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.