Leaving Madison Square Garden on Friday night, it was difficult to feel anything but optimism. Sure, losing a close game to a top-five team can be frustrating for any fan. But what we saw from the Longhorns in New York City bodes very, very well for the future.

While many have focused on the bizarre finish and Cory Joseph‘s ugly heave with seconds left, there were so many positive things to take from the pair of games played in the 2KSports Classic at Madison Square Garden. We’ve already talked about the overtime win over the Illini, but there was even more to love in the loss to Pitt.

1) Jordan Hamilton is taking charge – Hamilton still has issues forcing shots and sometimes fails to look for the open man as often as his teammates do. But when you’re the most prolific scorer on a young team coming off a season played completely without leadership…can you blame him?

Jordan scored 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including a 5-for-8 mark from behind the arc. Two of those three-point misses actually came in the final few minutes, when Hamilton took quick threes in possessions where the Longhorns might have been better served by working it inside and earning points the hard way. But when a kid is 5-of-6 and has the hot hand, you can’t fault the decision-making too much.

In the future, Jordan will need to make wiser decisions with the basketball and not try to take the entire team on his shoulders every single trip down the floor. But maturing into a leader is a journey that’s rife with speedbumps and detours, so these criticisms are minor in the grand scheme of things. It will be exciting to watch Hamilton mature over the course of this season.

2) Tristan Thompson doesn’t play like a freshman – Ho hum. Just another 40-minute, 11-point, six-rebound performance for a kid who is only in his fourth collegiate game. Thompson even added three more blocks to his total in the loss to Pitt, giving him eight in his two games at MSG. If you can fault him for anything at this point, it might be that he doesn’t know how to take a break.

With such a thin frontcourt, having the freshman be able to play entire games while avoiding foul trouble is an incredible gift. When Thompson is able to limit fouls and perform so well, it decreases the minutes that Matt Hill and Alexis Wangmene have to play, and it makes it easier for the two reserves to produce without pressure.

3) The Texas frontcourt didn’t back down – It’s all we’ve been talking about all season. Heck, we even led off our previous paragraph with it. The Longhorns have a thin frontcourt, and unless Thompson is sharing the court with Wangmene or Hill, they are undersized against most opponents.

Still, Texas took it inside against a big, physical Pitt team and actually beat them on the glass. In fact, the Longhorns held Pitt to just 36% of their offensive rebounding chances, a far cry from the 50-plus percentage they had enjoyed in the first four games.

In addition, the Longhorns were at their most successful when they attacked the paint on offense. They consistently drew fouls against the Panther big men, forcing coach Jamie Dixon to give more minutes to guys typically buried down the bench. Unfortunately, the Longhorns went against this gameplan when it came down to crunch time, and that failure to stick to a successful formula led to a narrow defeat.

4) Frontcourt reserves did their part – As mentioned above, when Thompson plays so well, it means that Rick Barnes doesn’t need as much from his bench players. Against the Illini, Wangmene stepped up and played well. Versus the Panthers, it was Hill who had the good game. Matt only played 12 minutes against Pitt, but he worked hard for three boards, played admirably on defense, and added a free throw. The two bench forwards are not going to be lighting up the stat sheets anytime soon, but these small contributions are much more than Texas fans were expecting coming into the year.

5) There’s room to grow – The Pitt team that won the 2KSports Classic is an experienced one with excellent depth. The Longhorns, on the other hand, are young and are still meshing as a group. If you take another look at these teams in March, you’ll likely see a very similar Panther squad to the one that took home the title. The Longhorns will likely be playing much better basketball.

With the exception of last year’s disaster, Coach Barnes always improves his team throughout the year, especially on defense. The Texas defensive numbers so far this season aren’t up to his standards, so you can be sure the Horns will be tougher to score on once Big 12 play rolls around. In addition, there are a lot of youthful mistakes that probably won’t be cropping up in the second half of the season. Texas may not have won the tournament, but they made quite an impact with their performance in New York City.

The Horns continue the new season with a home game against Sam Houston State tonight at 7 P.M. We’ll be back with a preview later this afternoon.