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.

In late October, the Big 12 and Pac-10 announced the end of a four-year series pitting teams from the two conferences in an annual basketball grudge match. With all of the shuffling and re-alignment going on this summer, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the two leagues parted ways. Colorado was bolting the Big 12 for the greener pastures of the soon-to-be Pac-12 Conference, while last-minute deals kept the remains of the Big 12 intact and ended Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott’s dream of a 16-team league stretching from Seattle to College Station.

During the first three years of the conference alliance, the Texas Longhorns have tallied three wins. That perfect mark includes a momentous upset, when the Longhorns secured the first-ever road victory over a No. 1 team in school history with a last-minute win at UCLA. Three years after that upset, Texas finally returns to Los Angeles, this time to face off with a struggling USC squad.

Tonight’s game at the Galen Center will be the first true road game for the Longhorns, although their two neutral-site games at Madison Square Garden had crowds that were certainly skewed in favor of the Texas opponents. USC’s home arena isn’t a loud, intimidating place to play, but one can imagine that the prospect of another USC-Texas battle — even if it isn’t on the gridiron — could fill a few more seats.

The game will also be a homecoming for sophomore Jordan Hamilton, who played his high-school ball in Los Angeles. Jordan will be looking for a breakout game, as he struggled in the last two Texas wins. Of course, for a scorer like Hamilton, “struggle” is a relative term — he still chipped in 29 points in the two games despite only hitting 32% from the field.

By the numbers

Head coach Kevin O’Neill inherited a difficult situation when he arrived at USC, with the team mired in an investigation surrounding former Trojan O.J. Mayo. The Trojans have gone through a litany of roster changes over the past two years, but have emerged with a small, tight-knit group of players who hang their hat on in-your-shirt defense. Last year, USC was tops in the Pac-10 in scoring defense, and 2nd nationally in defensive efficiency. Trojan opponents managed just 0.849 points per possession on the year.

This season, defense is still a strength for USC. While this year’s numbers aren’t quite as impressive, the Trojans are still holding opponents to just 0.920 points in each trip down the court. A big part of their defensive success comes from limiting opponents to just one shot, as the Trojans are giving up just one offensive board in every four opportunities.

USC is also very disciplined on defense, committing very few fouls for such a solid D. The team averages just 15.5 fouls per game, which is an important number for a team that has just six players accounting for 92% of the team’s minutes.

Meet the Trojans

The USC team that takes the court tonight will be a very different one from the team that tackles the Pac-10 conference slate. That’s good news for Texas, because the Trojans will welcome Fordham transfer Jio Fontan on December 18th when the team faces Kansas. Fontan offers experience and leadership at the point, something USC is lacking at the moment.

Right now, the leadership comes from the frontcourt, where Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson anchor the team. Vucevic is averaging a double-double so far, with 16 points and 10.9 boards per game. He’s a good midrange shooter and can knock down the three, so he spreads the defense out and opens up the lane for the team’s tiny, slashing guards.

Stephenson, meanwhile, is making a big impact after transferring from North Carolina. Last season, Stephenson often found himself in foul trouble, which limited his production. This year, he’s posting 8.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a night, despite playing the entire season with a fractured bone in his left hand. The injury is limiting his offensive game to putbacks and easy lay-ins, but even that doesn’t stop him from contributing down low.

In the backcourt, freshman Maurice Jones is filling the void at point until the arrival of Fontan. At just 5’7″, Jones isn’t a guy who typically creates his own shot. However, the Trojans work hard setting high ball screens with Stephenson and Vucevic, so Jones is often able to speed to the rack for easy buckets.

Although Jones is only a freshman, he’s proven to be a heady point guard so far. He doesn’t press the issue when the shot isn’t there, which saves him from a lot of embarrassing blocked shots. If he’s driving the lane and the defense shuts things down, Jones has no problem backing it out and resetting the offense.

Another freshman in the starting five is Bryce Jones, a 6’5″ off guard who is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Although he’s only made 36.6% of his threes so far this season, his three-point prowess was well-documented in high school, and he could certainly give Texas fans a headache if he gets hot from long range tonight.

