As the minutes ticked down in last night’s semifinal in the 2KSports Classic, the storyline felt all too familiar for Texas fans. The Longhorns went over seven minutes without a field goal, letting their nine-point lead completely evaporate. For many burnt-orange faithful, another narrow, last-minute defeat seemed imminent. But this time, the Longhorns flipped the script.

Cory Joseph hit a jumper with 24 seconds to play to put Texas up by two, but Illinois quickly responded with a game-tying drive from freshman Jereme Richmond. The Longhorns regrouped heading into overtime and burst out of the gates in the extra five minutes. Texas surged ahead by scoring the first eight points of overtime and withstood a late barrage of threes from Bill Cole to hang on to a 90-84 win.

What looked good

The first half was an offensive showcase for both teams. Illinois and Texas combined to shoot 53% from the field while lighting up the scoreboard with 90 points. Despite the up-and-down tempo, Texas controlled the basketball. In the first half, the Longhorns coughed it up just four times, and finished with just 10 turnovers in 45 minutes of basketball.

More importantly, Texas dominated the fast break scoring in a game with very few offensive miscues. While Illinois only had 12 turnovers of their own, Texas scored 17 points off of then. The Illini, meanwhile, managed just seven points off of the Texas miscues.

The breakout star of the game was freshman Tristan Thompson. In each of his first two games, the Canadian product played 25 minutes. Against the Illini, he led all Longhorns with 40 minutes on the court. He contributed in every way possible, and didn’t show any signs of fatigue down the stretch. He was lights out from the floor, shooting 8-of-11 on the night. He showed off a beautiful turnaround jumpshot for the national TV audience, and emerged as a shot-blocking machine. Thompson had five swats in the game, many coming as he provided help D on a teammate’s blown assignment.

A huge concern for this Longhorn team is the lack of frontcourt depth, but Alexis Wangmene played well in his brief relief of Thompson. Typically, the bench forward position has been split between Wangmene and Matt Hill, but with Thompson playing 15 more minutes than usual, Matt’s role was rather limited.

Wangmene finished the night with six points, essentially doubling his career average. He knocked down both his free throws — quite a noteworthy accomplishment for any Longhorn — and added a putback and a silky J from the elbow. Wangmene still had some defensive lapses, including one play where he closed out on an already-guarded three-point attempt, leaving his man all alone for an easy rebound and putback. But if Thompson is playing as well as he did last night and can stay out of foul trouble, this kind of simple, quality performance is all Texas will need from the Wangmene/Hill combo.

What needed work

As always, the most glaring deficiency for the Longhorn team could be found at the charity stripe. Texas finished with a 56.8% free-throw percentage in the game, but that number dipped as low as 45% midway through the second half. The one glimmer of hope in the midst of the perpetual free-throw nightmare was how Texas performed at the line in crunch time. As they struggled through that seven-minute field-goal drought, the Horns knocked down 8-of-10 free throws to stay in the game.

A huge cause of those lengthy field-goal blues was the terrible trend of the Texas offensive possessions turning into simply isolate-dribble-shoot. Jordan Hamilton was a repeat offender, often driving the lane before forcing up bad shots against two and three defenders. The Texas guards were also guilty of this on numerous ocassions, so the team will have to work on kicking it out for midrange Js, three-pointers, or simply to reset the offense.

Another cause of the second-half futility came from the lack of Texas depth. With Coach Rick Barnes trying to steal some rest for his starting five — who combined to play more than 78% of the team’s total minutes — the lineup combinations in the second half made it tough to score.

There was actually a brief stretch where Dogus Balbay, Jai Lucas, and Wangmene were all on the court at the same time. With Lucas’ short stature and Balbay’s allergy to any shot besides a layup, that group was essentially buying rest for the starters while trying their hardest to maintain the Longhorn lead.

Without a doubt, the lack of depth is going to lead to a few losses this season. Whether it’s a result of foul trouble or just a tired starting five, the Texas bench will have to play extended minutes at some point this year, and there’s simply not enough offensive skill waiting on the pine for that to work.

