Coach Rick Barnes earned his 400th career win on Saturday as the Longhorns defeated Texas State, but it wasn’t pretty. That’s not to say it wasn’t an easy win, because it was — Texas pulled away in the second half and won by a final score of 96-70. But in a game marred by sloppy play and excessive fouling, it was hard for either team to look good doing it.

There were certainly bright spots for Texas despite their 19 turnovers. D.J. Augustin again had an outstanding offensive effort, following up his stellar performance against LSU with another 24 points against the Bobcats. He knocked down his two three-point shots, and on a day where Texas State had ten team fouls only eight minutes into the game, Augustin hit twelve of his thirteen free throws. The Bobcats finished the game with 31 team fouls and miraculously only had one player foul out.

Justin Mason looked good again, and the three-point stroke we saw from him in the waning minutes of the Gonzaga game returned. Jay was 2-for-3 from behind the arc and finished with eighteen points. He was active all over the floor, ripping down five defensive rebounds (seven total) and was credited with two steals. Mason is by far the biggest surprise of the season for me, and I’m thrilled to have him in our starting five every night.

The minutes from our young big men were once again outstanding. Like Augustin, Connor Atchley followed up his solid LSU game with another great effort. He provided 22 minutes off the bench, giving the team ten points, two blocks, and continued to show his improvement defensively.

One thing Atchley has done very well all season long is provide solid screens, and he gave one of the best I’d seen on Saturday afternoon. Bobcat Antwoine Blanchard ran straight into Atchley’s pick and fell to the ground. It was like seeing Wile E. Coyote hit a brick wall. Blanchard had to have medical staff come out to check on him, but ultimately was well enough to come back into the game.

Two of Atchley’s ten points came on a dunk right in the face of a Bobcat defender, which was the first time that I could remember Atchley successfully finishing a dunk attempt. But I’m not saying that his game is solely going to be inside now; Connor still tried two shots from the outside, although he missed both. We’ve all seen that he can hit those, so it’s important for him to keep shooting. When he can score on the outside as well, he throws a wrench into man-to-man defenses and their rebounding efforts.

Speaking of rebounding, the Longhorns had fun against their smaller opponents from San Marcos. Texas won the battle of the glass by a lopsided 51-33 margin, converting their 23 offensive boards into nineteen second-chance points.

Damion James was the most prolific rebounder of the day for the Horns, bringing down ten. He also looked better offensively, finishing strong on dunks and taking the ball to the hole. He finished the game with a double-double, scoring ten points.

Dexter Pittman played only six minutes at the end of the game, but somehow almost came up with his own double-double. He vacuumed up every rebound for a total of five, and actively called for the ball in the post. Harrison Smith set him up with a pair of nice entry passes in the pair’s limited minutes. Pittman went straight up — something that I’m hoping Matt Hill will pick up on soon — and forced his way to the line. He finished 5-for-9 at the line — nine free throws in six minutes! — and scored nine points. He also shamed a Bobcat player and his entire family with a monster rejection.

An unfortunate side effect of the sloppy, foul-ridden game was a poor day for Kevin Durant and A.J. Abrams. Both had three fouls on the day, and Durant spent much of the late first half riding the pine. I’m not sure if that was to protect him from foul trouble or to punish him for the sloppy ballhandling he showed in the game; Durant finished with four turnovers. He did make up for it, swiping four on the other end.

Abrams struggled with his shot in his 31 minutes, going 2-for-11 from the field and 1-for-3 from behind the arc. One point that might be lost amidst his rough shooting day was the effort he gave in creating closer looks for himself. Rather than be content with jacking up threes, A.J. made a lot of good cuts to the basket. Sometimes it resulted in off-balance misses, once it ended with a great layup, and twice it sent him to the line where he hit all four free throws.

For Coach Barnes, the win pushed his career mark to 400 wins and 212 losses, and his Longhorn win total rose to 198 against only 78 losses. His 200th win could come as early as Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee, but will come no later than January 2nd against UT-Arlington at home.

Tonight the Longhorns look for 199 against Arkansas, with a tip time of 8 P.M. Which means in addition to this very delayed write-up, you also get a Razorback preview. It’s content Wednesday! Preview coming to you within the hour.