Senior Marcus Simmons is taking on a larger role this season, having started all eight games so far. He’s doubled his scoring output from last year’s three points per game to more than six this season, but more importantly he is grabbing 4.5 boards a night. On a team that only has two players taller than 6’7″ earning significant minutes, the 6’6″ Simmons has to be active on the glass.

The Trojans have another senior leader coming off the bench in Donte Smith. Just 5’11”, he’s another quick guard at Coach O’Neill’s disposal, and he’s another three-point threat to compliment Bryce Jones. It’s also worth nothing that Smith is 9-of-10 at the line this year, a very impressive number on a USC team that is shooting just 64% at the line.

Garrett Jackson is the only other Trojan who has played in every game this year, although he’s averaging just 13.5 minutes a night. He was Gatorade’s Player of the Year in Oregon as a high-school senior last season, and he seems to be adjusting quickly to the college game. He’s still very thin for a college player, but he’s athletic and knows how to score inside against bigger players. He also has a smooth midrange jumper, the threat of which allows him to pump fake opponents off the floor before he slashes to the rim.

Keys to the game

While we’ve talked about the lack of depth for Texas all season long, this Trojan team has it even worse. USC is well-known for its excellent half-court defense that pressures the ball well past the perimeter, so Texas would be well-served to push the tempo. This serves two purposes, as it wears out the Trojans’ core rotation, and gets Texas easier points in transition before the tough USC defense can get set.

In addition, Texas can exploit the lack of depth by attacking inside. Beyond Vucevic and Stephenson, there is very little experience or size on the Trojan bench. At 6’9″, freshman Curtis Washington is the only other forward with any size on Coach O’Neill’s bench, and he’s played a grand total of seven minutes in the team’s first eight games. Getting Vucevic and Stephenson in foul trouble will not only take a bite out of USC’s scoring threat, it will also give Texas an even bigger size advantage.

Finally, the Longhorns have to erase the mistakes tonight. Against Lamar, Texas played one of the sloppiest games we’ve seen in years, turning it over 23 times. The Longhorns also struggled early against Sam Houston State, coughing it up 11 times in the first half. USC’s defense is much, much better than what Texas saw against the Cardinals and Bearkats, so the Horns simply cannot afford to be that careless with the basketball tonight. Giving up possessions and easy, fast-break points is a recipe for disaster.

For fans who like high-scoring basketball, Saturday’s game against Rice might not have been that enjoyable. Throw in the fact that Texas escaped with only a three-point victory, and maybe some of those folks might have even described the afternoon as miserable. Tonight, things will be very, very different at the Frank Erwin Center when the Lamar Cardinals square off with Texas. The Cards are going to bring a ton of points to the Frank Erwin Center, and the Longhorns should cruise to an easy win.

By the numbers

The aforementioned slow game against Rice was actually a full 20 possessions slower than four of Texas’ first five games, clocking in at just 54 possessions. The Lamar Cardinals, meanwhile, average more than 72 possessions per game and are putting up 98 points a night. Their actual efficiency numbers are atrocious, however. The Cardinals score just .974 points per possession — by contrast, the Longhorns earn 1.125 per trip — while their defense gives up points like a middle school debate team squaring off against Columbia Law. Opponents are scoring 1.099 per possession, so look for the Longhorn offense to run wild in this one.

The rest of the defensive numbers make it painfully clear just how bad the defense really is. Lamar opponents are making nearly 50% of their three-pointers and almost 53% of their shots inside the arc. When the Cardinals aren’t letting people hit shots like it’s NBA Jam, they send folks to the free-throw line with regularity. Lamar opponents shoot more than a free throw per two field goal attempts, a free-throw rate that is among the 25 worst in the nation.

They stole the basketball 22 times against St. Gregory’s on Saturday, but haven’t found the same success against their three D-I opponents. They are stealing it just once in every twenty possessions — good for 340th out of 345 teams in this metric — so even though they are forcing turnovers, it hasn’t fueled their up-tempo attack. Knocking the ball out of bounds and forcing travels simply doesn’t kickstart a transition offense.

