in the hands. The final count had the two teams deadlocked with 31 rebounds each, but the Longhorns should have easily dominated that battle. The Longhorns far outsized the Cowboys, but they allowed OSU to steal too many boards that they had already established position on. Against a solid frontcourt like that of the Kansas Jayhawks, Texas will allow far too many second-chance points if they keep coughing up rebounds.

Looking ahead

Texas has a long week off to prepare for the Oklahoma Sooners, who they face in Norman on Saturday. Although the Sooners are talented, the team is in disarray. They have lost three of their last four, including a 17-point shellacking at the hands of the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. Road wins are not going to be easy to come by in the Big 12 this season, so the Longhorns definitely need to take advantage of winnable games such as this one.

Unfortunately, that pesky “real” life got in the way yesterday, so we will just make some quick notes on the loss before hitting the road for Stillwater in an hour or so.

1) Free throws finally cost the Horns – You could make the argument that free-throw woes were part of Texas’ downfall at Kansas State and probably build a solid case. But with Saturday’s loss to Baylor, there is simply no doubt. When your opponent needs a putback with miliseconds on the clock just to tie the game, it’s easy to see that 15-of-23 shooting from the line in regulation prevented the win. The Longhorns have actually become even more horrid at the line in conference play, hitting just 59.9% of their attempts and dropping their season average to 61.3%.

2) Bad Jordan showed up – I can’t take credit for the name (that goes to the fine folks at Shaggy Bevo), but there’s no denying that there is a Jekyll-and-Hyde aspect to Hamilton’s play this season. In this game, he took three bad shots and turned it over once in roughly two minutes on the court. That basically equates to four turnovers, which is something the Horns can’t afford if they are going to tighten up the rotation. To compliment the core players, Texas needs a few quality minutes from Jordan every game, not a few nightmarish ones.

3) Jai Lucas needs to move off the ball – It’s a delicate situation, as Jai transferred to Texas because he wanted a chance to play the point. But the guard has been sloppy with the basketball and has yet to prove that he can create his own shot against anyone besides overmatched opponents from small conferences. Against the Bears, Jai managed to turn the ball over three times in his two minutes at the point. As Coach Barnes works on a tighter rotation, Lucas best serves the team as an A.J. Abrams type of marksman. Of course, his height deficiencies make him a liability on defense against most teams, so he should be playing in short stints to bring a scoring spark off the bench at the two.

When we wrote about the problems plaguing the Texas offense on Tuesday night, we addressed the fact that Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay were offensive liabilities that were crippling Dexter Pittman’s productivity. Opponents were well-aware that the duo was averaging a combined 7.2 points per game, which allowed two extra defenders to sag into the paint and stifle Texas’ inside game. Our proposed solution was to limit the amount of time both players were on the floor simultaneously, hopefully clearing up the spacing issues for the offense.

Of course, having Mason and Balbay combine for 31 points might also solve the problem.

That’s exactly what happened in Wednesday night’s 95-83 Texas win, as the pair of offensively-challenged guards made mincemeat of the Tech defense, leading the Horns to a win on a night where Pittman didn’t even score in the first half. It was clear from the start that the two guards had the green light on offense, as Mason attacked the rim for layups almost immediately, and Balbay shot the first open mid-range jumper he was given. That particular shot clanged off the iron, but the junior kept firing, and knocked down a pair of Js later in the contest.

With all five Texas players actually a threat to score, the offense immediately opened up. Avery Bradley found himself with open looks behind the arc and he took advantage, knocking down 3-of-6 from long range. Damion James was able to secure his Big 12-record 48th double-double with a monstrous 28-point, 13-rebound night. To say the Texas offense was clicking on all cylinders would be a gross understatement. According to number crunching by stat guru Ken Pomeroy, last night’s performance was actually the 4th-most efficient one for the offense all season, and the best since the Big 12 opener against Colorado.

Unfortunately, even with all of that scoring, the game wasn’t safely in hand until the final minutes. Texas had yet another poor defensive performance, giving up dribble penetration far too easily in the first half. In response, the Longhorns peeled back the defensive pressure inside the arc to cut off the driving lanes, which left the perimeter wide open. That let Tech — a team which was averaging just thirteen three-point attempts per game — fire up thirteen attempts in just the first half and actually make eight of them!

