Booing was a favorite fan activity in Norman on Saturday (Photo: G. Austin)

Road games are never easy, and the crowds never friendly. But the Oklahoma Sooners and their fans took things to a whole new level on Saturday, as Coach Jeff Capel earned a technical foul and a fan threw a cell phone across the court. Yet despite the hostile environment and a second half in which they shot only 14 percent, the Longhorns were still able to earn a 68-58 victory in Norman.

Texas (21-7 overall, 11-3 Big 12) came out firing and jumped to a quick 9-0 lead. In the first half, the Horns hit a ridiculous 8-of-13 shots from behind the arc, while Kevin Durant had 19 points in the first twenty minutes. They led by ten to fifteen for most of the half and headed to the locker room with a 41-28 advantage.

The second half was a completely different story. The game was bogged down on both ends by a lot of whistles, although Texas was fortunate enough to draw most of their fouls in shooting situations. The Horns did not even make their first field goal until almost twelve minutes had elapsed in the second half. It was one of only two baskets they would get in the entire twenty minutes.

Instead, the Longhorns made all of their second half points at the line. They took 30 free throws in the second stanza, sinking 22 of them. Texas was in the bonus with over 12 minutes left in the half, and Sooner fans were growing restless. Boos rained down from the half-empty seats. Jeff Capel was throwing tantrums on the sideline. Then, with the Sooners chipping away at the lead, their coach ultimately killed any building momentum by picking up the technical foul on a missed 10-second violation. The Horns sunk their free throws and rebuilt the lead.

Later, with a little over five minutes on the clock, a Sooner fan threw their cell phone across the court as Connor Atchley prepared to shoot free throws. He missed both, perhaps because he was a little jumpy. A boot or a soda could’ve come flying towards him at any moment, after all. Or maybe the keys to a trailer.

In the end, it was an ugly game that was painful to watch. The Horns spent a lot of time standing around in the second half hoping that D.J. Augustin or Durant were going to create some offense. But the adjusted Sooner defense seemed content to play physically and not allow our players to reach the rack. So as the fouls mounted up and the Horns padded the lead, many Texas fans may have overlooked the fact that three-fifths of the team were just holding down the floor.

In the big picture, this is a huge win for seeding — not only in the conference tournament but the NCAAs as well. Personally, I’d rather put it in the rearview and not think about it for a while. If the Horns continue their second-half offensive woes on Wednesday night, it’ll be a long, long game. But if the Saturday first-half team is the one that shows up, an upset is certainly possible.

Tomorrow night I’ll bring you the last Big 12 update of the year, focusing on the top four teams.

The Texas starting five, who all scored in double digits against the Red Raiders

Everything was clicking for the Longhorns on Tuesday night as they crushed Texas Tech in Austin for the second straight year, coasting to an 80-51 victory in front of a sellout crowd. The win gave Texas (20-7 overall, 10-3 Big 12) their eighth-straight season with at least 20-wins, and also likely ensured that the team will be playing in the Big Dance. A four-game losing streak to end the season could certainly change that, but for now let’s just enjoy the victory.

Texas Tech (17-11, 6-7) opened up the game with an early 2-0 lead. It was the only one they’d hold all game. Texas quickly jumped ahead and stretched the score to 20-9 by the second media timeout. By halftime, the Longhorns had nearly doubled the Red Raiders’ output, heading to the locker room with a 48-26 lead.

Once again, Texas found offense from everybody in the starting lineup. For the first time all season, no Loghorn hit the 20-point plateau, but all five starters did reach double digits in scoring. By comparison, the high-scorer for the Red Raiders finished with nine.

Early on, Justin Mason was the spark. Jay scored twelve points in the first half, making both of his three-point attempts. He finished the night with thirteen points and four assists while only turning it over once.

Damion James again had a big game, and is proving to be a key player in the stretch run for the Longhorns. He was hitting midrange jumpers and throwing it down inside. But most importantly, he was able to control a ton of the Tech misses. James finished with a double-double on the night, scoring twelve and grabbing ten rebounds — nine of them on the defensive end.

When the Horns were in a man scheme, A.J. Abrams was again tabbed to frustrate the opponent’s high-scoring guard. For Tech, that was Jarrius Jackson, who had only seven points on the night. Two of those seven came on technical free throws, making the Horns’ defensive effort even more impressive.

Once again, it seemed that having Abrams focus on a defensive task opened up his offensive game. He took very few bad shots on the night, even hitting a pair of two-point buckets — something practically unheard of for the guard this season. Abrams was 4-of-9 from behind the arc and finished the night as the leading scorer with 18 points.