Meet the Cardinals

The Lamar roster is littered with newcomers, but most come to the table with JuCo experience. Fortunately, head coach Steve Roccaforte also has four starters returning for last year’s team, which has enabled the Cardinals to hit the ground running in 2010-11. The insane tempo at which Lamar plays dictates the need for a long bench, and the Cardinals have no shortage of players who can sprint and can score. Four different Lamar players are averaging more than 12 points a game so far this season, while eleven different players are seeing at least ten minutes a night.

Charlie Harper is a versatile forward who leads the starting five with 13 points a game. The 6’5″ junior forward is being counted on to grab the boards this season, and so far he’s responded with a team-leading 5.8 per game. Joining Harper in the frontcourt are a couple of young forwards in Stan Brown and Darius Harris. The 6’8″ freshman Harris made his first career start against St. Gregory’s on Saturday, but played just eight minutes. Brown, meanwhile, is averaging just about 10 minutes a night. At 6’9″, he’s one of just a few big men in the guard-oriented Lamar lineup.

The other big body on the Cardinals roster is 6’10” senior center Coy Custer, who has come off the bench in all six games this year. He’s playing just 11 minutes a game, but still contributing 4.5 points and 3.7 rebounds a night. If Texas chooses to go small and match Lamar’s style, Custer’s role should be minimal. If the Longhorns try to go big, however, Custer, Brown, and Harris will all need to step up to keep Lamar competitive.

It’s the backcourt where Lamar is loaded, and the Cardinal guards can score in bunches. Senior Kendrick Harris puts in about 12 points a night, but it’s his 43% success rate from behind the arc that is the scariest number. JuCo swingman Brandon Davis is also lethal from long range, knocking down 41% of his three-point attempts, while scoring 12.5 per game. There’s no dobut that Lamar is going to put points on the board tonight, so look for this pair to score quite a few of them.

Junior Anthony Miles is bouncing back after a late-season injury marred his 2009-10 campaign. He’s started all six games this year, and has put up almost 10 points a night. He’s benefiting from the addition of JuCo transfer Mike James, who missed the first four games of the season, but has scored 30 points in his two appearances.

James fits well into the up-tempo Lamar attack, and his presence allows Miles to shift from point to an off-guard role where he can score even more. The Horns will also need to watch James when he’s on the perimeter, as he’s 3-for-6 from behind the arc in his two games.

Lamar is also getting minutes from a trio of JuCo transfers in Vincenzo Nelson, Orlando Brazier, and Devon Lamb. Lamb averaged 28 points per game at Southwest Christian JC last season, and he’s been the most productive bench player for the Cardinals so far this year. He’s scoring more than nine points in just 16 minutes a night. Nelson and Brazier, meanwhile, are providing additional minutes inside, although they give up a few inches against a lot of opposing forwards.

The final Cardinal seeing significant playing time is sophomore Donley Minor. The 6’2″ guard is known for being a sharpshooter, but is only hitting 36% of his three-point attempts at this point. He’s due for a breakout game from long range, so don’t be surprised if he starts sinking them tonight.

Keys to the game

With the efficiency numbers so one-sided, there’s very little that Texas could do to lose this game. Essentially, if Texas can simply protect the basketball to limit the fast break points for the Cardinals, things shouldn’t be close. If the Longhorns are unable to make their free throws, as they were in the final minutes against Rice, it would only serve to keep Lamar in the basketball game.

With the outcome hardly in doubt, tonight is more about looking at problem areas for the Longhorns to see if they’ve improved. After a tough first half against Rice, Jordan Hamilton lit up the stat sheet with a ton of threes in the second half. Tonight, we’ll be looking to see if he’s still attacking the basket and if his shot selection improves from inside the arc.

