After a long week without Texas basketball, the Horns return to the court this evening with a game against some guys from just a few miles down the interstate. Texas State comes to town on a two-game losing streak, having fallen to Texas A&M and Rice prior to the finals break. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are off to their best start in 26 years and look to cruise easily to their 10th-straight win.

By the numbers

With two wins versus D-2 schools removed from the resumé, the Bobcats sit at 238th in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximation. They play a ridiculously up-tempo game, with both their raw and adjusted pace ranked tops in the nation. The Bobcats average 83.5 possessions per game, so expect an absolute track meet in this one.

Fortunately for Texas, that tempo plays right into their hands, especially when considering how piss-poor the Bobcat D is. Their defensive efficiency is slated at 205th in the nation, but that ranking plummets when it is adjusted to reflect the weak opponents Texas State has played. Their adjusted dEf is only 313th in the country, so when combining this info with the high-tempo game plan, we will likely see another 100+ point effort from the Horns.

Know your foe

Lanky junior guard Brandon Bush is the man for the Bobcats, leading the team in both scoring and rebounding so far this year. Bush has 15.5 points at 6.8 boards per game so far this year, and dropped twelve points on the Longhorns in Austin as a sophomore last year.

Six-foot, ten-inch freshman center Ty Gough is the second-best rebounder for the ‘Cats, although he is only grabbing 5.4 per game. Even though Texas State is going to have the height advantage in the backcourt, they are generally not a huge team. The Horns should control the glass in this one, and will hopefully keep the Bobcats from pushing the transition game off of offensive boards.

This game is a bit of a homecoming for senior guard Brandon Thomas, who played his high school ball just up the road at Pflugerville. Thomas has started seven of the eight games for Texas State this year and is averaging just over 20 minutes per contest. It’s tough to say how the homecoming will affect the kid, as some players get nervous in front of family and friends, while others seem to thrive under the pressure. Unfortunately for Thomas, he has to do it against a much more talented Longhorn team.

Brent Benson is the key reserve for Coach Doug Davalos. Benson has not started a single game, yet is the second leading scorer on the team with 13.5 points and only 20 minutes per game. He is their only true long-range threat, as he’s hitting at a 42.6% clip from behind the arc.

The big finish

This game should be nothing but a full-speed scrimmage, as the Horns outmatch Texas State in every facet of the game. The only way I forsee the Bobcats hanging with Texas in this one is a perfect storm of stupid turnovers and poor shooting. Barring that incredibly slim possibility, the Longhorns should run away with this one as they pad the scoring stats.

While this game is only being shown in the state of Texas on FSN Southwest, folks with the ESPN Full Court package will be able to pick it up. ESPN360 is also listed as a way to watch the game, but I’m really not at all familiar with how that online viewing option works. For those of you in Austin, you can save $2 on your ticket by printing this coupon. The deal is only for mezz tickets, but you should easily be able to move down as the Drum should be pretty empty for this one.

The Texas Longhorns head to Houston tonight for another game in the Toyota Center, this time with the reeling Rice Owls. The last time these two teams met was in the same building back in 2005, when the Longhorns won by an 85-58 count. All-time, Texas leads the series by a lopsided 130-59 margin.

Rice comes into this one without their top two point guards and their top three-point threat. Jasen Williams was the team’s leading scorer, but is not playing this week so that he can focus on finals. It’s unclear whether Williams is dangerously close to an eligibility situation, but his absence certainly won’t make things any easier on the Owls. Chris Hagan was the backup at the point, but ruptured his patella tendon and is out for the season. Behind the arc, Cory Pflieger was the biggest threat, but is currently out until January with an ankle injury.

The rash of injuries and study breaks leaves Rice with only eight scholarship players for tonight’s game. And for a team that was already struggling to replace the huge hole left by Morris Almond and Lorenzo Williams — both who now play in the NBDL — this bad luck makes the mountain even tougher to climb.

By the numbers

Texas is still holding strong to the 3rd-highest RPI in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy. This game with Rice won’t help that ranking, as the Owls check in all the way at 256th. They also run one of the slowest offenses in the country, and that will certainly be the case with such a short bench tonight. Rice cannot afford to get into an up-and-down contest with a more athletic and more talented Texas team.

The starters

Without the top two point guards, the job at the one falls to Bryan Beasley, a former Aggie who was allowed to transfer and immediately play for Rice during the Billy Gillispie/Mark Turgeon changeover. With an inexperienced, third-string guard at the point, the Longhorns could force a good share of turnovers and earn some easy fast break points. Beasley is a pretty quick guard, however, so on defense he might be able to stick with Augustin a little better than most third-stringers would. We all know it’s impossible to hold D.J. down all game, but Beasley could make things a little more difficult.