For much of the night, Texas was able to sag back on defense, daring Tech to shoot over them. The Red Raiders hit only 20 percent of their three-point attempts (3-15), making it necessary to try to drive the lane for easier buckets. But oftentimes Kevin Durant was hanging out in the middle, using his incredible wingspan to disrupt the offense.

One of the only things Texas did poorly on Tuesday night was bite far too often on pump fakes from the Red Raiders. But help defense was really solid, and oftentimes the open look disappeared almost instantaneously. Connor Atchley and Dexter Pittman both had a particularly hard time staying on the ground against those fakes, and saw limited minutes as a result. To be fair to Atchley, it’s unclear if his nine minutes were completely in response to his three fouls and poor defense, or if he was still feeling the effects from the injury he suffered against Baylor on Saturday night.

The Longhorns took their largest lead with 8:38 still to go in the ballgame. But up by 33 points, Barnes started milking the clock with a fifth of the game still left. For some reason, he left the starters in to essentially dribble around the perimeter for another five minutes. Perhaps he wanted them to keep working on their defense, but the argument could easily be made that our overworked starters need any breathers they can get.

In the end, all five did see some rest as Barnes cleared the bench. Harrison Smith and Ian Mooney both saw the floor and earned a huge cheer from the remaining crowd. The fans even roared when Mooney fouled a Tech player; after all, that does go in the official record.

This weekend’s game now has a lot less pressure attached to it. The Longhorns have their 20 wins and ten conference victories. At this point, more wins are just gravy. But the threat of a four-game losing streak does still loom large with games at OU, vs. Texas A&M, and at Kansas to finish the year. Add in a loss to the 5 or 6 seed in Oklahoma City, and things could get dicey.

If Texas can carry over the defensive efforts seen at home against Oklahoma State and Tech, they have a very great shot at their 11th conference win up in Norman. And, as a result, the Horns would also eliminate the tiny shred of doubt that still surrounds their NCAA future. Enjoy the win, and I’ll have your Oklahoma re-preview sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Texas survived a last-minute comeback by Baylor

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. Connor Atchley owns the Bears. The same Connor Atchley who would induce fan cringing every time he came into the game last year. Now he’s playing well enough that many of those same fans experienced that same kind of worry last night when Atchley limped off the court late in the game. Ladies and gentleman, your most improved player for 2006-07 is Connor Freakin Atchley.

The Longhorns (19-7 overall, 9-3 Big 12) once again struggled against Baylor (12-13, 2-10), needing a second-half surge to secure a 68-67 victory. And just as in the victory back in Austin, the key to the UT run came in the form of a tall, lanky white guy wearing number 32. Atchley hustled all over the floor, scoring a career-high 15 points and pulling down eight rebounds. He was even credited with two steals and another block — his 14th straight game with at least one — and continued to set the best screens on the court for the Horns.

Time and again, Atchley came free on the low blocks for easy dunks. And on Kevin Durant’s second-worst shooting night, it was refreshing to see another Longhorn moving without the ball to create some offense. Between Damion James’ easy layups against OSU and Atchley’s dunks last night, it looks like the Horns are finally getting some consistent scoring from the frontcourt.

Despite Durant’s tough night from the field (5-for-16), he kept Texas on the scoreboard by getting to the line repeatedly in the second half. He shot 90% at the line on ten attempts and grabbed just about every 50/50 ball that came loose. KD’s fourteen boards gave him his 16th double-double on the year and ninth in twelve conference games.

Unfortunately, the thing most Texas fans will remember about this game was the near-meltdown in the final minutes. But while Texas gave up the lead and ultimately lost to Tennessee in a similar fashion back in December, this time the Horns were able to escape with a road win.

Up 68-60 with 1:40 to play, the Horns missed four free throws, turned the ball over twice, and allowed the Bears a final 11-second possession to win. Without any timeouts, Baylor wasn’t able to draw up a play and the final shot was an awkward, desperate one thrown up by St. Michael’s grad Mark Shepherd. And when you’ve got a former teammate of Ian Mooney wrist-flicking a 17-footer at the last second, the odds are against the miracle bucket.

Once again, Texas allowed far too many open looks from behind the arc. This happened most often against the 2-3 zone, as the threes made against our man defense was often the result of a jab step giving the shooter just enough breathing room to get it off. I’ll take those threes any day — although not biting so hard on fakes does remain an area to improve for the Horns — as opposed to failing to get out on shooters in the zone.

Fortunately, it now seems that Barnes is committed to running a man defense more often, utilizing the zone when the personnel on the court requires it or he’s trying to protect Augustin or Durant from foul trouble. I’m a huge fan of this defensive mix, and hope to see it continue the rest of the year.