Defensively, both teams had issues last night. Illinois was working hard all night freeing up Demetri McCamey and D.J. Richardson, running the Texas guards through screen after screen off of the ball. Unfortunately, the Horns had problems with switching on those screens, and they gave up a lot of open looks as the Illini guards zipped past Texas bigs on the perimeter. Fortunately, Texas made adjustments down the stretch and guys stuck with their man.

Looking ahead

With the win, the Longhorns now advance to the championship game of the 2KSports Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. For the second time in as many years, the Horns will tangle with the Pitt Panthers in their November tournament championship.

Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 local time here on the east coast, but that is of course subject to the length of the preceding consolation game between Maryland and Illinois. A pregame look at the Panthers is headed your way in the next few hours.

For the second time in just three nights, the Texas Longhorns put on a defensive clinic at the Frank Erwin Center. While forcing 22 turnovers and blocking seven shots, they held Louisiana Tech to just 32.8% shooting en route to a dominating 89-58 win.

The game started off sluggishly, thanks in part to a whistle-happy crew of officials who handed out a combined 42 personal fouls and even had to stop the game to correct a gaffe on free throws following an intentional foul. With the choppy play and lethargic start for the Horns, the game was actually tied at 10 at the under-12 media timeout. Out of the break, Texas surged ahead with a 19-4 run over the next five minutes and never looked back.

The Longhorn victory was so certain, in fact, that all three walk-ons managed to see playing time for Rick Barnes in the final minute. Dean Melchionni even knocked down his first career bucket, a three-pointer, to bring what was left of a 5,619-person crowd to its feet.

What looked good

Through two games, the strength of the Texas team once again looks to be its defense. Off of the 22 turnovers they forced, the Longhorns were able to score 26 points. According to stat guru Ken Pomeroy, the Bulldogs coughed the ball up on more than 26% of their possessions, nearly seven full percentage points worse than their average a season ago.

When the Longhorns weren’t scoring off of turnovers, their half-court offense looked infinitely better than last year’s. Guards were attacking the paint, the team was moving the ball around with crisp passing, and players were setting smart screens for their teammates. There were even a few instances where it looked like the Longhorn big men were thinking a play ahead, anticipating the moves of the guards to better position themselves for entry passes or screens.

Even when Jai Lucas and Dogus Balbay were on the floor, Texas seemed to be spaced well and the offense didn’t bog down. After both players were much-maligned in 2009-10 for being offensive liabilities that allowed defenses to sag into the paint, seeing them as worthwhile, active members of the offense was refreshing.

Lucas still needs space to get off shots, and Balbay still won’t put it up until he’s within three feet of the rim, but both men seemed to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and played to maximize their skills. This trend will certainly be worth watching against a skilled Illinois backcourt next Thursday night.

While Tristan Thompson was impressive in his first game versus Navy, against Louisiana Tech he truly shined. Thompson played well with his back to the basket, came up huge on defense with three blocks and three defensive rebounds, and looked like anything but a freshman in just his second collegiate game. As we’ve cautioned over the last few days, there will certainly be growing pains when T-Squared faces bigger, more-experienced frontcourt players. But he’s definitely further along in his development than anyone could have hoped.

Once again, Jordan Hamilton had a nice scoring night and looked very fluid with the ball. Last year, he would often force the issue from the wing and end up with frustrating turnovers as he tried to slash to the basket. In his first two games, though, his moves to the bucket are strong and smooth, and he knows how to get the defenders off the floor while still getting a clean look. This is leading to points in the paint and more opportunities from the line, where Hamilton was a solid 6-of-7 last night.

Those points in the paint are a big thing for a Texas team that often struggled to score just inches from the rim last season. Against Louisiana Tech, the Horns outscored the Bulldogs in the paint by a 48-30 count, giving Texas more than half its offensive output from very short range. One of the biggest concerns this season is an undersized frontcout, but so far this year, the Longhorns are holding their own down low. Whether it’s guards getting to the rim or big men making good moves near the hoop, Texas has had no troubles scoring in the paint.

