After a pair of games against top-ten opponents, the Longhorns take it down a notch tonight in a home contest against the vastly overmatched Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs. Much like the UT-Pan American game, this one will be out of hand very, very early. As a result, this game preview will be short and sweet, focusing more on the big picture than on the specific players facing off against the Horns.

First and foremost, you can ignore every single person who points out that the Bulldogs defeated Kentucky on the road two years ago. This is a completely different Gardner-Webb team, and those Wildcats were also a completely different team. This year’s Runnin’ Bulldogs have managed just three wins, and not a single one of them came against Division I competition. While Gardner-Webb has a very tough, challenging schedule, the results have been embarrassing. Excluding a two-point loss in their conference opener against UNC-Asheville, the Runnin’ Bulldogs have lost their games by an average of 31.5 points and have not kept it closer than a 16-point loss to Western Carolina.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs love to push the tempo, proving that their mascot is anything but a misnomer. The Longhorns play the 8th-fastest style of basketball in the country, while Gardner-Webb is the 20th-fastest, so expect a ton of possessions and a lot of points. And because the visiting team does so many things horribly, expect a vast majority of those points to be scored by Texas.

You may be asking your computer screen, “Just how horribly can a Division I team play?” We’ll let stat guru Ken Pomeroy’s numbers do the talking. In the simplest of terms, red is bad. The darker the red, the worse your team is at that aspect of the game. Gardner-Webb’s numbers have more red than a Soviet flag.

You can also take a look at the numbers framed in brackets next to each stat. That represents where Gardner-Webb ranks in relation to the rest of Division I basketball teams for that statistic. For ten different factors out of the twenty listed, the Runnin’ Bulldogs are 310th or worse. It should be noted that there are only 347 teams that play men’s basketball at the NCAA Division I level.

Texas also has a massive size advantage over Gardner-Webb and should have its way in the paint tonight. The tallest Bulldog who sees significant minutes is Auryn McMillan, a 6’8″ senior from Australia who averages 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. His backup is another Australian, the 6’11” Matt Maden. While he averages less than four minutes a game, Maden will likely be called upon for some extra playing time against the much bigger Texas frontcourt.

Having said all that, it should already be apparent that tonight the only real key is to see how Texas plays after the holiday break. How will Dexter Pittman respond after missing most of the Michigan State game with foul trouble? Will Jai Lucas have a breakout performance in only his third game as a Longhorn? Can Dogus Balbay set a new career high with three dunks in one game?

For those not in Austin or not willing to brave the cold for this inevitable beatdown, the game will be aired in Texas on Fox Sports Net. Longhorn fans spread across the nation can check it out on ESPN Full Court, or at ESPN360.com, if your ISP allows it. For now, enjoy the lopsided affair, and we’ll be back tomorrow for the post-mortem.