In the second half, things improved marginally, but there is the question of how much of that defensive improvement was thanks to fatigue slowing down the Tech ballhandlers. The Longhorns were much more successful staying in front of their man for the final twenty minutes and certainly made John Roberson work much harder in the second half to score his points. But with the Red Raiders only playing seven men when they typically run nine or ten deep, it’s quite possible that tired legs just made it harder for them to blow by the Texas defense.

While Tech had lost most of its depth, Texas was choosing to work with less. The Longhorns played with a core group of seven men, and even sat Dexter Pittman for more than half the game as Coach Barnes chose to go with a smaller lineup against the speedy, undersized Red Raiders. J’Covan Brown earned most of the reserve minutes in the backcourt, playing 20 minutes in relief. Down low, Gary Johnson made the most of his 21 minutes, scrapping for six points and five boards. After the UConn loss, there was much talk in the media about downsizing the Texas rotation, and for now that approach seems to be working.

With the losing streak at an end, the Longhorns can now think about getting the season back on track. Fortunately, the UConn loss has no bearing at all on the goal of a conference championship, so Texas still sits just one game back of Kansas in the league standings. The tiebreaker will belong to the winner of the February 8th showdown at the Frank Erwin Center, so as long as the Longhorns stay within one game of the Jayhawks, they still maintain the ability to wrest control of the league with a head-to-head win.

Texas has a tough week on the road between now and then, but also cannot afford to look past a very dangerous march-up with the Baylor Bears on Saturday. Scott Drew has his team playing defense for the first time in ages, and Michigan transfer Ekpe Udoh gives the Bears an inside presence they simply haven’t had with Josh Lomers in the paint.

Check back tomorrow evening for some statistical analysis of the Texas defense, and perhaps even a few more photo galleries from this season’s road trips.

Well, that escalated quickly.

The Longhorns fell victim to a second-straight loss on Saturday afternoon, turning a ten-point lead in the opening minute of the second half into an epic meltdown that resulted in a fourteen-point road loss. Texas seemed completely lost and overwhelmed as the game careened out of control, the rowdy crowd of 10,000 fueling the Connecticut surge.

So what exactly happened? How did a team that was enjoying a double-digit lead suddenly look like a frightened high school JV team? Fortunately for both this author and my readers, the answers to that question will be short and sweet.

What looked good

There were very few things that looked good on this afternoon. So few things, in fact, that it’s incredibly easy to chalk up this loss and the final nineteen minutes of it to aberrational play that will hopefully never be seen again from a Longhorn team.

Early on, Texas seemed to grasp the simple idea of drive-and-dish that we touched on in the game preview. The Longhorn guards were aware of the defensive presence the Huskies boast inside, and were perfectly content with drawing attention off the dribble and dishing for easy layups or open jumpers. Eight out of the 16 first-half buckets for Texas came off of an assist, with two of the unassisted scores coming on fast breaks.

In addition to occasional uses of dribble penetration, there were a handful of times where the Texas ball movement didn’t seem reminiscent of a high-speed Pong battle around the perimeter. On one particular possession in the second half, Jai Lucas lobbed in an entry pass to Dexter Pittman, who was immediately double-teamed by Lucas’ defender and Pittman’s man. Almost immediately, Big Dex rifled the ball back to a wide-open Lucas. The tiny guard missed his three-pointer, so this won’t go down as even a moral victory in the eyes of the biggest Texas homer. But for one brief moment, Pittman did exactly what he was supposed to with the basketball, and the Longhorns were actually set up to capitalize, although they failed to do so.

Far too often, Dexter brings the ball down low, typically leading to a turnover against the double- or triple-teams. In addition, Texas normally has only the offensively-challenged Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay waiting on Dexter’s side of the court as a kick-out option, which means there is absolutely no three-point threat for the defense to worry about. In this instance, Pittman kept the ball high and recognized the presence of a three-point threat waiting. If Texas could actually have multiple possessions like this in one game, that outside threat might actually open things up inside for the much-maligned big man.