Finally, we must note that on this night, free throws were actually a benefit for the Longhorns. Texas was 17-of-22 from the line, good for a 77.3% success rate. On Monday night, the Horns hit just 55.9% of their attempts, and they averaged a disgusting 63.3% mark last season. While we don’t think Texas is anywhere near shaking this monkey of its back, it’s reassuring that Thompson rebounded from his 4-of-10 free-throw performance against Navy to sink five out of seven last night.

What needed work

The most concerning thing from last night’s game was another terrible performance from behind the arc. Texas was just 4-of-16 from long range, and just 3-of-14 if you take out Melchionni’s garbage-minute attempts. Through two games, that puts the team at just 24.2% from long range, which is very bad news for a squad that really struggled against Navy’s zone in the first half on Monday night.

Those struggles against the zone D were a continuation of last year’s trend, where the Longhorns couldn’t even successfully attack the zone defenses of schools like Rice and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Fortunately, this year’s team is moving the ball well and attacking the rim, as we mentioned earlier.

The main concern, though, is that if Texas has a tough night where they have trouble with driving and ball movement, the Horns will settle for three-point attempts. That’s a recipe for disaster when your team percentage is hovering just a few points above the Mendoza line.

The other thing that stuck out early in last night’s game was Hamilton’s tendency to turn into a black hole. This happened many times last year, and Jordan often forced up shots to the team’s detriment. Fortunately, this season he is scoring the ball with greater efficiency, so that shoot-first mentality hasn’t been a problem. Once again, the concern is what happens when the team runs into adversity. If Hamilton tries to take the entire team on his back and abandons the team’s commitment to ball movement, the Texas offense could look disappointingly similar to last year’s.

Finally, our last note is regarding the foul situation. This early in the year, it’s easy to blame the choppy play on officials with a whistle addiction. Texas was playing physical basketball, as Louisiana Tech coach Kerry Rupp pointed out in the post-game interview. But if the high number of fouls turns out to be the norm rather than an anomaly for this Texas team, the lack of depth could be a huge problem. When the Horns are facing teams like Kansas State and Michigan State, having Alexis Wangmene and Lucas playing a ton of minutes in place of foul-plagued starters will proven disastrous.

Looking ahead

The Longhorns head to New York City for their next two games, where the four host schools of the 2KSports Classic face off at Madison Square Garden. Texas opens with a tough game against Illinois on Thursday night and will face Pitt or Maryland just 24 hours later.

There are a lot of good things that we’ve seen from the Longhorns in these first two games, but the team’s true colors will show in next week’s big tests. If this young Texas team can hold its ground at the Garden, fans can start to get excited for a special season. For now, we have another long week of waiting and asking questions.

For Texas fans beaten down by a horrid football season that seems interminable, last night’s tipoff of the 2010-11 basketball campaign was a welcome sight. The Longhorns cruised to yet another opening-night victory — the 11th in Rick Barnes’ 13 years on the Forty Acres — as they pulled away in the second half for an 83-52 win over Navy.

As always, the things we think we learned about teams in November and December rarely seem important by the time March rolls around. While glaring team flaws tend to be season-long issues, breakout performances against North Dakota Technical College can’t be fawned over. It’s likely that some Longhorn fans may be overly giddy following last night’s win, but just eight months after Texas came unglued in the national spotlight, restrained optimism is probably the best reaction.

In yesterday’s game preview, we posed three questions worth thinking about during the opening game. With 40 minutes and a W in the books, let’s re-examine those nagging questions…

1) Who will be the leader? – With a 26-point, 10-rebound night, Jordan Hamilton threw his hat into the ring in a big way. The sophomore was hustling all over the floor, getting rebounds from the wing and generally making smarter decisions than he did as a freshman. There is no doubt that Hamilton needed to have a big summer for the Longhorns to succeed this year, and it appears that he put in the work. Jordan didn’t press things or force up dumb shots, and he seemed much more confident on the floor than he did last season.

In addition to Hamilton, Gary Johnson put in another steady performance, earning a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. While he is not nearly as emotional a player as Hamilton, it seems that the quiet, scrappy forward is going to take charge this season. In the post-game press conference, even J’Covan Brown agreed. “Last year, I couldn’t tell you who was leading,” Brown said. “One day it was one person, one day it was another. I don’t think anybody’s going to take [Johnson’s] job.”