Sophomore Rodney Foster will likely start at shooting guard, although he is having a rough start from the floor this year. While he is averaging nine points per game, his three-point percentage is an abysmal 21% after sitting above 35% last season. While the Owls have a solid inside game, their offense is not nearly as effective as that of the Longhorns. If they want to stay in this game, they will need some three-point buckets, and that means Foster will need to break out of his slump.

Aleks Perka will probably be slotted at the three tonight, and he is going to be a bit of an oversized one. If he matches up with Justin Mason, he should try using his five-inch height advantage to post up and earn some buckets. Jay Mase is a much quicker player, so Perka won’t be slashing from the wings for any layups.

In the paint, Patrick Britton comes in riding high after a career-best 24 point game against Texas State on Wednesday. While he’s not the biggest threat on the glass, he could definitely create a problem inside for the Horns. Damion James is a much more athletic player and can match up well with him, but Britton might get a few extra baskets when the Longhorn freshmen forwards are in the game.

Paulius Packevicius is a double-double machine for Rice, having reached that plateau in four of his games so far. Last season, he didn’t achieve that statistical feat even once, so it’s quite clear that the kid has made some huge strides in the offseason. He is averaging 11.3 PPG and 10.1 RPG so far this year and should provide another good challenge for Connor Atchley inside. Much like Atchley, Packevicius is not a flashy player, but is fundamentally sound and is easy to coach.

Key reserves

With the bench so thin for Rice, their options are incredibly slim. Lawrence Ghoram is a solid defender in the backcourt and will likely be called upon to stick Augustin and A.J. Abrams when Beasley and Foster need a breather. Freshman big men Suleiman Braimoh and Scott Saunders may also see an increase in minutes if Rice is unable to control the tempo.

What to look for

The deck is extraordinarily stacked against Rice in this one. With the short bench, their only true hope is to slow this one down into an ugly slopfest and limit the potent Texas offense. The Owls will be forced to run a lot of zone to keep their team from getting too fatigued, so this will likely open Rick Barnes’ dangerous three-point shooters. If by chance Rice is still able to frustrate the Texas offense, they will also need a few timely threes to threaten a much better Longhorn squad.

The Texas Longhorns return home following a monumental victory over UCLA on Sunday, now sitting at fourth in the AP Poll and fifth in the Coaches Poll. Beginning tonight, they settle into an easier two-week stretch of the schedule, although this crop of non-conference opponents isn’t filled with as many patsies as in years past.

North Texas is one of those stronger mid-major teams that Coach Barnes scheduled this year, and they comes to town just a few months after earning their second NCAA berth in school history. The Mean Green has an experienced roster with five seniors and four juniors, all who are looking to go dancing again this March. When you couple that seasoned squad with the fact that Texas historically comes out flat following big games, this is the recipe for a dangerous game. Let’s hope Rick has them fired up.

By the numbers

North Texas will provide another boost to the strong Longhorn SOS, as they come into this one ranked 19th in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximations. After defeating UCLA, the Longhorns moved up to 5th in those same rankings, with their schedule slotted as 34th-toughest in the nation.

UNT has two wins over D-2 schools that won’t be on their resumé come Selection Sunday. They did beat Oklahoma State at home early in the season, and defeated New Mexico State last week on the road in Las Cruces. That victory over the Aggies was the largest comeback win in school history, as the Mean Green overcame a 21-point deficit.

North Texas plays an up-tempo style of ball, as indicated by their 20th-ranked possession numbers. They average 76.1 possessions per game, which is much faster than nearly every team the Longhorns have played this year. Only Tennessee is in the same neighborhood, with 76.6 per game.

The starters

The Mean Green are led in scoring by Josh White, a guard who has started all six games as only a freshman. On a team that generally shoots very poorly from behind the arc, White is one of the few weapons from long range. He is hitting at over 52% from three-point range and gets to the line an average of six times per game.

At only 5’10”, White won’t have the height advantage that most guards do against the Horns, so he will likely have to try to use his speed to beat Abrams, Mason, or Augustin off the dribble. And when you consider that he has 18 turnovers compared to only four assists, the Texas backcourt could certainly force some errors from this guy.

Big man Keith Wooden is already making an impact after transferring from Arizona State. He is third on the team in scoring with twelve points per game and is second on the glass with five boards per contest. Checking in at 6’9″ and 245 pounds, he’s a bit thicker than most of the Longhorn post players, but on Sunday they proved themselves as adept rebounders against bigger, stronger opponents.

