After six years of frustration in College Station, the Longhorns finally left Reed Arena with a victory. Texas led from wire to wire against the Aggies on Monday night, building a lead as large as 27 points before cruising to a dominating 69-49 win over their in-state rivals.

The victory moved the Longhorns to 7-0 in Big 12 play, while the Aggies fell into a third-place tie with Baylor at 4-3. With Texas now holding the tiebreaker over Texas A&M by virtue of sweeping the season series, the Aggies are essentially eliminated from any discussion of a conference title.

To claim the Big 12 crown, Texas A&M would need to run the table — which includes a road trip to Kansas — while the Longhorns would have to lose four of their final nine games, and the Jayhawks would have to lose to another opponent in addition to the Aggies. Not even Lloyd Christmas would like those odds.

What looked good

The story all season has been the superhuman numbers being posted by the Longhorn defense, and against the Aggies it was no different. Texas held A&M to just 0.559 points per possession in the first half, and allowed 0.790 per possession for the game. In conference play alone, Texas is allowing just 0.835 points each time down the court, a number made even more impressive by the fact that it includes four games against the league’s three best teams.

For the third straight game, the Texas defense also completely shut down one of the top scoring threats for the opposition. Khris Middleton couldn’t even manage a point against the Texas defense, despite coming into the game averaging 15.5 a night. Against A&M, Missouri, and Oklahoma State, the Longhorns held Middleton, Marcus Denmon, and Keiton Page to a total of seven points. That trio had combined to average 45.5 points per game prior to facing the Horns.

An early catalyst for the Longhorns was the aggressive play of Dogus Balbay, who has attacked the basket much more in the last few games. Balbay seems to be more aware of when defenses aren’t prepared to stop the ball in transition, and he’s collecting a few easy layups in each game as a result. Against the Aggies, that led to six points for Dogus, who has scored 29 points in Texas’ last four games. In the nine games prior to his offensive outburst, Balbay chalked up a grand total of 28 points.

Jordan Hamilton posted yet another impressive stat line, scoring 20 points with ease. He recognized mismatches and sunk midrange jumpers over Dash Harris and B.J. Holmes, grabbed six rebounds, and added three assists. While Hamilton made only three-pointers against Oklahoma State last week, he was attacking off the dribble in this one and creating good looks for himself inside the arc.

The bench also provided a huge spark in the first half, as the four Longhorn reserves scored 17 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. That alone was nearly enough to eclipse Texas A&M’s 20 first-half points. Big men Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill finally both had a solid game on the same night, with the pair scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, while they combined to grab 12 rebounds. J’Covan Brown chipped in eight points with three assists, and actually did not attempt a three the entire night.

What needed work

As always, free throws were a major issue for the Longhorns. The team shot 59.1% from the line, which at the very least was a marked improvement from the abysmal 47% mark they posted against Missouri on Saturday. Tristan Thompson was once again the main offender, making just four of his 10 attempts at the line. The rest of the Longhorns actually shot 75% from the stripe, although Hill missed the front-end of a one-and-one in the first half.

The offense in the second half left a little to be desired, but it’s hard to fault a team for letting off the gas when they take a 25-point lead to the locker room. Texas managed just 24 points in the second half, but still shot 44% from the field over that stretch. All told, the Longhorns scored 1.087 points per possession, a number any fan would be pleased with in conference play. If the biggest complaint you can make about a team is that they didn’t win by 30 points, then it seems you don’t have that much to worry about.

Unfortunately, the one Longhorn who did had a rough night was reserve guard Jai Lucas. He had a nice early drive for a layup, but also picked up three fouls (one of which was 85 feet from the basket), bricked his only three-point attempt, and was abused defensively by B.J. Holmes. It’s great that Jai was able to play 12 minutes in this one, but it’s hard to believe this performance earned himself any extra minutes in the future.

Next up: vs. Texas Tech (11-11 overall, 3-4 Big 12); 8 P.M, Saturday