In what has become an annual tradition, Texas and Texas State meet once again in a game dubbed by some as the I-35 Series. Considering that the highway runs from Laredo to Duluth, MN, it doesn’t seem like that would be a very original name. But I digress.

Both teams are reeling as they head into this afternoon’s contest, although the troubles are much worse in San Marcos. The Bobcats come in on a three-game losing streak, including a home loss to the NAIA’s Our Lady of the Lake. In that one, the Bobcats needed a 73-point second half to overcome a 20-point halftime deficit, but still fell just short in overtime.

For the Longhorns, today can erase the bitter taste of the team’s worst outing of the season, an embarrassing 73-56 loss at USC on Sunday. The Longhorns were outplayed in every facet of the game, as the Trojans shut down the Texas offense and scored at will. Texas shouldn’t have any problems with the Bobcats this afternoon, so this one should be a chance to work on everything that went wrong last Sunday.

By the numbers

In each of the four years that Doug Davalos has been at the helm for the Bobcats, Texas State has been one of the five fastest teams in college basketball. In fact, in his second season back in 2007-08, the Bobcats had the quickest adjusted tempo in Division I college hoops, cramming more than 80 possessions into each game. This year, the team is currently ranked 6th in the nation, as the Bobcats have 75 possessions per ballgame. With Texas also checking in to the top 50 nationally in tempo, these two teams will certainly log a few miles as they sprint up and down the court.

Unfortunately for Texas State, they don’t score that frequently. Their offensive efficiency numbers are in the bottom third of Division I basketball, with the team scoring just 0.961 points per possession. The only place the Bobcats can consistently score is in the paint, where they have one of the best and deepest frontcourts in the Southland Conference. When they don’t get the ball inside, though, look out. Texas State is making just 24% of their three-point attempts and are an abysmal 57.8% from the line as a team.

That strong frontcourt does mean that the Bobcats reclaim a lot of their missess off the glass. Texas State has grabbed over 39% of their offensive rebounding chances so far this season, but so far their most challenging opponent has been North Texas. The Bobcats likely won’t see the same success on the glass today, but should still score their fair share of points on putbacks.

Meet the Bobcats

Thanks to the up-tempo approach of Coach Davalos, the Bobcat bench earns a ton of playing time. This year, Texas State is running 10 deep, with all players seeing the court for at least 14.5 minutes a game. Even the busiest Bobcats don’t play for more than 26 minutes per game, so it will be tough for fans and broadcasters to keep up with all of the new faces shuffling in and out of the lineup.

That strong Texas State froncourt is anchored by Cameron Johnson, a 6’7″ senior forward who can score in a variety of ways. He can face up on opposing forwards, bang inside for his points, and is securing 5.8 rebounds a night. In a 33-point loss to Texas last year, Johnson struggled mightily, going 0-for-11 from the field in just 14 minutes of play.

Fellow senior Tony Bishop has also come on strong this year, taking the team lead in both points and boards. The 6’6″ Bishop is averaging a double-double at this point, logging 13.5 points to go with 10.5 rebounds each game.

A.J. Stewart is yet another forward who is contributing for Coach Davalos, as he’s averaging 10.8 points per game. He started his career at Kentucky before transferring to Texas State and redshirting during his year of ineligibility. He’s yet to start a game this season, but is still playing nearly 20 minutes a night. Although the Bobcats are already getting great production from Stewart, it’s scary to think of what he’ll do next season as the sole superstar in the frontcourt.

Stewart is joined by another pair of transfers in Eddie Rios and Travis Jones. Now a junior, Rios faced the Longhorns in the NCAA Tournament as a member of the Miami Hurricanes in March of 2008. The guard had just three points in his ten minutes off the bench, but also dished out three assists for Miami coach Frank Haith, a former Longhorn assistant.

Jones, meanwhile, came to San Marcos with a reputation as a scorer at Lon Morris, and he’s fitting the bill so far. He’s averaging 8.3 points per game, good for fourth on the team, despite coming off the bench in two games. The 6’7″ swingman has made just about 30% of his three-pointers this year, but the real long-range threat for Texas State is John Bowman. The only player to started every game this season, Bowman has made 46% of his threes this year. After a season in which he struggled to a 27.8% mark from behind the arc, the hot start is a welcome sight for Bobcat fans.

Ryan White, Jonathan Sloan, and J.B. Conley all came off the bench against the Longhorns last year, combining for 18 points and 11 boards. This year, Sloan is the starting center and is averaging eight points and nearly six rebounds a night. Conley, who led Texas State in scoring when they played the Longhorns last season, has seen his minutes diminish to just about 14 per game. White, on the other hand, has played so well at the point that he’s earning the most minutes on the Bobcat roster. He’s only scoring about eight points a night, but his mediocre 1.68-to-1 TO-to-assist ratio is actually best on the team.

Keys to the game

Against the Bobcats, there’s absolutely no reason the Longhorns should struggle. Due to the up-tempo approach of the Bobcats, Texas may see some issues with fatigue late in the game, but the result should be well in hand by that point. What’s most important, then, is that Texas improve upon the issues that have cropped up over the last two weeks.

1) Will the Longhorns take smarter shots? – For Jordan Hamilton, shot selection needs to improve. He shot just 31% from the field in the last three games, and a big part of that was a regression to his freshman-year form, where he forced up bad shots against good defense. Tonight, Jordan needs to shoot in the flow of the offense and not try to play one-on-five basketball. The same can be said for J’Covan Brown, who started off hot against USC, but continued shooting when the looks weren’t there. Brown was just 1-of-9 from the field in the second half.

2) Has the frontcourt defense improved? – The Longhorns should be challenged this afternoon by a deep and skilled group of Bobcat big men. While Texas State certainly doesn’t have forwards as talented as USC’s Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson, the Longhorn frontcourt still needs to show some improvement on defense. If Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill can’t hold the Texas State forwards one-on-one, will the Longhorns adjust to make things more difficult? They certainly didn’t on Sunday, and they will need to do so in the near future. Today provides a great opportunity for a practice run.

3) Can the defense force mistakes? – We will also be watching to see if the Longhorns can force mistakes by the Bobcats. Texas has not forced many turnovers this year, as their defensive TO rate is just 19.7%. That ranks near the bottom third of D-I basketball, and it simply won’t cut it when the Longhorns face more talented teams down the stretch. The Bobcats, meanwhile, have been pretty sloppy with the ball, turning it over 22.5% of the time. If Texas can’t force mistakes by a team that’s careless with the ball, there’s little chance they’ll do it against well-disciplined offenses in the future.