The Texas Longhorns return home to the Frank Erwin Center as losers of three straight, unranked for the first time in nearly two years, and absolutely reeling with only a month left in the regular season. They hope to get things back on track against the visiting Oklahoma State Cowboys, a team that Texas has defeated five consecutive times. But this season has proved that nothing will come easy for this Longhorn squad, so they are likely in for yet another heated battle.

By the numbers

Based simply on the lineup and sizes of the players involved, at first blush one might compare Oklahoma State to the Nebraska team that just defeated Texas in Lincoln on Saturday. But while both teams are severely undersized and run a four-out, one-in look, the Cowboys and Cornhuskers are on absolutely opposite ends of the tempo spectrum. Travis Ford’s OSU team is the 16th-fastest in the country, sprinting through 72.5 possessions per contest. They are also quite efficient with the ball, earning 1.134 points per possession, good for 28th in the NCAA. The up-and-down tempo and quality offense combine to make the Cowboys the 5th-highest scoring team in the country with 83.2 points per game.

Statistically, the biggest weaknesses for OSU are a lack of offensive rebounding and a penchant for putting their opponents on the free throw line. The inability to crash the offensive glass stems from not only the tiny lineup Coach Ford throws out there, but also the Cowboys’ love affair with the three-point line. Following the mysterious mid-season dismissal of Ibrahima Thomas, OSU was left with only two real options in the post. The tallest Cowboy to see significant minutes is Malcoln Kirkland, a 6’8″ forward who still looks awkward in his second season.

The height problems also are a big reason why Oklahoma State sends their opponents to the line so often, as teams love to attack the lane and draw fouls on the smaller defenders. With a thin bench, the propensity for ringing up fouls causes a major problem for the Pokes, who have had players foul out 18 different times this season. The constant hacking also gives opponents a ton of extra points, as Big 12 opponents have shot 40 more free throws than OSU, and made 20 more of them.

Meet the Cowboys

The face of Oklahoma State is point guard Byron Eaton, a 5’11” senior who Texas fans best remember for hitting a ridiculous over-the-shoulder prayer from half court in a triple-overtime thriller back in 2006. After struggling with his weight for his first three seasons, Eaton has slimmed down and added muscle this year, making him even more of a threat. He’s strong enough to take the contact inside and still finish, and his solid dribble-drive penetration opens things up for an OSU offense that loves the drive-and-dish. While he’s only a 32% three-point shooter on the year, Byron has hit a scorching 44% of his attempts in conference play. Eaton’s biggest flaw is that he is one of the prime offenders when it comes to picking up stupid fouls, and he DQ’s far too often for someone who is supposed to be a team leader.

Terrel Harris is the other senior starter for Coach Ford, but has struggled as the calendar turned to the new year. Once the conference’s leading three-point shooter, Harris is now only fourth-best on his own team. His scoring average dropped over five points per game between the first ten contests and the second ten, but he did lead a crazy second-half comeback against Texas Tech last Tuesday with 22 points. He is insanely quick with the basketball and demands extra attention from the defense, so the Cowboys will have to hope his performance against the Red Raiders is just the beginning of his resurgence.

Junior guard Obi Muonelo is only 6’6″, but leads the tiny OSU team in rebounds. He is the true key to the offense, as Okie Lite seems to struggle the most when Obi’s shot isn’t falling. Just like the rest of his team, Muonelo is not a man you can leave alone at the perimeter, as he’s hitting almost 41% of his three-point attempts. But if the defense plays him too tightly, the guard loves to put it on the floor to create some space for mid-range jumpers. He has solid handles and can get the defender off balance just long enough to showcase his quick release on the J.

Leading scorer James Anderson has continued his impressive play in his sophomore season, chipping in over 16 points per game for the Pokes. The biggest change he made in the off-season was a commitment to improving his dribble penetration, and it shows. He’s no longer just a jump-shooting threat, and as with Eaton, Anderson’s ability to slash to the rack opens things up for the outside shooters. He still loves to knock down the J, though, and is the team’s top three-point threat with a 41.6% mark from behind the arc.

