Texas (5-1) cruised through their final tune-up before the Gonzaga game, crushing the Texas Southern Tigers (1-5) by a 90-50 margin on Tuesday night. Coach Barnes utilized the entire bench, not only using the chance to give our reserves more playing time, but also keeping the core group of players fresh for this weekend’s contest.

At this point, it’s a given that A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant are going to provide a lot of points for the Horns. And that’s especially true when playing ITT Tech, University of Phoenix Online, DeVry Institute, or Texas Southern. The pair combined for 42 points, with Abrams knocking down four three-pointers. He came out shooting hot, but ended up missing seven threes on the night. I wonder if the increased time on the bench could have possibly thrown off his rhythm. Durant also hit four threes — on only six attempts — and made all six of his free throws.

The team forced a lot of turnovers, and in turn the tempo. Abrams had five steals alone, while the team had sixteen. The Longhorns converted those TOs into a clicking transition offense, and logged 39 points off of them.

I promised I’d keep an eye on Harrison Smith, and it was difficult as he only had six minutes on the floor. But I distinctly remember one great play the kid had where he crashed the glass on the offensive end, slipping between the big men and tipping it back in for two. The stat sheet shows Smith with three rebounds, which surprises me considering the other mental note I made on him was how much smaller he looked than the rest of the guys on the floor. With his minutes still so limited in this game, I’m convinced we will see very little of Harrison all year, and will not get a good feel for him until later in his (four-year) Texas career.

The story of the game in my book was Dexter Pittman. Big Dex looked a lot more comfortable out there on the floor, and while it’s tough to say if that’s a result of playing Texas Southern or of beginning to adjust to his lighter body, it’s great to see. It seemed like he gobbled up every rebound that came within reach, and his touch inside was great. I remember a few plays in the first half where he’d get position inside and call for the ball, only something was different from previous games — the guards actually managed to get him the ball. Pittman took advantage and finished the night with 10 points, six boards, and two blocks in his eleven minutes of play.

Justin Mason is quickly becoming a favorite player of mine. He earns his minutes (and the starting job) with great effort on the defensive end, and he’s not a liability on offense. Tuesday night he got on the stat sheet early, cutting to the rack on two sweet layups. He was a huge part of the Horns’ first-half surge, and he finished with nine points.

D.J. Augustin had his assist-to-turnover ratio marred by unprepared teammates against Texas Southern. He notched six assists, but had four turnovers, two or three of which weren’t even his fault. It still seems like D.J. sees plays and passes that others don’t, and that leads to guys not being ready for his passes. Tuesday night one zipped past Matt Hill and into the North O-Zone, while another bounced off our hands and ended up going the other way. It’s really exciting to think about D.J. playing many years here with other members of this recruiting class, and just “knowing” by the third or fourth year where everybody will be and when the passes will come.

Damion James is still struggling, and it’s tough to watch. The guy has so much skill and athleticism wrapped up in that package, and you know that something’s just a little off either mentally or physically. I’m leaning towards the mental side of things, considering he seemed perfectly healthy on a sick dunk that just about brought down the basket supports. Hopefully that play will serve as some sort of emotional release and get him over this funk. We will desperately need his early-season form to return in time for these next two games.

Matt Hill didn’t do much on Tuesday night, and was definitely overshadowed by Pittman. Hill did still play more minutes than both Connor Atchley and Pittman, but did less than both of them. I’m convinced that we need Matt to get aggressive inside and force his way to the line. He’s a good free throw shooter — he made both of his attempts again on Tuesday — and in addition to the easy points, we need our bigger opponents to get in foul trouble to neutralize their advantage inside.

Atchley looked better, but again I have to wonder about the quality of opponent tainting the stats. His best game last year came against Louisiana-Monroe, but just a month and a half later he was still laying eggs in big games. We’ll see over the next week and a half whether or not Connor has actually improved, when he has to play against the likes of Gonzaga’s Josh Heytvelt and LSU’s Glen Davis. For those interested, Atchley scored two points and pulled down five rebounds.

One of the best moments of the game came in the final minutes. Fan-favorite Ian Mooney had played many much more than usual, even coming into the game in the first half. But after spending most of his time setting picks for the guards, he was fouled on a layup attempt with time winding down. Mooney swished his first free throw attempt and the few thousand fans still left in the Erwin Center went nuts.

I will say that when Ian is on the court, I am actually impressed by the screens he sets. He’s not going to even see the floor in many games after Centenary, but if he’s needed in some sort of emergency situation he at least still provides some sort of value.

Of course, the first big test of the year looms on Saturday. Texas takes on Gonzaga in Phoenix at 2 PM central time, airing on ESPN. I’ll take a look at the Zags and some key storylines after arriving in Arizona on Friday night.