Quincy Williams is the other senior forward for Coach Johnny Jones. He leads the team in rebounding, including a 19-board night against the Indiana State Sycamores. He is especially strong on the offensive glass, but is prone to turnovers and has been absolutely abysmal from the line so far this year. Judging from his numbers and size, one would expect him to be matched up with Damion James, who is really hitting his stride lately. This should be an excellent battle on the glass.

At the point, senior Ben Bell is a calm and collected leader. He holds a 2.75:1 assist-to-turnover ratio so far, but is struggling from the floor. He is averaging only six points per game on 28% shooting, including an awful 1-for-12 start from behind the arc. It will be interesting to see how the experienced guard handles the Texas pressure.

The third starting guard for the Mean Green is Tristan Thompson. A teammate of Dogus Balbay at Brewster Academy, Thompson is averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG. For a guard, it is troubling that he has more turnovers (7) than assists (5), but those numbers certainly look good for the transition-minded Longhorns. If they can rattle this guy into a fair number of turnovers, the fast break points should follow.

Key reserves

Collin Dennis is the second-leading scorer on the team, despite not starting a single game. The junior guard transferred to UNT from South Florida after his freshman season, and has immediately made an impact in Denton. He is hitting at a 53% clip from behind the arc and is averaging just shy of 15 points per game.

Another transfer for Coach Jones is guard Dez Willingham, who came to the Mean Green from SMU. Willingham is generally a poor shooter, but is often relied upon to relieve Bell at the point. At only 6’0″, he will be a good matchup for the short Texas backcourt.

What to look for

Expect an exciting track meet where the Texas transition game gets a chance to shine. The Mean Green are a better defensive team than most up-tempo squads, so the Longhorns will need to make their possessions count. Of course, if Texas returns to its lights-out shooting from three-point range, they could put this one away early.

After proving themselves against a much larger UCLA team, the Longhorns look to maintain their presence on the glass in this game. North Texas is outrebounding their opponents by roughly nine boards per contest, so this won’t be a walk in the park for the Longhorn frontcourt. Will they take a step backwards or win another war on the glass?

Keep an eye on the minutes for freshmen Clint Chapman and Alexis Wangmene. Both played a good chunk on Sunday, and Chapman had a particularly gutsy performance. Dexter Pittman will not likely see much time in this high-tempo game, so look to see what the freshman forwards can do in their time on the floor.

The big finish

Tonight’s game is on FSN only in the state of Texas, and not in the Dallas or Houston markets. Elsewhere, the game can be seen on the ESPN Full Court package.

For those folks in Austin, free admission can be gained simply by donating a new, unwrapped toy to the Orange Santa program. The free seats are in the general admission section, but since this is the last week of classes and many students are busy with tests and papers, those GA seats could get you into the upper reaches of the sections behind the baskets.

So grab a Cabbage Patch Doll or whatever the kids are playing with these days and come on out to the Erwin Center. We’ll save you a seat.

It is only the first year of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, but the conference showcase has already brought us a slew of great games. Sunday night, Kansas needed overtime to knock off a pesky Arizona team, while K-State and Oregon also played an extra five minutes in their game on Thursday night. Tonight, the marquee game takes place at Pauley Pavilion, where the top-ranked UCLA Bruins play host to the freshly-ranked #8 Longhorns. It’s the first game involving two top-ten teams this season, and would surely be the most-hyped of the year…if not for the fact that ESPN doesn’t want folks watching it on FSN.

By the numbers

Texas has seen its RPI drop to 22 since Wednesday, a combination of playing a weak Texas Southern squad and having past opponents drop a few games yesterday. UCLA is still near the top of the charts, checking in at #4 in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximations.

When you watch a Ben Howland team, you always know you will get a ton of defense. This Bruins squad is certainly no exception, with their defensive efficiency ranking in the top five. They allow opponents to score only 79.4 points per 100 possessions, which is going to create a clear clash of styles against a Texas team that is tops in the country offensively, scoring 133.1 points per 100 possessions.

UCLA has won most of their games this year with ease, beating opponents by an average of 23 points per game. Their closest call came in the CBE Classic championship game, where Michigan State led for 39-and-a-half minutes. UCLA clawed back for most of the second half, finally taking the lead in the final thirty seconds before icing it with free throws.

Starting five

The biggest challenge for the Longhorns will be freshman center Kevin Love. Michigan State worked hard to keep him in check when they played UCLA, throwing a ton of bodies at him to pick up fouls and make the kid work for his buckets. Love finished 9-of-12 from the line that night, leading to a 21-point performance.