Most importantly for Texas, this win gives them 19 on the year with four games to play. While all of the remaining games could easily show up in the loss column, it seems that the first three are also winnable. I’ll look at the road ahead in my conference breakdown tomorrow, but it’s not hyperbole to say that this was a “must-win” game. The Horns are now just steps away from a dance ticket in March, and possibly even a chance to play themselves above that dreaded 8/9 seed range.

Next game is Tuesday at the Drum against Tech, but in the meantime we’ll have more new stuff here at Longhorn Road Trip. Three weeks to Selection Sunday!

The Texas Longhorns played their best team game of the year last night, routing Oklahoma State 83-54 in front of a huge home crowd and a national audience on ESPN. The loss was the third in the last four games for the Cowboys (19-6 overall, 5-5 Big 12) and continued a streak of futility on the road in conference play dating to February 4th of last year. For the Longhorns (18-7, 8-3), the victory made their coach the winningest one in school history.

For the second-straight game, Kevin Durant had what was — for him — an average game. A great night for most mere mortals, Durant finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds after only scoring five in the first half. It was Durant’s eighth double-double in eleven conference games, and his 15th on the season.

But just as in the Iowa State game, the rest of the Longhorns stepped up. With the Oklahoma State defense stifling the superstar in the first twenty minutes, the offense was spread around. Damion James scored early on pick-and-rolls that resulted in wide open layups. D.J. Augustin hit threes when Durant set high screens for him. In the end, all five Texas starters reached double figures in scoring.

The biggest surprise of the night was seeing A.J. Abrams sticking JamesOn Curry in a man defense right out of the gate. Abrams has often struggled on defense, and Curry was responsible for 28 points in the first meeting between the two teams this year. But A.J. was a thorn in JamesOn’s side, staying in his face well behind the three-point line, fighting through screen after screen, and holding the guy scoreless for the first 18 minutes. Curry was called for a charge in the first half that was clearly a result of his frustration at being unable to shake the pesky little defender.

The focus on a single defensive task seemed to up Abrams’ confidence. He returned to his catch-and-shoot ways, knocking down three of his seven three-point attempts and another two-point jumper. He only took one bad shot on the run, as he cut across the lane and popped an 18-footer off the dribble. On this night, though, everything was falling for the Longhorns, and Abrams had another two points.

Just like the frustrated Curry, Mario Boggan also had a quieter night than the first time around. Boggan had gone off for 37 and 20 back in Stillwater, but scored only 16 and secured three rebounds in this one. Connor Atchley was a big part of the Longhorns’ defensive success underneath, as he maintained good position in the paint and stood straight up. James did the same, and time after time the post attack of the Cowpokes was limited to multiple, frantic pivots and ultimately a highly contested shot.

While Texas did not take care of the basketball very well, they did capitalize on turnovers and played the transition game that makes their offense click. The Longhorns actually turned it over 16 times to the Cowboys’ 15, but outscored them on those turnovers by a wide 22-11 count.

Texas also managed to outrebound OSU this time around. They took a 34-30 advantage on the glass, despite giving up fourteen offensive rebounds to the Pokes. But the Longhorns kept their opponents from capitalizing on those offensive boards, winning the second-chance battle 18-13.

All told, this was a glimpse at what a complete game would look like for the Horns. It really bodes well for the rest of the season that our entire team can produce offensively. And, for three of the last four halves of basketball, the Texas defense has played a hundred times better than they did the rest of the season. Sure, there were occassional lapses on the defensive end last night, but I’ll easily take 36 minutes of suffocating D over a 52% 3-point shooting night from KSU.

The best part of the night for me as a fan was having the ref call the cops on myself and two friends. In all of the years watching games from the student section, I have been responsible for and have heard some less-than-tasteful stuff screamed towards opponents and refs. But this was the first time I’d ever had a cop speak to me about it…and this time nobody had even cursed.

The scene was this: Augustin is called for a foul heading into a TV timeout. The basket is counted, even though those of us watching next to the play think the OSU player was fouled on the floor. Someone screams “Are you kidding me?” Another yells “That’s horrible.” As the teams head into the huddle, the white-haired ref turns around and stares at me. “I hope you didn’t breed,” I tell him. That’s it. Apparently we had pricked his delicate ego and the law had to be called.

The cop comes over and suggests we direct our attention to the players and not the refs. As we let him know that we are keeping it clean for those around us, the ref leans across the baseline, looks at us, and says, “Tell them they’ve messed with the wrong crew.” I’m going to choose to ignore the fact that he was talking through the cop while looking at us. But his crewmate Steve Welmer loves our fans and chat us up every time he’s in town. Even the third ref joked with our section later in the night. But this thin-skinned little man apparently had something to prove. Are you surprised that he’s the same one who gave Sutton a technical later in the night?

