For the second time in just three nights, the Texas Longhorns put on a defensive clinic at the Frank Erwin Center. While forcing 22 turnovers and blocking seven shots, they held Louisiana Tech to just 32.8% shooting en route to a dominating 89-58 win.

The game started off sluggishly, thanks in part to a whistle-happy crew of officials who handed out a combined 42 personal fouls and even had to stop the game to correct a gaffe on free throws following an intentional foul. With the choppy play and lethargic start for the Horns, the game was actually tied at 10 at the under-12 media timeout. Out of the break, Texas surged ahead with a 19-4 run over the next five minutes and never looked back.

The Longhorn victory was so certain, in fact, that all three walk-ons managed to see playing time for Rick Barnes in the final minute. Dean Melchionni even knocked down his first career bucket, a three-pointer, to bring what was left of a 5,619-person crowd to its feet.

What looked good

Through two games, the strength of the Texas team once again looks to be its defense. Off of the 22 turnovers they forced, the Longhorns were able to score 26 points. According to stat guru Ken Pomeroy, the Bulldogs coughed the ball up on more than 26% of their possessions, nearly seven full percentage points worse than their average a season ago.

When the Longhorns weren’t scoring off of turnovers, their half-court offense looked infinitely better than last year’s. Guards were attacking the paint, the team was moving the ball around with crisp passing, and players were setting smart screens for their teammates. There were even a few instances where it looked like the Longhorn big men were thinking a play ahead, anticipating the moves of the guards to better position themselves for entry passes or screens.

Even when Jai Lucas and Dogus Balbay were on the floor, Texas seemed to be spaced well and the offense didn’t bog down. After both players were much-maligned in 2009-10 for being offensive liabilities that allowed defenses to sag into the paint, seeing them as worthwhile, active members of the offense was refreshing.

Lucas still needs space to get off shots, and Balbay still won’t put it up until he’s within three feet of the rim, but both men seemed to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and played to maximize their skills. This trend will certainly be worth watching against a skilled Illinois backcourt next Thursday night.

While Tristan Thompson was impressive in his first game versus Navy, against Louisiana Tech he truly shined. Thompson played well with his back to the basket, came up huge on defense with three blocks and three defensive rebounds, and looked like anything but a freshman in just his second collegiate game. As we’ve cautioned over the last few days, there will certainly be growing pains when T-Squared faces bigger, more-experienced frontcourt players. But he’s definitely further along in his development than anyone could have hoped.

Once again, Jordan Hamilton had a nice scoring night and looked very fluid with the ball. Last year, he would often force the issue from the wing and end up with frustrating turnovers as he tried to slash to the basket. In his first two games, though, his moves to the bucket are strong and smooth, and he knows how to get the defenders off the floor while still getting a clean look. This is leading to points in the paint and more opportunities from the line, where Hamilton was a solid 6-of-7 last night.

Those points in the paint are a big thing for a Texas team that often struggled to score just inches from the rim last season. Against Louisiana Tech, the Horns outscored the Bulldogs in the paint by a 48-30 count, giving Texas more than half its offensive output from very short range. One of the biggest concerns this season is an undersized frontcout, but so far this year, the Longhorns are holding their own down low. Whether it’s guards getting to the rim or big men making good moves near the hoop, Texas has had no troubles scoring in the paint.

Finally, we must note that on this night, free throws were actually a benefit for the Longhorns. Texas was 17-of-22 from the line, good for a 77.3% success rate. On Monday night, the Horns hit just 55.9% of their attempts, and they averaged a disgusting 63.3% mark last season. While we don’t think Texas is anywhere near shaking this monkey of its back, it’s reassuring that Thompson rebounded from his 4-of-10 free-throw performance against Navy to sink five out of seven last night.

What needed work

The most concerning thing from last night’s game was another terrible performance from behind the arc. Texas was just 4-of-16 from long range, and just 3-of-14 if you take out Melchionni’s garbage-minute attempts. Through two games, that puts the team at just 24.2% from long range, which is very bad news for a squad that really struggled against Navy’s zone in the first half on Monday night.

Those struggles against the zone D were a continuation of last year’s trend, where the Longhorns couldn’t even successfully attack the zone defenses of schools like Rice and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Fortunately, this year’s team is moving the ball well and attacking the rim, as we mentioned earlier.

The main concern, though, is that if Texas has a tough night where they have trouble with driving and ball movement, the Horns will settle for three-point attempts. That’s a recipe for disaster when your team percentage is hovering just a few points above the Mendoza line.

The other thing that stuck out early in last night’s game was Hamilton’s tendency to turn into a black hole. This happened many times last year, and Jordan often forced up shots to the team’s detriment. Fortunately, this season he is scoring the ball with greater efficiency, so that shoot-first mentality hasn’t been a problem. Once again, the concern is what happens when the team runs into adversity. If Hamilton tries to take the entire team on his back and abandons the team’s commitment to ball movement, the Texas offense could look disappointingly similar to last year’s.

Finally, our last note is regarding the foul situation. This early in the year, it’s easy to blame the choppy play on officials with a whistle addiction. Texas was playing physical basketball, as Louisiana Tech coach Kerry Rupp pointed out in the post-game interview. But if the high number of fouls turns out to be the norm rather than an anomaly for this Texas team, the lack of depth could be a huge problem. When the Horns are facing teams like Kansas State and Michigan State, having Alexis Wangmene and Lucas playing a ton of minutes in place of foul-plagued starters will proven disastrous.

Looking ahead

The Longhorns head to New York City for their next two games, where the four host schools of the 2KSports Classic face off at Madison Square Garden. Texas opens with a tough game against Illinois on Thursday night and will face Pitt or Maryland just 24 hours later.

There are a lot of good things that we’ve seen from the Longhorns in these first two games, but the team’s true colors will show in next week’s big tests. If this young Texas team can hold its ground at the Garden, fans can start to get excited for a special season. For now, we have another long week of waiting and asking questions.