The Longhorn defense looked good in brief stretches, although there was a horrible trend of playing solid defense for 30 seconds before letting a big man make a clean cut for a wide-open backdoor layup. Time and again, Texas would shut down Connecticut with great denial on the perimeter, only to give up the easy, demoralizing bucket. There were far more awful things about the defense on Saturday afternoon, but we’ll get to that in the following segment…

What needed work

Unfortunately for the Longhorns, this game wasn’t in the 8-and-under Little Dribblers league, so things weren’t finished after just 24 minutes. Texas absolutely collapsed in the second half, and that means there will be a lot for Coach Barnes to work on before Wednesday night’s game with Texas Tech.

The most glaring problem for the Longhorns was a complete lack of transition defense. This was one of our keys to the game in yesterday’s preview, and it is the one thing that the UConn offense does exceptionally well. But even with that information being very public knowledge, Texas seemed to have no interest in getting back on defense to turn the game into a half-court battle. The Huskies scored 20 points on fast breaks, including twelve in a 7:30 stretch of the second half where they turned an eight-point deficit into a six-point advantage.

As briefly mentioned earlier, the other big problem for the Texas defense was breakdowns late in the shot clock. Great defensive stands don’t mean a damned thing when you only hold a team for 30 of 35 seconds, and that sort of glaring defensive miscommunication is even worse when it results in the wide-open, point-blank looks that UConn was getting.

In one of our tweets from the game, it was mentioned that you won’t beat many teams who are shooting 55% from the field. While that’s certainly true, the defensive issues mentioned above certainly didn’t help matters. It would take quite an awful team to have a bad shooting night when they are racing down the court for uncontested fast break points and cutting back-door for open layups that Jim Abbott could sink.

The final problem contributing to the Connecticut surge was the Longhorns’ lackadaisical ball control in the second half. Thanks to three Balbay fouls in just fifty seconds, the point guard role was filled down the stretch mostly by Mason and Jai Lucas. While both are serviceable points, they aren’t exactly staunch lockboxes with the basketball, and neither is the man you’d want to lead your team out of a double-digit hole in a hostile road environment. They combined for three turnovers down the stretch, with Jordan Hamilton and Damion James adding four more. Without Balbay on the floor to slow things down, the Longhorns looked absolutely clueless with the basketball.

While Texas was busy coughing it up and helping Connecticut to stretch their lead out to thirteen points, the perpetual free-throw nightmare resurfaced to exacerbate the problem. The Horns missed five consecutive free throws as the Huskies were pulling away, and made just 4-of-10 in the second half. While this Texas team is never going to be a good free throw shooting squad, going 1-of-6 in the most critical stretch of the game is just as bad as three dumb turnovers.

The road ahead

Texas has the good fortune of following up this brutal road trip with a home game against Texas Tech. And while the Red Raiders are vastly improved this season, they are still a much different team away from the confines of United Spirit Arena. A solid, convincing win should help the Longhorns get back on track before a tough home game with the Baylor Bears on Saturday, a squad that has finally added quality defense to its usual array of offensive talents.

Tickets still remain for both games, and judging from the typically flaky nature of Texas fans, neither will likely be a sellout thanks to the current losing streak. But this team deserves fan support, regardless of the results of these two tough road games.

If you want to save a few bucks on tickets and support your hometown team, check out Bevo’s Bargains through the Texas Box Office. Fans can save $2 per ticket for the Tech game by donating three books to the less fortunate, while military, fire, EMS, and police can enjoy the same discount if they order their tickets in advance. Girl Scouts are eligible for the $2 for the Baylor game, and must also order tickets in advance.

We’ll be back tomorrow with more content, as we have more photos to share from this year’s trips and perhaps some notes from the road. On Tuesday, we’ll take a statistical look at the struggles Texas has encountered in its last three games, and discuss how those flaws could be addressed down the stretch.

The Longhorns survived a scare and an atrocious shooting night on Saturday, as they escaped the Frank Erwin Center with their perfect mark intact after an overtime victory against Texas A&M. Tonight, however, they face a much bigger test from the Kansas State Wildcats, a team that could even crack the top ten of the polls later this afternoon. If the Longhorns have an offensive performance like they did on Saturday night, there’s a very good chance that Fred Bramlage Coliseum will be the site of their first loss.