In addition, if the Longhorns stick with a traditional lineup, we’ll be watching to see how Matt Hill and Alexis Wangmene do against undersized competition. It’s no secret that Hill and Wangmene will be overmatched against many of the starting bigs in conference play, but they’ll have to be able to perform against players like these. If not, their minutes off the bench in the spring won’t be very effective.

Cheap tickets abound

Once again, there’s a web coupon available for cheap seats to tonight’s game. Click here and print out the coupon for $6 end-zone mezzanine tickets, and then join us in the lower arena for the game. It’s your last chance to see the Horns play at the FEC until December 11th, so bring out the family for what is sure to be a high-scoring, entertaining night.

Last season, the Rice Owls gave Texas all they could handle when the two teams met at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston. The Owls were within seven points with 6:23 to go before the Longhorns pulled away on the strength of Dexter Pittman‘s inside play. Pittman is gone now, but the majority of that Rice team has returned. Four of last year’s starters will be on the court for the Owls this afternoon when the teams rekindle the old Southwest Conference rivalry.

Year Two of the Ben Braun era was one where the program simply treaded water. Although the Owls had won four early season games before their matchup with Texas, Rice won just four more games the rest of the year. This season, the Owls have padded their résumé with a pair of wins over NAIA schools and added a blowout victory against Grambling. The returning experience has clearly made a difference, though, as Rice hung close in tough road losses to Santa Clara and North Texas.

By the numbers

This afternoon will be a clash in styles, as the Owls come into this one averaging just 67.4 possessions per game. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are pushing the tempo to the tune of 71.3 possessions per contest. While a four-possession differential may not seem like much, in the world of tempo stats, it is a massive gap. The Owls will likely play a calm, deliberate style of half-court hoops, but look for the Horns to pressure the basketball and push the tempo on offense.

In their two NCAA contests, Rice’s free-throw rate is absolutely abysmal. A measure of how often a team gets to the line, the Owls’ FTR puts them 322nd out of 345 Division I teams. This means that Rice is settling for far too many jumpers, and isn’t attacking the paint.

On defense, Rice also has a terrible FTR. They are sending opponents to the line 57% of the time, which puts them 326th nationally. If Texas attacks inside, the Longhorns could attempt roughly 3,283 free throws in this game. You may want to add an extra 90 minutes to your DVR recording.

The other statistical concern for Rice is a very high turnover rate. More than once in every five trips down the court, the Owls are coughing up the basketball. Fortunately for Coach Braun, his team is hitting 42% of their shots, so when they actually hang on to the ball long enough to shoot it, the Owls are making it count.

Rice also seems to be a bit bi-polar behind the arc. In their three NCAA contests, the Owls are hitting 40% of their three-point attempts. But against the NAIA schools, Rice struggled mightily. The Owls fired up three-pointers indiscriminately in those two games, making just 6 of their 39 attempts. Although Rice was just 1-of-10 behind the arc against Texas last season, the Horns still need to keep an eye on the perimeter. Unless, of course, Texas changes its classification to NAIA sometime in the next two hours.

Meet the Owls

Last season, Arsalan Kazemi nearly had a double-double off the bench against Texas. He logged eight points and nine boards in only his sixth collegiate game. Now a sophomore, Kazemi has developed into the team leader. He’s tops on the team in both points and boards, logging 14.4 and 12 a game. He’s still a one-trick pony, as he does all his work inside. At 6’7″, that could lead to some frustrating nights for the Iranian-born Kazemi when the Owls square off against bigger frontcourts.

Another sophomore making an impact is guard Tamir Jackson. He’s hitting more than 36% of his three-point attempts, and is second on the team with 13.2 points a night. He’s also the most-used player, seeing more than 30 minutes a game. The main concern with the sophomore guard is ball control, as Jackson is averaging more turnovers than assists. Last year, he coughed it up four times against Texas.

Joining Jackson in the backcourt is junior Connor Frizelle. He had a standout freshman campaign in Conference USA, but struggled as a sophomore. Those struggles were never more apparent than in last year’s game with Texas, where Frizelle missed all ten of his shots. He’ll certainly score points this afternoon, so the Horns must work to limit this aggressive guard to jump shots.