As mentioned earlier, Malcoln Kirkland is the tallest player who gives significant minutes for the Cowboys, although the word “significant” is a bit of a misnomer for any forward in Coach Ford’s offense. Once a starter, Kirkland plays just over 10 minutes a game, sharing the frontcourt duties with Anthony Brown and Marshall Moses. He’s not a particularly skilled rebounder, as he lacks the muscle necessary to body up the Big 12’s quality forwards, and he hardly ever scores. With Moses supplanting him in the starting lineup, Kirkland’s role has shrunk dramatically.

Moses, meanwhile, is having issues staying on the court. He is the one OSU player who has fouled out of more games than Eaton, despite the fact that he averages just 15 minutes per game. He is a better rebounder than both Kirkland and Brown, but is still severely undersized at just 6’6″ and should have problems against a much taller Texas team.

The high-energy sixth man for the Cowboys is tiny Keiton Page, last year’s High School Player of the Year for the state of Oklahoma. He’s a deadly long-range threat and is surprisingly able to score in the paint despite being listed at a generous 5’10”. Page will push the ball in transition and hustles all over the floor, but will occasionally let his energy get the best of him in the form of over-pursuit or bad turnovers.

Anthony Brown is a senior forward who sees fourteen minutes per game, but is often hampered by knee injuries that have plagued him throughout his college career. He’s simply a role player at this point for Oklahoma State, a guy who will be called upon to eat up some minutes in the frontcourt for a team that lacks both height and depth.

Keys to the game

Give Dexter the ball – It was the number one key against Nebraska, and it remains the number one key against Oklahoma State. Sure, the Cowboys play an up-tempo game. But most of their offense is on the perimeter, which will hopefully mask the fact that Pittman is usually a step slow defending down low. Offensively, he can grab a ton of points against this team, and with the Pokes’ love of fouling in the paint, Big Dex can put his 73% free throw mark to good use.

Frustrate them early – Oklahoma State has a bad habit of letting their poor shooting snowball, and it has run them out of numerous ballgames before they even head to the locker room at halftime. If the Cowboys aren’t making their threes or getting transition buckets early in the game, they tend to force bad looks and hang their heads. Texas needs to stifle the potent OSU offense out of the gate and allow their own less-efficient offense time to build up a lead in front of the home crowd.

Don’t be afraid to run – The Longhorns can’t score nearly as often as Oklahoma State, but they are much, much deeper. If the Cowboys aren’t shooting lights out from long range, Texas can likely afford to let the visitors run themselves ragged. A tired team plays poor defense late in games, and for a Texas squad that has struggled in the final minutes of recent contests, playing against an OSU team that is grabbing their shorts can only help. Of course, if the Pokes are knocking down the three ball, this tactic would be a very, very bad idea.

Stick the perimeter – While Oklahoma State is a small team that can be dominated on the boards, their guards and wings are significantly taller than the short Texas backcourt. The Longhorn guards absolutely cannot allow the Cowboy shooters to get a ton of open looks. Yes, the Okie Lite marksmen can easily shoot it over A.J. Abrams or Justin Mason, but the Texas guards have to at least get a hand in their face.

If there was ever a must-win game for the Texas Longhorns, this would be it. They have lost two straight games by a combined eight points, slipping to only .500 in conference play, where they sit just a half-game above the dreaded fifth-place line.

So while it’s certainly time to stop the bleeding, the Longhorns have the unenviable task of doing so on the road against a very well-coached team that has historically takes them to the wire. Although Texas has defeated the Cornhuskers nine out of the ten meetings under Coach Rick Barnes, the last two meetings against new Nebraska coach Doc Sadler have been much more interesting. In 2006, the Longhorns escaped Lincoln with a one-point victory — a contest they also entered on a two-game losing skid — and won by only four last season in Austin.

But if Tuesday night’s game against Missouri was the worst possible match-up for the Longhorns, this afternoon’s contest with Nebraska could be one of the best. The Huskers play a style of basketball that is nearly identical to Texas, but do it with a smaller, less-athletic team. If Texas plays sound basketball, they should escape Lincoln with another narrow victory.