By the numbers

The Wildcats are a very scary match-up for the Longhorns, and it’s not just because K-State seems to win against Texas in every sport. Kansas State has the 12th-most efficient offense in the nation, and their defense is nearly as good, checking in at 31st in the country. Combining those efficiency numbers gives the ‘Cats a +0.265 differential per possession, and as a result, they push the tempo to exploit that advantage as often as they can.

Last year’s K-State team finished tops in the nation when it came to offensive rebounding, and this year’s squad is leading the way again. The Wildcats grab an insane 43.5% of their chances on the offensive glass, so even when their highly-efficient offense manages to miss a shot, they typically get another chance to score.

If you look at KSU Coach Frank Martin, you could probably guess that his teams play a physical brand of basketball, most likely because he looks like he could have a bit role on The Sopranos as one of Tony’s enforcers. If you made that guess, you’d be quite the smart cookie, as K-State games typically turn into foul-fests where both teams take approximately 3,912 free throws and the game lasts four hours. The Wildcats are the best team in the country when it comes to getting to the line, and one of the absolute worst when it comes to sending their opponents there.

“Oh no!” Longhorn Fan exclaimed to himself after reading the last paragraph. “My team couldn’t make free throws on a Little Tykes basket!” Calm those fears, though, Longhorn Fan. While Texas shoots just 63.4% from the line, the Wildcats aren’t much better, making 66.2% of their attempts. Missed free throws could certainly play a factor in the final outcome, but it might not be quite the disadvantage Texas fans would expect.

One other thing Kansas State excels at is blocking shots. When the ‘Cats aren’t fouling opponents in the paint, they are typically swatting shots into the twelfth row. K-State opponents are stuffed on 13.5% of their possessions, a rate that makes the Wildcats the 30th-best shot blocking crew in the nation. The Longhorns, meanwhile, have a 14.2% mark and are ranked 21st. There is a good possibility that some poor, unsuspecting KSU student could have his fake beard knocked right off tonight by a high-speed rejection.

Meet the ‘Cats

While this section is called “Meet the ‘Cats,” Texas fans need no introduction to Denis Clemente. The lightning-quick guard from Puerto Rico tied the Big 12’s scoring mark with 44 points in Austin last year, shooting his way onto the national scene while simultaneously ruining my 100th-consecutive game. Thanks, buddy.

Clemente can score from anywhere on the floor, although it’s his soft touch on the running floater that often gives opponents their biggest headaches. He can blow past just about any defender off the dribble, and has a tremendous ability to finish in traffic. Fortunately for Texas fans, Clemente has struggled a little bit this season in comparison to last year, as his shooting percentage has dropped to just 38% and his three-point percentage has fallen under the 30% mark.

The superstar this season for Kansas State, though, is junior guard Jacob Pullen, the man being honored by the aforementioned “Beard Out.” Pullen is leading the team with almost 20 points a game and is knocking down over 44% of his long-range bombs. While last season he was an absolute turnover machine, he’s improved his ballhandling a bit and this year actually has a turnover-to-assist ratio that isn’t approaching negative infinity. Like Clemente, Pullen is very quick with the basketball, and the Texas guards will have to work very hard at keeping him in front of them.

After sitting out a season following his transfer from UConn, big man Curtis Kelly has been a huge addition to the roster. Last year’s Wildcat team lacked any sort of identity inside, and this 6′8″ forward has certainly brought that to the table. He’s leading the team with more than six rebounds a game, and is a great defender down low, having already logged 29 blocks.

At small forward, Dominique Sutton is having a solid junior season. He’s chipping in eight points and six boards in 23 minutes per game, and has started in every contest. He spent the summer playing overseas with Pullen on an all-star team, and the extra months of game action are clearly paying off. Sutton looks faster and more sound on defense, while his ballhandling has also improved. His assist-to-TO ratio has nearly doubled in just one season.

The center position for Coach Martin is played mostly by committee, but that depth allows him to employ the physical style that makes the Wildcats so intimidating down low. Their biggest presence is freshman Jordan Henriquez-Roberts, a 7-footer who needs to add some muscle, but still provides twelve minutes a game. He’s the team’s second-best shot blocker with 16 swats, but Ken Pomeroy’s stats point out that when playing time is considered, Henriquez is best on the team in that category. The big man still needs a ton of seasoning when he’s got the ball, but he is definitely going to make an impact on the defensive end tonight.