He’s also going to create a huge problem for a Texas team that struggles with rebounding. Love is a vacuum on the offensive glass, and the Longhorns have not shown a ton of promise on either end when it comes to securing the boards. This UCLA team likes to grind it out in half-court sets, and if Texas allows them a ton of lengthy possessions with multiple offensive rebounds, they will be playing right into the hands of Coach Howland.

Forward Alfred Aboya didn’t miss a beat after shattering his eye socket against Yale last weekend. He was back in Wednesday night’s game against George Washington, sporting some yellow goggles borrowed from the Lakers, who apparently had been keeping them in storage since the 1970’s. The lengthy kid from Cameroon was averaging just a shade under 22 minutes per game prior to the injury, but still saw the floor for fourteen minutes against the Colonials. He is not a huge offensive threat and is not nearly the rebounder that Love is, but will likely cause matchup problems for Texas with his 6’8″ frame.

The other Bruin coming off of injury is point guard Darren Collison, who saw his first action of the season against GWU. On the short-list of candidates for “best point guard in the country,” this guy has a gold star next to his name. Despite the fact that watching the anemic Bruins offense is sometimes similar to undergoing an ice-pick lobotomy, he is an excellent floor general with great court vision. In his debut against the Colonials, Collison scored fourteen and had five assists in 26 minutes of play.

Forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is the other half of UCLA’s Cameroonian duo. As you’ll no doubt hear 27 times in tonight’s broadcast, Mbah a Moute is a prince in his native village of Bia Messe, and his father runs the Cameroon Employment Fund, which trains citizens and helps them find work. As for his game, Prince Mbah a Moute is deceptively quick for his size. He often grabs steals which seem to come out of nowhere, and has an average shot which will get him a few buckets per game. Again, his height will create a mismatch as he is the third-tallest starter for the Bruins, yet is five inches taller than Justin Mason, the third-tallest Longhorn starter.

During Collison’s lengthy absence, speedy little guard Russell Westbrook took the reins for the Bruins. While at the point, he seemed to be a little too hyper for the UCLA style of play, jacking up shots earlier than Howland liked. He seemed to settle down over time, though, and is averaging over 13 points per game heading into this one. If Augustin is sticking Collison, I think Abrams could potentially struggle with Westbrook’s speed. But since the Horns are likely going to be packing the lane in this one, I don’t think that will be exploited as easily as it could against a tighter perimeter defense.

Key reserves

Lorenzo Mata-Real is quite possibly the ugliest player to step on a basketball court in the last 30 years. But he’s also a solid rebounder off of the bench for Coach Ben Howland, grabbing over seven boards per game so far this year despite only seeing about 22 minutes per contest. He’s not much of a scoring threat, but he is going to cause some problems for the Horns inside, particularly when Howland leaves both Love and Mata-Real on the floor at the same time.

The X-factor in this game could end up being Josh Shipp. The Bruins are a very poor 3-point shooting team, hitting only 33% of their shots from behind the arc so far this year. But Shipp can occasionally get hot from long range, and if that happens today the Horns will have to pick their poison. (Westbrook is also a threat from long-range, but has only ten attempts so far on the season.) The likelihood of the Bruins beating Texas with threes isn’t that high, but if you do see UCLA starting to light it up outside, prepare for a long day filled with the Longhorns having to defend on two fronts.

What to look for

It looks like Texas will have to force the tempo in this one if they want a chance to win. UCLA is not nearly as strong offensively as the Longhorns, so a high-scoring game plays in Rick Barnes’ favor. In addition, Howland’s defense will likely be pressuring out high, extending beyond the perimeter. We saw what this did to the Texas offense back in March against USC, and it wasn’t pretty. To avoid that, Texas should push the transition game and not get lulled into a half-court battle.

We’ll probably see a lot of rotation from the Texas bigs, especially if they are picking up fouls down low trying to defend Kevin Love. Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman might be looked at to absorb fouls, while likely playing more minutes than they are used to. Even Dexter Pittman could be useful, although only in short spurts, as he doesn’t really fit in the up-tempo game that Texas will need to play to win.

All told, this is going to be a hell of a tough assignment for the Longhorns. Obviously, if they shoot like they did last Saturday, it will be tough to beat them. But against a tough Ben Howland defense, don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. If Texas can push the tempo and keep the score up, they’ve got a shot. If UCLA controls the tempo, look for the Bruins to pull out a win by five to ten points.

The Longhorns return to Austin as champions of the StubHub! Legends Classic tournament and are set for a top-ten battle with UCLA on Sunday. But first, Texas must add another win to the ledger when they host Texas Southern in a mid-week patsy game.