Crybaby refs aside, it was a great night from start to finish. In the early afternoon, Dexter Pittman and Durant came out of Cooley Pavillion to meet with those of us who had camped out for the ballgame. Later Damion James talked with us as we loaded up our cars with the camping gear. It’s really nice of the players to let the fans know that the support is appreciated, especially in a time when so many people are jaded and think of athletes as self-centered, money-hungry prima donnas. I think we’re lucky to have a good group of quality people that just so happen to be great basketball players.

We’ve got a long week off before the road game with Baylor on Saturday. If you still need a basketball fix, Tech takes on A&M tonight at 6 PM central on ESPN2. Throughout the long week, I’ll try to get around to some more pictures and some of the tales from the road.

While yesterday’s first-half performance certainly hinted at defensive improvements, there is no doubt that it is still an Achilles heel for the Texas Longhorns this season. Looking at Ken Pomeroy’s stats, you can see that when the Longhorns allow a high effective field goal percentage for their opponents, they are more likely to lose.

No brainer, you might think. But effective field goal percentage gives weight to three-point shots, which is something that even the casual observer can tell Texas has a problem defending. And when eFG% is compared to turnover percentage, we can see how much more significant it is to the Longhorns’ defensive success. In six of seven losses for Barnes and Co., they are allowing opponents an eFG% of at least 50 percent. Only the Villanova loss was lower (43%) and was a generally sloppy game for both offenses.

In most of those losses, Texas allowed a player on the other team to get hot from long distance, if not more than one. Michigan State hit 53% of their threes, while Derek Raivio of Gonzaga was 7-of-14. Chris Lofton of Tennessee knocked down seven three-pointers in his 35-point performance. Just last weekend, Kansas State sunk 52% of their three-pointers, and then the Aggies made 48% of theirs two days later.

Without a doubt, guarding the perimeter is a key for the Longhorns. So with that in mind, I fired up the Tivo and watched every defensive possession of our worst game in that department, the one-point loss to Kansas State. I hoped to see how exactly we could leave so many people with wide-open looks from behind the arc, and I ended up with some interesting observations.

While we were wringing our hands over the zone defense used against the Wildcats (along with announcer Steve “The Roach” Lavin), we had our share of problems in the man-to-man as well. Kevin Durant often would lose his man in that scheme, either from helping on the backside or failing to communicate on screens.

The winning basket was a prime example of this, as Durant and Damion James were just inches away from each other on a screen. But both followed the ballhandler, leaving the screener open for the game-winning three. Talking is a huge part of defense, and it’s really frustrating that two guys could be close enough to smell the bubble gum being chewed and not call out a switch.

Connor Atchley also struggled in the man defense. He’s done great in the zone schemes, dating all the way back to his great performance against LSU down the stretch. But when the Horns come out in a man, he sags enough off of his man that a simple cut across the lane by another player screens him twice — he’s so far back, the cutter and his defender both slice between Atchley and his man. This led to a ton of open looks from the free throw line for Kansas State last Saturday.

As for the zone, it can be highly effective for Texas and helps to protect Durant and D.J. Augustin from the occassional foul trouble. But the K-State Wildcats put on a clinic as to how to beat the Texas 2-3 zone, and the Horns were doing nothing but helping. For much of the first half, KSU would flash a man to the free throw line and feed him the ball before looking to the low blocks or wing for another pass. Against that attack, Texas limited the Wildcats and headed to the locker room with a lead.

But in the second half, simple dribble penetration and skip passing was the undoing of the Horns. If the point would attack the top of the key, both Abrams and Augustin would collapse on him. This left the wings wide open time and again for three balls. If K-State made a pass to the wings or dribbled around the perimeter, both a guard and the back end of the zone would converge, leaving a man open at the top of the key. In essence, a failure to stay home in the zone constantly left men all alone in the vacated areas.

It seems counterintuitive to say that a small Longhorn team without a true post presence can afford to give up points inside. But with the high correlation of eFG% — which favors three-point shooting teams — to Texas’ success on D, the Longhorns need to focus on limiting the looks outside. Our team is young and that is a huge reason why there are these defensive breakdowns. But the Horns need to communicate and be aware of their location on the court so opponents aren’t given as much space as ebola carriers.

The increased pressure beyond the arc in yesterday’s win over Iowa State looks like a step in the right direction. But we won’t truly see how well Texas has progressed until they take on Baylor next Saturday, a squad that takes 40% of their shots from behind the arc.