Los Angeles and New York City are separated by 2,800 miles. The performances by the Longhorns in those two cities might have been even further apart.

Texas impressed the basketball nation with their gutsy effort against Illinois and Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden. With another national TV audience on hand for last night’s game against USC, the Longhorns immediately erased those memories with one of the ugliest, most uninspired performances in years. The Trojans, coming off back-to-back road losses against Nebraska and TCU, completely shut down the Texas offense and easily dissected their defense, cruising to an easy 73-56 win at the Galen Center.

What needed work

We have to flip the script on this game report and open with all of the bad news. There’s almost nothing good worth noting, so we can save those few shiny nuggets for the end. The bad things, on the other hand, could fill a Dostoevsky-sized novel.

Just four days after their second-best defensive performance of the season, the Longhorns played the worst defensive game all year. USC was shooting 57% from the field in the waning minutes of the first half, and finished the night with a 48.9% mark. Their efficiency numbers were off the chart, as the Trojans scored a scorching 1.129 points per possession.

We’ve wondered all season what would happen when a thin and inexperienced Texas frontcourt met up with a physical, talented team. We finally got a chance to see it, and the results weren’t pretty. Nikola Vucevic matched his season average with 16 points in the first half, and finished the night with 24. Alex Stephenson chipped in a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

It seemed that Coach Rick Barnes was trying to match the USC size in the first half, as most of the time Tristan Thompson was sharing the court with either Alexis Wangmene or Matt Hill. The problem was that it quickly became apparent that Vucevic couldn’t be contained by one Longhorn defender, yet he still ended up isolated on Wagmene or Hill on multiple occasions. Vucevic constantly abused the Longhorn frontcourt, but was almost never doubled when he touched the ball.

On offense, Jordan Hamilton was clearly pressing in front of his friends and family, and said as much in the post-game press conference. It took him fifteen minutes to make a basket, and even that came on a goaltending call. Hamilton heated up in the second half and finished with 12 points, but by then it was far too late for Texas to make a threatening run.

The offensive struggles extended to the entire team. USC was one of the best defensive squads in the country last season, and they will likely finish near the top of those rankings again in 2010-11. The Longhorns were clearly frustrated by that excellent defense and forced up a ton of bad shots. J’Covan Brown was hot early on, which unfortunately meant that he continued to shoot all game long, even when good looks weren’t there. Although he led the team with 17 points, J’Covan shot just 33% from the field, including a 1-for-9 performance in the second half.

One of the most puzzling things we saw from our seats in section 112 was the lack of playing time for Dogus Balbay. The Longhorns were being picked apart on defense, yet their best defensive player only saw the court for nine minutes. If there was an injury limiting his playing time, it wasn’t apparent from our vantage point.

What looked good

The only thing that the Longhorns did well on Sunday night was shoot free throws. Coming into the game, the team’s percentage at the line was hovering around 62%, but they knocked down 80% of their attempts against the Trojans. Thompson, who has been battling mental demons at the stripe all season long, still only made two of his four attempts, but the rest of the team was excellent.

In addition, concession prices were incredibly reasonable. At a sparkling arena located across the street from one of the priciest universities in the country, you wouldn’t expect to find a 33 oz. soda for just $3.50. And the free Coke Zeroes being handed out as we left the arena went down a lot easier than the 17-point drubbing we had to sit through. So, there’s that.

Next up: vs. Texas State (2-4); Saturday, 3 P.M.