Senior guard Cory Pflieger is in his sixth year of eligibility after missing all of last season due to an ankle injury. He’s playing about 23 minutes a game, and is a threat from long range. In 2008-09, his last full season, he made more than 36% of his long range attempts, but is off to a slower start this season with just 30% of his threes going down.

In the frontcourt, Lucas Kuipers is the only Owl besides Jackson who has started every game. At 6’8″, the junior is built more for the power forward role in the Rice offense, but generally plays more of a wing thanks to Kazemi’s preference to play down low. Despite starting every contest, Kuipers only plays about half of each game.

The real workhorse in the frontcourt is Trey Stanton. He’s the biggest guy on the Rice roster that gets any significant playing time, and he ate up a ton of minutes down low last season. This year, he’s the second-leading rebounder on the team with 6.4 boards a night and is averaging 7.2 points. He’s actually attempted two threes per game this season, but has only made 10% of them so far. He’s due to make quite a few, though, as the former Navy big man made 35% of his long-range attempts last season.

Off the bench, the Owls are getting a ton of production out of Nigerian-born senior forward Suleimon Braimoh. Although he’s playing just 15.8 minutes a night, he’s scoring a quick rate, chipping in 7.4 points in his limited action.

In addition to the three main guards in Ben Braun’s stable, the Owls also rely on minutes from freshman Trev Abraham and Nate Schwarze. Abraham has started two games, and Coach Braun expects big things from him in the near future. He’s a quick ballhandler and gets in your shirt on defense.

Schwarze, meanwhile, has seen his role increase dramatically. After playing less than seven minutes a night last season, he’s playing more than 15 a game this year. He’s currently leading the team with a 67% three-point percentage, but that number is skewed by the fact that he’s only taken three attempts all season.

Keys to the game

This afternoon, the Longhorns must attack the paint. The Owls foul often, and lately the Longhorns have actually made enough free throws to make trips to the charity stripe useful. If Texas can get the Rice bigs in foul trouble, as they did against Pittsburgh, Coach Braun will have to rely on his inexperienced frontcourt reserves. The Owls do have a 7’2″ Egypitan product in Omar Oraby, but he’s only played 10 minutes all season. If Rice gets to the point where he’s eating up a ton of minutes, the Longhorns will likely have an easy victory.

The second part of a commitment to attacking the paint is that it means the Longhorns won’t be settling for threes. That’s exactly what the Longhorns did against the Rice zone last year, and it let the Owls stay in the game for far too long. Until Texas made a commitment to getting the ball to Pittman, their putrid 23% mark from long range was scuttling the offense.

On defense, Texas needs to force Kazemi outside. The sophomore makes his living down low, so if the Longhorn defense can force Kazemi to take midrange jumpers, it will cripple the offense. It will also take him away from the glass, hampering Rice’s ability to rebound.

Texas would also benefit from putting a ton of pressure on the basketball. Jackson and Frizelle, the two guards who play the most for Rice, have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.62! That’s a number you’d expect from a stone-handed big man, not two of your primary ballhandlers.

As a team, Rice is losing possession nearly once in every four trips down the court. By pressuring the basketball, the Longhorns will not only limit the Owl offense, but will also fuel their own fast break game.

Cheap tickets remain

Sure, it’s cold outside, at least by Texas standards. But one of the many great things about college basketball is its climate-controlled arenas. Take thirty seconds to print out this web coupon and snag yourself $6 tickets to the game. The offer is only good for mezzanine tickets, but on a holiday weekend, you’ll easily be able to sit in the lower level.

The Longhorns return to the friendly hardwood of the Frank Erwin Center tonight when they host the Sam Houston State Bearkats. Texas is coming off an impressive performance in New York City, where they knocked off then-13th-ranked Illinois and lost by just two points to a top-five Pittsburgh team. While the Longhorns typically have their share of easy opponents at home in November and December, the Bearkats are just a few months removed from a Southland Conference tournament title and an appearance in the Big Dance.