By the numbers

As we just mentioned, watching a Nebraska game can be eerily similar to watching this year’s Texas team. While the Longhorns average just 67.4 possessions per game, the Cornhuskers run things at a slightly slower pace, averaging 63.8 possessions. Today, Texas will not have to worry about dictating the pace of play or preventing from falling into a transition battle. It’s going to be a half-court slugfest, and the team that can best utilize their limited possessions will come out on top.

The best measure of that skill is Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency metric, which represents how efficiently offenses and defenses work. Just as with the tempo statistic, these two teams are nearly identical in efficiency. Both Texas and Nebraska are solid defensive squads with slightly above-average offenses, and are so closely matched that their efficiency margins (offensive pts/poss – defensive pts/poss) differ by only .065, with Texas on top. If you were to extrapolate with the tempo these two teams play at, we should be looking at a game hovering around 60 points, with the winner clinging to a four-point margin of victory. It might be time to break out the Tums.

Meet the Cornhuskers

The biggest question coming into this season was how Doc Sadler would replace big man and go-to scoring option Aleks Maric. The Aussie averaged a double-double last season for Nebraska, putting in more than 15 points with 10 rebounds every night. Without him, the current incarnation of Cornhusker basketball is a four-guard look, with an unreliable “post” player inside that can hardly stay on the floor for five straight minutes.

Miniscule Cookie Miller leads things at the point for Nebraska, checking in at an alleged 5-foot, 7-inches. But if Cookie is truly that tall, then Muggsy Bogues was a power forward. What Miller lacks in height and muscle, though, he makes up for in unabated scrappiness. He’s one of the fastest players on the floor, a fiesty defender, and has a knack for taking ridiculous-looking shots that somehow find their way in the hole. But perhaps most importantly, he is a quality floor general who keeps his teams turnovers low while dishing out nearly five assists per game.

Although Sek Henry is third on the team in scoring with nine points a game, the thing Coach Sadler loves about him most is the quality defense he gives night in and night out. He’ll hassle your guards on the perimeter and make it hard for the offense to get started, and even provides about a steal per game.

Senior Steve Harley leads the team in scoring, although that title changes from game to game. Entering this contest, Harley has 11.8 points per contest, and does it with solid jump shooting and nice range. He’s not the team’s best three-point shooter, hitting just over 36% of his long-range attempts. But Harley has an excellent mid-range jumper, and he can use it not just for the easy two, but also to pull the defense out and open up the driving lanes for the other three guards.

The other main scoring threat for Coach Sadler is Ade Dagunduro, a 6’5″ swingman that has become the team’s de facto post presence. He is often matched up defensively with the biggest players that the opponents throw out there, and he’s not afraid to bang with the frontcourt players to earn his points. Ade is a very lengthy player with great handles that can drive the lane, but needs to step up his consistency in Big 12 play. He has had breakout, 20-plus point nights against quality teams such as Missouri and Kansas, but nearly disappeared on Wednesday against Colorado. If he has an off night, it will be much harder for Nebraska to grind out the win over the Longhorns.

While the four guards run the show, Coach Sadler’s offense relies on one post player who can step out and set screens or start things from the high post. Junior Chris Balham fills that role in the starting lineup, although his propensity to collect fouls like Pokemon cards makes him nearly inconsequential in most games. He has yet to play more than fourteen minutes in a conference game, and it seems that even on nights when he’s not fouling indiscriminately, that the knee problems which have bothered him the last two seasons flare up once again.

Off the bench

For most of the season, Coach Sadler has gone with an eight-man rotation, but has lately been trying to expand his bench to include ten contributing players. With his defense-first philosophy, a deeper team is definitely going to be needed to last through the second half of conference play and into the post-season.

Ryan Anderson is the biggest threat off the bench, and despite his 6’4″ frame, he often picks up the slack for Balham down low. He is actually the team’s leading rebounder, despite playing only 24 minutes per game, and he has no qualms about bodying up on defense in the paint. On offense, Anderson uses his long-range threat to make himself a true dual-threat player. He can knock down the three, or slash to the basket on a moment’s notice. Even though this junior is technically a bench player, he will be a big factor in today’s game.