There’s no doubt that last year’s team had chemistry and leadership issues. The second-half meltdown at Connecticut in January was a microcosm of the season as a whole, with the Longhorns looking disheveled and desperate, lacking a strong figure to carry them through adversity. When that adversity inevitably comes calling this season, Texas fans must hope that Hamilton and Johnson can rally the troops.

2) How will the frontcourt come together? – A weird day ended in appropriate fashion, as Coach Barnes told reporters at the post-game press conference that they were “leaning towards” redshirting big man Clint Chapman. Just hours after the announcement of Shawn Williams‘ transfer, the news came as a shock. A shirt for Chapman means the Texas frontcourt consists of just Tristan Thompson, Johnson, Matt Hill, and Alexis Wangmene. Foul trouble or injuries could spell absolute disaster.

Fortunately, Hill and Wangmene proved themselves adequate reserves for the Horns. Granted, their performances came against a service academy, a far cry from the frontcourts Texas will see in conference play. But both men had far fewer mistakes than we’ve seen in previous seasons, and Wangmene even contributed offensively. Alexis’ eight points were a welcome sight after two seasons in which he averaged only two per game.

Thompson, meanwhile, warmed up quite nicely after some early-game hiccups. He couldn’t seem to handle a pass or dribble the ball in his first few minutes, but he finished the night with twelve points and seven boards. He ran the floor nicely, which is going to be huge for a team that demonstrated just how good they can be when the tempo is pushed.

Yes, the Texas bigs had some defensive lapses. And yes, all of them seemed completely befuddled by the idea of a double-team. But compared to some of the nightmare scenarios Texas fans have been dreaming up for this Longhorn frontcourt, last night’s slightly-above-average performance was oddly reassuring.

3) How deep is the bench? – Coach Barnes used every scholarship player at his disposal, except for the possibly-redshirting Chapman. Hill and Wangmene combined for 27 minutes, while each of the other seven Longhorns saw the floor for at least 22 minutes. Barnes experimented with quite a few lineups, resulting in a few eyebrow-raising combinations that lacked offensive punch.

Minutes in the backcourt will be interesting to track this season. Last night, the four guards played nearly identical minutes — Jai Lucas had 24, while Cory Joseph played 25, and Brown and Dogus Balbay posted 23 and 22, respectively. While beating a team soundly, it’s easy to spread the PT and give everybody their orange slices at halftime. But when things get tough later in the season, how will Barnes tweak the rotation? In the past, he’s been seemingly unwilling to give Brown much of a rope. Fans can only hope that this year the sophomore guard gets more time to shine.

A few other things worth nothing:

Transition defense was sorely lacking at times against the Midshipmen. On a Rick Barnes team, that simply won’t fly, and it was clear that the head coach was not at all pleased by the lax effort. With seven minutes to go in the second half, Navy had one fast break bucket where not a single Longhorn made an effort to stop the ball. Barnes immediately called a timeout and replaced Brown and Wangmene with Hill and Hamilton. There were other instances which weren’t quite as glaring, but it was clear that Texas had some issues picking up assignments in transition.

For the second year in a row, Texas is pushing the pace. And that is a very, very good thing. This team has far too much talent and athleticism to be bogged down by an anemic half-court offense. Last season, the Longhorns averaged 72.6 possessions per game after averaging between 64 and 68 per game over the previous six years.

Last night, the Longhorns ran an up-tempo game even more in the second half, and the results were fantastic. Texas outscored Navy 54-32 in the final 20 minutes, shooting over 57% in the half. In a much slower first half, Texas was stifled by the Navy zone, hitting only hit 41.7% of their shots from the field, including a frustrating 1-of-9 from behind the arc.

Finally, it must be mentioned that once again the Longhorns struggled from the free throw line. They hit just 56% of their free throws, including a 2-for-4 night from the typically-steady Brown. The upside, however, is that Texas’ free-throw rate improved dramatically. Measured as free-throw attempts per field goal attempts, the Horns’ FTR was 57.6%, a shocking increase from the 40% rate they had last season.