Just 6′7″, Jamar Samuels is a sixth man that is versatile enough to fill in at the five when K-State wants to go smaller, but is most at home giving valuable bench minutes as a forward. He’s third on the team in scoring despite only starting in one game, and his 4.6 rebounds are best among non-starters. While Samuels often tries to attack off the dribble from the wings, he handles the ball about as well as Damion James circa 2006, and as a result, he is one of the team’s biggest offenders when it comes to turnovers.

Inside, 6′10″ senior Luis Colon is another option at the five who is a defensive specialist. At 265 pounds, he’s a physical player that loves to block shots and make life miserable for opposing big men. He also likes punching people, although Ty at Bring On the Cats accurately points out that Colon seems to have funneled that aggression into productive basketball play in recent years. When Big Lu and Big Pitt tangle down low tonight, seismologists may note a spike of activity near the Little Apple.

Freshman Wally Judge was a much heralded recruit coming into the season, and with McDonald’s All-American honors, why wouldn’t he be? But so far his play has left a lot to be desired, as the freshman is picking up fouls more often than points. He’s averaging just 12.5 minutes per game, but still manages to lead the team in personals by a wide margin. His 52 fouls are six more than Samuels has, and he’s done it in eleven less minutes per game.

Freshman guard Rodney McGruder plays about as often as Judge, and provides a scoring spark from outside when he comes off the bench. McGruder loves to light it up from the corner, and his 54.5% success rate from long range would be absolutely terrifying if he had taken more than 22 attempts on the year. In future seasons, McGruder is going to be a pest for opponents, but for now he is a quality role player that compliments Martin’s roster nicely.

Chris Merriewether is the tenth Wildcat who plays more than ten minutes per game, and he’s mostly a glue guy off the bench. He can’t shoot that well, and as a result has only thirteen attempts on the year. Martin puts Merriewether in the game simply for his hustle, defense, and hard work, not for his massive 1.2 points per game.

Keys to the game

The biggest flaw for the Wildcats is still their inability to control the basketball. They are turning it over on 22.1% of their possessions, which is even worse than last year’s team. And when you consider that last year Kansas State turned it over 25 times in a 22-point road loss to Nebraska, that’s really saying something. If Texas hopes to slow down the highly-efficient K-State offense, they are going to have to force a ton of Wildcat mistakes.

As previously mentioned, KSU is practically unstoppable on the offensive glass. In addition to forcing turnovers, the other way Texas can limit the damage is to limit K-State’s second-chance points. The Longhorns must keep the ‘Cats off the offensive boards, and when they do give up second and third looks, they cannot result in easy putback buckets.

Finally, Texas must not settle. When the Longhorns have struggled to score inside this season, their possessions often ended simply with outside and mid-range jumpers. Some nights, those shots were falling, and the Longhorns were able to cruise. On other nights, Texas couldn’t hit the broad side of Darryl K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, and they struggled to put away teams like Rice and A&M-Corpus Christi.

The Wildcats are a solid defensive team, and scoring inside will not be easy tonight. Texas must make a commitment to penetrate, flash men to the free throw line, use good ball movement, and most importantly cannot rely simply on contested jumpers where Dexter Pittman is the only player in rebounding position.

The big finish

The Big 12 is a very deep conference this season, and road wins are going to be hard to come by. None will be harder for the Longhorns this year than the one they hope to steal tonight. With the exception of the Kansas game in Austin three weeks from now, this game is the toughest one left on the docket, and there is a very good chance the Longhorns will suffer their first loss of the season in about eleven hours. No matter the outcome, however, this ought to be one hell of a basketball game.

Vegas thinks the game is roughly a toss up, giving the Wildcats a 1.5-point edge thanks to the home-court advantage. They have yet to post the odds of my making it out of Bramlage Coliseum alive, however. Just to be safe, a stop at a costume shop somewhere on I-35 might be in order. Do you think they sell fake beards in child sizes?