Another bench player who sees a solid chunk of minutes every night is three-point weapon Paul Velander. At one point just a few weeks ago, he actually led the nation in three-point accuracy, but has since slowed down in conference play. Even with the cold spell, he’s hitting over 44% of his threes this year, and will certainly cause a problem for a Texas team that allowed Kansas State to light them up from long range.

Toney McCray is a smooth freshman wingman from Texas that Coach Sadler sees as the future of the team. And if you’ve seen the flashes of brilliance from this kid, you can tell why. McCray is only averaging 16 minutes per game, but has been seeing significant minutes in most of Nebraska’s conference games. He’s another guy who can knock down the three or glide to the rack, so look for him to make a few key buckets in this afternoon’s contest.

Guard Brandon Richardson is one of the players that Coach Sadler is trying to work into the gameplan a little more as conference play rolls on. After not seeing the floor in the first four Big 12 games this year, Richardson has given quality minutes in the last four contests. He’s yet another quality three-point shooter, and you can tell he’s eager for more minutes by how hard he plays when he’s on the floor.

Cole Salomon is the other player seeing more minutes in recent action, as he’s averaged more than ten minutes in the last three games after playing less than a minute per game during the first eighteen of the year. He’s not going to score many points, if any, but proved against Kansas that he was willing to crash the glass despite being just a 6’4″ guard.

Keys to the game

Give Dexter the ball – Dexter Pittman was a huge risk/reward proposition against Missouri, and it showed. While he set a career high with 25 points, it was his poor defense that let the better-conditioned Tigers blow past him for key buckets late in the game. But against Nebraska, he should have an absolute field day. There is absolutely no one on this Cornhusker team that can hope to defend him or outrebound him. And because Doc Sadler loves the slow, grind-it-out style of play, Dexter will not be out of place having to run up and down the floor. He can hide in the back of a zone defense — something Nebraska seemed to be completely confounded by when Colorado used it — and dominate on the offensive end.

Destroy Nebraska on the glass – The Cornhuskers are one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country, — in fact, there are only six teams with poorer numbers in the NCAA — which means that they have to be incredibly efficient with the basketball. Part of the problem is that they are so severely undersized, but some of the blame also falls on the fact that they are so committed to defense that three Nebraska players are usually backpedaling as soon as the team’s shot is released. Texas has to limit the Cornhuskers to a bunch of one-shot possessions, and on the offensive end they must utilize their massive height advantage to extend their own possessions with timely rebounds.

Control the basketball – Nebraska doesn’t run Missouri’s adopted “Forty Minutes of Hell” style of play, but they are very good when it comes to winning the turnover battle. Their +6.2 turnover margin ranks in the top five nationally, and it’s even more impressive when you stop to consider how few possessions there are in a typical Nebraska game. Their opponents average 18 turnovers per contest, so when there’s less than 64 possessions in a game, that leaves Texas with very, very little margin for error.

The Texas Longhorns return home after a hard-fought road victory against Baylor, sitting just a game out of first place in the Big 12 with a 4-1 mark. Their waiting opponents are the Kansas State Wildcats, a team that is much better than their 2-4 conference record would indicate. But lest my dear readers think I am playing Chicken Little with a KSU team that lost to Texas by nine at home last season even with Michael Beasley and Bill Walker — two players who will not be on their roster today — a quick glance at Kansas State’s strengths should support my claims.

Their strengths

The Wildcats rebound the ball well, particularly on the offensive glass. And for a Texas team that doesn’t score a ton of points and relies upon its defense to win games, there is nothing more frightening than the thought of numerous solid defensive stands being wiped away as KSU swipes an offensive board and adds a possession. The Wildcats are grabbing 42.8% of their offensive rebounding opportunities, which is good for second-best in the nation. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are already slightly below-average in allowing their opponents to grab those offensive rebounds, giving them up on 32.3% of the opportunities. If Texas cannot keep KSU off the offensive glass, this game will be much closer than it should be, and the Wildcats could even pull off their second straight win at the Frank Erwin Center.

Kansas State also shoots the ball well from outside, a fact that has kept them competitive in games against much better teams such as Oklahoma. The Wildcats are hitting 36% of their shots from long range, led by sixth man Fred Brown, who has knocked down 43% of his attempts on the year. Texas has improved their three-point defense as the year has progressed, but it should be noted that in the Longhorns’ four losses this season, opponents have hit 38% of their attempts from long range.