The Tigers come from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a league which Texas holds a 4-0 all-time record against. Last season, the Horns pasted the Tigers 90-50, with A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant combining for 42 points. Even Dexter Pittman had a breakout game against TSU, scoring ten points and blocking two shots in only eleven minutes on the court.

Texas Southern’s basketball program is in a bit of disarray this year, as they had not even named a head coach until eight days before pre-season practices began. Just last week, forward Jacques Jones was lost for the year due to a shoulder injury that requires surgery, leaving the Tigers with four active scholarship players. The only bright spot amidst this disaster of a season is the return of former coach Robert Moreland, who is sitting on 399 career victories at TSU. There’s not much hope for #400 tonight.

By the numbers

The Longhorns enter the game ranked 3rd in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximations. They are also the most efficient offense in the nation thus far, scoring a ridiculous 130.6 points per 100 possessions — and that number actually increases to 138.4 points when adjusted to reflect the talent level they’ve faced.

Texas Southern, meanwhile, is scraping the bottom of the offensive barrel. Their efficiency ranks 310th in the NCAA out of 341 teams. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the defense is even worse. Their defensive efficiency checks in at 321st in the league, although their adjusted rank is a much more palatable 251st.

The Tigers have only won one of their first five games, a 72-64 season-opening victory over the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Their most recent lost came at the hands of Kentucky, in an embarrassing 83-35 shellacking on Saturday. Fortunately for TSU, their schedule thus far has been tough enough to keep their RPI rank a respectable 83rd.

The key players

Guards David Burrell and Sollie Norwood have combined to lead the team in scoring in each of the first five games. Norwood is tops on the team so far this year with 16.8 PPG and also provided ten points off the bench in last year’s loss to the Longhorns. Burrell is in his first season with the Tigers after transferring from UT-Pan American following the 2005-06 season.

The other two guards who have started all five games for Coach Moreland are Jonathan Frazier and Matt Miller. While neither has scored many points this year, Frazier is averaging nearly three steals a game. They both have more turnovers than assists so far this season, so they will have to be careful with the ball against this Texas defense.

The frontcourt for the Tigers is fairly unimpressive, as TSU started only two forwards prior to the aforementioned Jones injury…and even then, he was the tallest starter at 6’7″. That leaves senior Kevin Abanobi as the most reliable post player on the thin roster for TSU, and his averages are a paltry five points and six boards per game so far this season.

With the lineup card covered in red lines and scribbles, there’s a very good chance the Tigers will use a fourth guard to round out the starting five. It will likely be Burrell, although we could see Damien Henderson, who spent the last two years — one of them lost to injury — at a JuCo in Lincoln, Illinois.

What to look for

To be completely honest, this is going to be nothing more than a chance for Coach Barnes and the Horns to get some kinks worked out before Sunday. It will be interesting to see if Barnes decides to rest the key players in preparation for the UCLA game or if he leaves the core group in to get as many game minutes together as possible. I’m personally pulling for the former, as I doubt any second-half minutes in this game will be useful practice.

Texas comes into this one shooting a ridiculous 56.7% from the field, including 52% from behind the arc. While I’m not expecting this to go on forever, we’d certainly like to see the key folks still knocking them down with regularity tonight, lest they fall into a funk before this weekend’s game. Even though the Horns are really hot from three-point range, look for the increased emphasis on entry passing to continue against the overmatched Tiger frontcourt.

In their one victory this year, TSU hit eleven three-pointers, and has taken nearly half of their shots from behind the arc. With the small lineup, don’t be surprised to see the Tigers hanging out around the perimeter and settling for long-range jumpers. If they are actually hitting, they can keep the game close for perhaps the first half, but their lack of depth will make it difficult to maintain any threat.

The tiny TSU lineup also means that Texas should win the rebounding battle quite easily tonight. While it would be nice to get in some minutes against a potent frontcourt before facing Kevin Love, hopefully the good night the Horns will have on the boards can serve as a confidence boost. This also means that as long as his minutes aren’t too limited by a huge lead, I’m liking Connor Atchley for his second-consecutive double-double in this one.

This one certainly won’t be competitive, but I implore all of you to head out to the Frank Erwin Center anyhow. The game isn’t televised, so it’s the only way you can catch the action. And any coach or kid in their team jersey or t-shirt gets $4 off a GA seat in the mezzanine — which means with tonight’s expected crowd that you can sit pretty much anywhere in the lower bowl. So come on out to the FEC, and we’ll see you there.