Sam Houston State will look a little different than they did when they hung with Baylor in the NCAA tourney. They’ve lost their two of their three leading scorers from a season ago, and all of their off-season departures combined to account for more than 53% of last year’s points. In addition, the Bearkats have a new leader at the end of the bench, as Jason Hooten has taken over head coaching duties after six years as an assistant. Sam Houston State’s new-look squad has an untested backcourt and a slew of former role players who now need to step into the limelight. A road game against a top-twenty team should provide quite the test for the Bearkats, who have just a pair of games against NAIA opponents under their belts.

Meet the Bearkats

For the second straight year, SHSU is led in scoring by big man Gilberto Clavell. He’s upped his average slightly to 17.5 PPG through the first two contests, and he logged a double-double in his last game against Northwest Oklahoma State. At 6’7″, he is surprisingly the tallest Bearkat to see significant minutes each game, although the team may be forced to utilize 6’9″ Aaron Thompson more against the bigger Longhorn lineup.

The team’s other returning starter is senior Josten Crow. He tied a career high with 21 points against Mary Hardin-Baylor in the season opener, and is actually leading the team in rebounds despite being a 6’4″ wingman. Crow has 10 rebounds per game so far this season, but should find that task a little bit harder when facing his first NCAA opponent of the year. Texas will also have to keep an eye on Crow when he’s at the perimeter, because while he has only hit 27% of his three-point attempts in the first two games, he did sink more than 40% of his attempts last year.

Lance Pevehouse is the only other Bearkat averaging double-digits in scoring through the first two games. His 11 points per game are nearly double his output as a bench player last season.

Pevehouse is just one of a few guards who are being asked to step up this year following the graduation of seniors Corey Allmond and Ashton Mitchell. Joining him in the backcourt is 5’10” point guard Drae Murray, who is averaging 7.5 PPG so far and has an eye-popping 5-to-1 assist-to-TO ratio.

Providing some extra experience at the guard position are a pair of JuCo transfers, Nafis Richardson and Marcus Williams, who are each averaging more than 23 minutes per game. Richardson, who comes from McClennan JC in Waco, has eight points per game, while Williams has chipped in 6.5 a night.

Last year, the Bearkats were an up-tempo team led by their senior backcourt. The team’s 70.4 possessions per game was top-fifty nationally. While there are no tempo-free stats available on Sam Houston’s first two games against NAIA opponents, don’t be surprised to see much of the same tonight. The Longhorns have been running at a 71.2 possession-per-game pace so far this season, so it could be quite the track meet.

Keys to the game

1) Pressure the guards – With an inexperienced backcourt, Sam Houston State is still working out the kinks in its offense. The team has turned it over 39 times in two games, a number that is high enough on its own, but is even more troublesome when you consider the caliber of the Bearkats’ first two opponents.

Meanwhile, Texas forced just 23 turnovers in its two games at Madison Square Garden, despite having a combined 147 possessions in those two contests. That equates to just a 15% defensive turnover percentage, something that must improve for the Longhorns. Tonight offers an excellent opportunity for the team to do just that.

2) Dominate the inside game – There won’t be many times this season that the Longhorns are expected to dominate the glass and the battle for points in the paint, but tonight is one of those instances. The two teams are comparable in size, but the Longhorns have a very special big man in Tristan Thompson. Add in the fact that the team is committed to getting the ball inside and that the Horns average a +8 rebounding margin, and it’s not hard to see why Texas should be a force inside tonight.

3) Make the free ones – While the odds are incredibly slim for an upset tonight — stat guru Ken Pomeroy gives SHSU a 5% chance of winning — missing free throws is the easiest way to keep a scrappy opponent in the game. Sam Houston was within arm’s reach of a very talented Baylor team for nearly 40 minutes in March, and they could potentially do the same thing against Texas tonight. Making just 62% of their free throw attempts, as the Longhorns have done so far this season, would be one way to leave the door cracked for a talented SHSU squad.