The glaring weakness

The one obvious problem that Kansas State has, though, is an inability to handle the basketball. Against Kansas, they turned it over eight times in the first seven minutes and fell behind 18-0 before you could say “Jim Wooldridge in a neck brace.” After hanging with Oklahoma for a half in the conference opener, KSU turned the ball over on seven straight possessions to give the game away. And in a 22-point road loss to Nebraska two weeks ago, the Wildcats coughed it up twenty-five times. Twenty-freakin-five.

Jacob Pullen is the biggest offender on the team, with 62 turnovers logged so far while only dishing out 68 assists. For a team with a lack of a true post player inside, this type of carelessness by the guards is highly problematic. Even point guard Denis Clemente has an awful assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.4-to-1. As often as the Wildcats extend possessions with their great offensive rebounding, they shoot themselves in the foot by giving those same possessions away with poor ball handling.

Keys to the game

As should be clear based on the above paragraphs, Texas has to crash the glass and harass the ball handlers for Kansas State. But they also cannot afford to let KSU push the tempo. The Wildcats run much deeper than Texas, as six players average twenty minutes of playing time, while two others see at least ten minutes a game. Kansas State definitely has the horses to push the transition game, as Denis Clemente is an incredibly fast guard who looks like a water-bug when he scurries coast-to-coast for a layup. Texas is a more talented team, but if KSU can tire the Longhorns out and force Rick Barnes to look further down the bench for fresh bodies, it plays into the hands of Wildcat coach Frank Martin.

In addition, Texas must exploit their strengths inside. While Luis Colon and Jamar Samuels block a lot of shots, they also put their opponents on the free throw line quite often. Kansas State opponents shoot an average of 24 free throws per game, which is nearly one free throw attempt for every two field goal attempts. According to Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, that puts KSU at 333rd in the country out of only 344 Division I teams. Texas must pound it inside, get to the line, and force Martin to use his depth in a reactive fashion as his players pick up fouls.

The Longhorns return to action tonight when they host the hated Aggies in an early conference game that has significant implications for both teams. Texas A&M is finishing a tough five game stretch against the league’s top teams, and a loss would drop them a full four games behind conference leader Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Texas has played inconsistently as of late, alternating wins and losses in its last four games. If they hope to contend for a Big 12 title and a favorable NCAA draw, the Longhorns will need to start stringing together wins.

By the numbers

Coach Billy Gillispie led Texas A&M out of basketball irrelevance and into the national consciousness with a brand of hard-nosed, physical basketball. The Aggies were constantly ranked in the upper echelons of the NCAAs in defensive metrics, and they often won ugly games in the 50-point range. This Aggie team, under second-year Coach Mark Turgeon, is still playing a slower style of basketball. But the defense that often carried the Gillispie teams is no longer present.

The Aggies are averaging under 65 possessions a game, which puts them in the bottom third of the country in tempo. Texas is not much faster at 67.4 per contest, so neither team will be trying to force the other into a different brand of basketball. However, the Longhorns are a more efficient team than the Aggies on both sides of the ball. Unless Texas A&M is able to increase their number of possessions through offensive rebounding or forcing turnovers, Texas wins this game on paper.

If you were to look at raw rebounding numbers, it would seem that the Aggies are a strong rebounding team that dominates on the glass. After all, they have outrebounded opponents by over four boards per game. But against quality competition, Texas A&M is struggling to win the battle. They are being slightly outrebounded in conference play, and were even dominated 20-5 in the first half against a marginal Arizona team back in December. For a Longhorns squad that is winning the battle on the boards by more than five per game, this could be an area to exploit in tonight’s contest.

The starting five

The leading scorer for Texas A&M is swingman Josh Carter, who is an absolutely deadly long-range threat. While he has never matched his ridiculous sophomore season, when he tied for the national lead by hitting 50% from behind the arc, Carter still makes 38% of his attempts. But despite his solid stroke, the senior has been frustrated in conference play, averaging less than 10 points per contest, including a goose egg against Oklahoma State. He has lit the Longhorns up in the past, so Texas certainly cannot afford to sleep on Carter in this one. But if he fails to revert to his early-season form, it could be a long night for the Aggies.