As a point of comparison, consider last year’s Kansas State team. The Wildcats were runners-up in the Big 12 Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament while making just 67% of their free throws. What kept KSU afloat, however, was a free throw rate north of 50%. While the Wildcats missed a lot of free throws, they were at the line far more often than their opponents. With this year’s Texas team, it appears there is a dedication to getting to the rim, which often leads to the charity stripe. That’s one good way for the Horns to overcome these pathetic free throw percentages.

The Longhorns will be back in action again tomorrow night, wrapping up the opening round of the 2KSports Classic with an 8 P.M. home game against Louisiana Tech.

Not a ton of time to write about last night’s win, as the quarterfinals tip off in a little over an hour. With that time constraint in mind, let’s quickly hit some of our key thoughts about last night’s game.

1) Damion James and Dexter Pittman looked like leaders – While Texas struggled to put the Cyclones away for the entire ballgame, Damion James tried his hardest to do it single-handedly. Midway through the second half, he became a human vacuum, grabbing practically every board in sight. When Iowa State went over seven minutes without a single field goal, a huge cause of their offensive ineptitude was James’ dominance on the glass. The Cyclones were simply unable to get second chances.

Meanwhile, Dexter Pittman finally showed some swagger as the Longhorns started to put it together. While Big Pitt still had some early issues with making weak moves to the basket that resulted in missed shots, his 19 minutes on the court were extremely efficient. Pittman scored 16 points and grabbed five boards on the night. Having a confident Dexter in the middle instead of a frustrated one makes a huge difference in not only the team’s performance, but also its entire demeanor.

2) Gary Johnson doesn’t have to be the sixth man – There was some theorizing that Gary Johnson didn’t work his way into the starting lineup very often this season because he just felt more comfortable coming off the bench. But after posting a 15/10 double-double against the Cyclones, Johnson seems right at home as a part of the starting five. The junior forward played 39 minutes, including the entire first half. With Pittman’s performance still unpredictable from night to night, Gary’s emergence as a breakout star has been the most exciting storyline down the stretch.

3) J’Covan Brown is back in the doghouse – When Justin Mason picked up his second foul just six-and-a-half minutes into the game, Jai Lucas hopped off the bench to take over point guard duties. Lucas responded well, truly playing the role of bus driver. He didn’t do anything flashy, but didn’t make any mistakes either. He simply made sure the team ended up where it needed to be.

What’s worthy of a raised eyebrow, however, is the fact that J’Covan Brown stayed on the bench until the final three minutes of the half. Brown certainly struggled against Baylor on Saturday — but honestly, which Longhorns didn’t? — and it seems that put him firmly back in Rick Barnes’ doghouse.

While Lucas has shown his ability to be a serviceable point, he lacks the slashing ability that Brown can bring to the table. Texas settled for a lot of threes and long jumpers, something that could have been avoided if there was a guard on the floor with strong driving ability. And, of course, there’s no reason that both Lucas and Brown couldn’t have been on the floor at the same time.

Texas moves on to face Baylor in the quarterfinals tonight. The Longhorns are hoping to avoid a third loss to the Bears this season, and a fourth consecutive one. We’ll be back with a brief game preview in between the afternoon and evening sessions. In the meantime, keep up with all the action from the Sprint Center by following the LRT Twitter.

With the final regular season game just a few hours away, let’s dive right into our notes from Monday night’s win over Oklahoma…

1) The Longhorns did not fold down the stretch – For a Texas team that has often found itself trailing by large margins during the last two months, it was refreshing to see the Horns respond despite OU’s hot start. The Longhorns were down by thirteen points just eight minutes into the game, thanks in large part to Oklahoma’s 7-of-11 three-point shooting in the first half. But Texas did not fold, and slowly chipped away at the lead. When the Sooners came out strong again in the second half, the Longhorn deficit climbed to eleven once again. But something changed in the team at that point, like their competitive switch had finally been flipped to “on.”

