Thursday night’s game at Madison Square Garden provided a good preview for what fans of the 2006-07 Longhorns will be going through this year — ulcers and antacids. Texas fell to Michigan State in a nervewracking Coaches vs. Cancer semifinal on a last second shot, 63-61.

There were some definite bright spots for the Longhorns, most notably the coming out party of freshman point guard D.J. Augustin. But when a team shoots 20.6% from the field in the second half, things are going to get tough.

The young Texas players showed poise, refusing to panic when down ten to the Spartans midway through the first half. The Longhorns fought back and managed to take a four point lead to the locker room. But once the horn sounded for the final twenty minutes of play, the shots stopped falling.

Augustin changed his modus operandi a bit in the contest, finishing more of his drives to the basket with smooth layups. He still utilized the penetrate-and-dish style that we had seen from him last week, most notably on a play near the end of the first half where he passed up an open layup to drop it off to Jay Mason for the basket and the foul.

One great exchange came when a Spartan player embarrassed our defense for a nifty reverse layup. Seconds later, Augustin went to the rack on the other end of the court and one-upped him with a sick layup of his own. For a brief thirty-second span, Madison Square Garden felt like the site of an And-1 Mix Tape exhibition.

A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant provided their usual offensive sparks for Texas, combining for 43 points — even with Durant shooting only 1-for-9 in a rough second half. Abrams struggled a little to get it started and finished only six-of-thirteen from behind the arc, putting him at a .566 three-point percentage for the young season.

Besides his four blocks — some coming from behind the play — Durant looked a bit sluggish on the defensive end. But with a coach as defensive-minded as Rick Barnes, one can only assume that he will improve noticeably in that department throughout the year.

Michigan State exploited our man-to-man defense early in the first half for easy buckets on back-door cuts. But a few personnel changes and a switch to a 2-3 zone seemed to steady the ship. The intensity went up on the defensive end, and Michigan State’s offense became stagnant.

An interesting note on the 2-3 zone is the make-up of its back line when the Horns run a small lineup. With Augustin and Abrams assigned to the top of the key, the back line consisted of Durant, James, and Jay Mason on the wing. Looking at the height difference across the court was almost as funny as an episode of Freddie. But not quite.

Damion James struggled offensively, missing a ton of point blank looks. It became very apparent from his expression just how frustrated he was. But the great thing about this kid is that he insists upon staying in the game, and he manages to influence the game in other ways. He officially blocked three shots, but also managed to disrupt the flow of the Michigan State offense time and again just by sticking a big paw in the passing lane or the face of a shooter.

Connor Atchley — God bless the kid — struggled like a deaf-mute at open mic night. He picked up quick fouls and it appeared to get into his head. His usually smooth three-point stroke was off, and the foul trouble seemed to lead to tentative defensive play. Of course, once beaten while playing tentatively, he would typically then pick up another foul trying to make up for his mistake on the play. Fortunately, the season is young and Connor is naturally going to take a little while to adjust to his increased role on this team. I have faith in the guy.

Shot selection in the transition game left a lot to be desired. The Horns would go on a break, only to jack up a quick three-pointer with no one in position underneath. I’m glad that we have forced so many turnovers and are going to push the ball. Now we just need to know when to pull it out and run the half-court set.

As predicted, the rebounding was a big part of the team’s downfall last night. With the shots not falling, the lack of second-chance opportunities really hurt, especially when Michigan State managed to get so many down the stretch. There were even a few times where the shooter himself managed to go unaccounted for and snag his own board.

Most surprising to me, however, was that Drew Naymick turned out to be huge for the Spartans in the final minutes. He was a machine on the offensive glass and got MSU the extra shots they needed to stay in the game and win it. The Spartans outrebounded the Horns 26-18 in the second half.

As for the Neitzel layup that ended the game, I’m barely going to touch it. A player slipped, and after that the team seemed unaware of what good help defense is. If you saw it, you know what happened, and if you didn’t, you don’t want to. We shouldn’t have even allowed Michigan State to be in that position, so I’m not going to dwell on a single play.

Texas will now play in the consolation game against St. John’s tonight at 6 P.M. central, televised on ESPN2. Preview is on the way.