At the point is heady junior Donald Sloan. While he spent much of last year being saddled with the unrealistic expectations Acie Law had left behind in College Station, Sloan still provided enough steady leadership to get Texas A&M within a shot of the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately for the floor general, there’s no true go-to guy in this offense and the Aggies can go very long stretches of time without a basket. Early in games against both Kansas and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M struggled to put any points on the board, and it is difficult for Sloan to carry the team on his own. When he does try to press and do things by himself, it often results in dumb turnovers. If Sloan can keep his head on straight and control the basketball, the Aggies will have a good shot in tonight’s game.

While Texas A&M lacks that one stand-out player, they are enjoying quality contributions from their post players. Bryan Davis is having a great year, averaging over ten points and six rebounds per game. He’s also added to his arsenal of post moves and can now score just about every way possible within a few feet of the bucket. Chinemelu Elonu has also made great strides this year, becoming a much more important part of the offense. He logged a career-high 20 points against Oklahoma State in the conference opener, and leads the team in double-doubles.

Derrick Roland is another long-range threat for Coach Turgeon, but his true specialty is lock-down defense. While Texas A&M’s main weakness this year has been giving up the three-pointer, the Longhorns have failed to find any true gunners beyond A.J. Abrams. If Roland is able to neutralize Texas’ main three-point weapon, this one glaring weakness in the A&M defense will likely go unexposed.

Off the bench

Sophomore guard B.J. Holmes is making huge contributions off the bench, and is easily my pick for Sixth Man of the Year in the Big 12 Conference. He’s a very quick guard who can attack the rim, but his 38% accuracy from behind the arc makes it dangerous for teams to sag off of him. When the Aggies are having trouble scoring with their experienced starting five, Holmes is usually the man providing the spark and pushing the issue. The Longhorns will certainly have their hands full trying to contain this kid.

If freshmen Dash Harris and David Loubeau are any indication of the talent that Turgeon is going to be bringing to College Station over the next few years, Aggie fans have a lot to look forward to. Like Holmes, Harris is a very quick guard who can turn on that burst of speed at a moment’s notice. He’s still having trouble with decision making, but as he gains experience in conference play, he will be a very valuable weapon off the bench.

Loubeau is a very lanky, highly-touted forward from Miami who won two national championships with his AAU team. He still needs to bulk up if he’s going to withstand the rigors of Big 12 play, but his hook shot and short- to mid-range game mean that he is going to be a tough match-up for many forwards who aren’t used to defending players like him.

The final word

By all indications, this is a home game that the Longhorns should win. They are statistically better in virtually every category, and home court advantage in college basketball is huge. The only danger is that Texas has had a tendency to play down to the level of their opponent this season, so they could easily let Texas A&M hang around for far too long. And against an Aggie team that beat Arizona in the final seconds and tied Alabama in the last second before winning in overtime, that’s a risk that Texas cannot afford to take.

The Longhorns must come out early and put points on the board to keep A&M and their struggling offense at a manageable distance. They will need to continue their solid rebounding, and should look to force mistakes by point guard Sloan in order to collect easy transition buckets.

There are still a few tickets left for this one, which are only available for purchase in person at the Erwin Center box office. If you can’t manage to make it to the Drum, however, be sure to tune into ESPNU for all the action.

The Texas Longhorns are coming off of their most embarrassing performance of the season, a 78-63 defeat at Oklahoma that had Coach Rick Barnes so disgusted that he benched most of his starters for a majority of the first half. Unfortunately, the next game on the schedule for the reeling team is a trip to Lubbock, historically one of the toughest road environments in the conference for ranked squads. The Longhorns learned that first-hand last season, as their eight-game conference winning streak came to a crashing halt with an 83-80 loss at United Spirit Arena.