The Texas players really fed off of the crowd down the stretch, with Jordan Hamilton imploring the fans to get louder when OU was forced to take timeouts. J’Covan Brown even taunted the Sooner players by flashing his biceps after he sunk a floater in the lane. While it’s incredibly satisfying to see the team finally wake up and show some fire, the concern is that it seemed like the players needed the crowd energy to do so. The rest of the games this season will be on the road or at “neutral” sites, so the Longhorns have to be able to show that same level of effort and determination when the crowd is not on their side. Chances are very, very good that the fans of the old Big 8 will be rooting against Texas next week in Kansas City, particularly those fans in blue or purple.

2) Backcourt roles were more defined – For the first time in ages, each member of the Texas backcourt seemed to contribute exactly what was required of them. Justin Mason made the start and provided solid defense, along with a few strong, slashing moves to the bucket. Jai Lucas was also in the starting lineup, and although he ultimately only played seven minutes, his offensive contribution came the way it needed to. Lucas drained a three in the first half on a simple kickout. He is only a catch-and-shoot guy, so having him play off the ball allowed him to make a small, but useful contribution to the offense, as opposed to forcing him into the point guard role where he is ineffective.

While Avery Bradley had a rough night from the floor, he once again provided solid defense once Texas started rotating and helping. J’Covan Brown was the big story in the backcourt, though, playing 33 minutes off the bench. He showed leadership and poise down the stretch, and his willingness to attack the rim led to 15 points on the night, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. If Brown can give that kind of performance the rest of the way, the blow from the loss of Dogus Balbay will be much, much softer.

3) Free throws are improving – For the second-consecutive game, the Longhorns made at least 80% of their attempts from the charity stripe. For much of the season, the team’s average has hovered in the low-to-mid 60% range, so this drastic change is certainly worth noting. While the 6-of-6 line from Brown is not a shocker, seeing Damion James go 8-of-12 and Dexter Pittman sink all four of his attempts is certainly reassuring. Statistically, the two players should be expected to miss more shots this afternoon, as their percentages naturally regress to the mean. But what if they’ve actually been practicing and improving over the last week or so? Then perhaps the physical inside play could finally pay off in the post-season, as the Texas big men actually make the free throws they work so hard to earn.

4) Texas has two offensive identities – Not only did the Longhorns show two different offensive styles on Monday night, but they both actually worked. It was reminiscent of the early part of the season, when Gary Johnson famously said that Texas could “beat you any way you want it.” When the Longhorns can play different styles of basketball with equal success, it makes it incredibly hard for opponents to gameplan and defend. Of course, this is just one game against a team that has struggled all season long. But if this newfound offensive duality can continue this afternoon and into the postseason, there is reason for optimism.

The two offensive looks from Texas differ when it comes to the post presence. In the first look — the traditional one we’ve seen all season — the Longhorns are built around Pittman. The team focuses on getting the ball inside, where the big man is expected to either make a quick move to the basket, or kick it back out to rinse and repeat.

Early in the season, defenses sagged off of Mason and Balbay to create more pressure inside on the big man and deny those entry passes. On Monday night, having a backcourt involving Bradley and Brown meant that the OU defense couldn’t sell out to help inside. In addition, after a rusty start, Pittman finally began to make quick moves with the ball, so the defense didn’t have time to react. If these factors hold as the season winds down, the “big” lineup should be quite effective.

When Dex isn’t on the floor, the Longhorns go with the fiesty Gary Johnson down low. He’s five inches shorter than Pittman, and is versatile enough to mix in a midrange game. That added threat spreads out the floor and allows Brown and Mason to slash to the rim for easy points or to draw the foul and get to the line. Johnson’s ability to pull the defender away from the paint also makes it easier for James to get offensive boards and putbacks. And, of course, the pure hustle and determination that Gary brings to the floor leads to extra possessions and second chance points.

Again, it should be noted that all of this happened against a Oklahoma team that will likely finish in the bottom quarter of the league when today’s game are through. But for once, Texas fans had something to be excited about after Monday’s game. Now, we just must wait and see if those things carry over to a game against a very, very good Baylor team this afternoon.