This year, Pat Knight’s Red Raiders were picked to finish 10th in the conference by the media, but showed grit and determination in their conference-opening loss to Baylor last Saturday. They have struggled for much of the year and don’t pose a huge threat on paper, but much of this Tech team is the same that pulled off last year’s upset. And considering that the Longhorns have shown a tendency to play to the level of their opponents this season, they cannot afford to let Tech keep it close.

The starting five

In the backcourt, John Roberson is making huge strides in his sophomore campaign. His 14.4 points per game are tied for team-best, while his great court vision has led to more than six assists per game. The young guard is lightning quick and can absolutely thread the needle with entry passes, so the Longhorns will have their hands full with him this afternoon.

Alan Voskuil was a thorn in the side of the Longhorns when they met here last March, leading the Red Raiders with 18 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the line. This season, he has picked up where he left off, knocking down 45% of his three-point attempts while averaging 14.4 points a game. One problem Tech often runs into is that the team will hit cold spells and look solely to Voskuil to hit a shot to break the skid. If he is missing his shots, the Longhorns can focus more on their post defense — an aspect the Horns have excelled at for most of the season.

In the post, D’Wayln Roberts has taken on a much larger role in his second season at Tech. Last year, he averaged just over 11 minutes a game off the bench, but has started all 16 contests this year. He’s one of the few rebounders on a team that is often getting demolished on the glass, so he will be called on to hold his ground against the Longhorns today.

Hailing from just outside Kansas City, Robert Lewandowski is making a huge impact as a freshman. He’s shown a knack for getting in excellent position for entry passes, and is great at scoring with his back to the basket down low. As a freshman, there isn’t a huge book on him yet, but one of the knocks on his play is a weakness on the glass. Lewandowski is the tallest significant player on a rather undersized Tech team, but he ranks only eighth on the squad in rebounds. As with Roberts, Lewandowski will have to step up against a Texas team that is solid on the glass. Otherwise, they will have far too many empty possessions to stay in the game.

Michael Prince earned his first start of the season against Baylor, and it was easy to see why. He’s a high-energy player who is excellent on the defensive end, and he can attack the rim off the dribble even though he’s a lanky forward. He did miss six games with a foot injury earlier this year, though, and Coach Knight thinks that Prince is still only at 80%. Texas is likely going to focus a ton of attention on Roberson and Voskuil today, so if Tech is hoping for an upset, Prince could well be the X-factor.

Off the bench

Mike Singletary and Nick Okorie are also likely candidates to earn that fifth starting slot, as the pair have combined for 14 starts on the year. Okorie is an amazing find for Tech, a JuCo All-American last season who is just as fast as Roberson. He knows how to get to the rim, can hit from outside, and is just as adept as Roberson at slipping passes past the defense and into the post.

Singletary was a starter for half of last season, and has been shuffled around the lineup this year. But he has made significant contributions this year, even when coming off the bench. He’s an undersized forward, but is leading the team in rebounds and is third in minutes despite only making four starts.

Esmir Rizvic is also back this month for his final semester of eligibility. After having his face shattered two years ago by the flailing elbows of Longar Longar, Rizvic applied for a medical hardship to earn another half-season of play. The NCAA showed its miniscule soft side and granted the request, allowing Rizvic to participate in conference play this year. He’s not going to see a ton of minutes at this point, as Coach Knight hopes to work him up to game shape. But on a team with a still-developing inside presence, the 7-foot Bosnian could provide some much-needed relief.

Keys to the game

On paper, this is a game that Texas should easily win. And despite the fact that the Longhorns have won 19 out of 22 against Tech in the Rick Barnes era, the fact remains that United Spirit Arena is a tough place to play. In all honesty, Texas just needs to execute the fundamentals to win this one, which means that today’s keys are incredibly simple.

Control the glass – Texas is a much better rebounding team than Tech, but also took 13 minutes against Oklahoma to secure their first offensive rebound. Their lack of offensive boards also led to a meltdown in the second half, so the Longhorns can’t afford to have a repeat performance against the Red Raiders.

Win the turnover battle – Tech is a very sloppy team with the ball and averages more than fifteen turnovers per game. Texas has had its own ball-control issues, but still has coughed it up less than twelve times per contest. The Longhorns can really squash any upset hopes by scoring points off of turnovers and not giving up any easy transition looks.