If you look solely at the number, Kevin Durant had a great game for the Longhorns on Thursday night against Centenary. Not to take anything away from KD’s solid 21-point, seventeen-rebound performance, but the game was anything but great for Texas. After a gutsy win over Arkansas and a tough road loss to Tennessee, this was the proverbial letdown game. Fortunately, it came against a team without the talent to convert that letdown into an upset. Coach Rick Barnes did in fact earn his 200th victory on the 40 Acres, but it came in an ugly 76-66 win over the Centenary Gents.

Texas (9-3) trailed Centenary at the under-twelve TV timeout. But beside that “early” deficit, Texas was never in danger of losing to the Gents. They were, however, completely mailing it in. The crowd was flat, the team was flat, and the game was ugly. The Horns had sixteen turnovers to only seventeen assists, just five days after turning the ball over only three times in the first half against a pressuring Tennessee squad.

Barnes had a quick hook throughout the game, constantly pulling players who had screwed up to give them some advice on the sideline. And while it’s certainly nice to be able to do that against the crappy teams and disrupt the flow of the game without ever risking a loss, it definitely isn’t much fun to watch for the fans. For a statistical example of how much Coach was shuffling the lineups, just take a gander at the minutes played — Durant had the most with 31, while reserves Matt Hill and Craig Winder played fifteen and eleven.

If we’re looking for positives in this steaming pile of blandness, it appeared that D.J. Augustin was back to 100% after the cramps in Tennessee that hampered his drives to the basket. And the Horns dominated the glass as they should’ve against the much smaller Gents, logging a 45-30 advantage in the rebounding department. Harrison Smith saw a full five minutes of play in the game, which is great for a guy who hardly gets to see the floor.

Otherwise, I’d rather just forget about this one. Chalk up another win for the Horns in their quest for another 20-victory season. But let’s just move on to UT-Arlington and look forward to conference play on Saturday.

It feels a bit weird writing this a full week and a half after the Tennessee game and five days after the team sleepwalked through the Centenary matchup, but the loss last Saturday in Knoxville was actually a huge step for the program.

Sure, the Horns blew a second-half lead of seventeen points, invcluding an abortion of clock management with 1:35 to go and a seven point advantage. And the argument could be made that Texas actually took its biggest strides in the victory over LSU. But teams learn the most from losses, and I think that is why we’ll be looking back in March and pointing to this game as the turning point.

Despite the game being two days before Christmas, the Volunteer fans showed up en masse. And they were loud. Very, very loud. And while many of their fans apparently don’t know much about the game of basketball — most were booing and bitching about calls despite Texas having eight team fouls to their three at one point in the second-half — they were devoted and cheered with intense fervor. Coming out of halftime, with their team down fifteen, Thompson-Boling Arena sounded more like there were two seconds left in a tie game.

The Vols made a brief spurt to cut the lead to ten, but Texas pushed it back out to the aforementioned seventeen-point cushion. The second half saw a change in tempo and styles as the refs called a much tighter ballgame. Justin Mason fouled out, and KD picked up his fourth. D.J. Augustin cramped up, and Atchley joined Jay Mase on the bench with five fouls. But without two of our core players, two others seeing limited minutes, and a crowd that was living and dying on every play, Texas still found itself ahead by eight with 2:30 on the clock.

Then everything melted down. And I’ll only briefly touch on that. Yes, A.J. and Durant took ill-advised shots early in the possession and failed to milk the clock. But Coach Barnes does a great job at teaching the team how to handle itself in random late-game situations (see: the half-court pass, timeout, and three-pointer at Tech in 2003 or 2004.) I have no doubt that Coach rectified the situation immediately when the team returned to practice the day after Christmas.

But the main point in all of this is that if you ignore the meltdown in the final minutes, an extremely young Texas team held its own in a hostile road environment without many of its key players. J.D. Lewis — J.D. Freakin Lewis! — was relied on for key minutes, and actually provided. Dexter Pittman saw more playing time than anybody could have possibly guessed he’d see against Tennessee’s up-tempo game. Yet Texas was in a position to win.

This is going to be huge when the Horns have to play in places like Norman, Stillwater, College Station, and Lubbock. I’d add Lawrence to the mix, but nothing can truly prepare a player for what it’s like inside Allen Fieldhouse on gameday. And of course, I’m not sure if anybody can take down this year’s KU team on their own floor……..oh, wait. My apologies to Oral Roberts.

What Texas takes away from this is that they can play with anybody in any situation. And when you consider the schedule that followed/follows the Tennessee game, I think this is going to be a key stretch for the Horns. Thursday night they took out Centenary, and tonight will likely steamroll UTA. Their first conference road test is against lowly Colorado, and then they get both Mizzou and OU at home. While the Tigers are certainly capable of an upset at the Frank Erwin Center — and OU could be as well, if a “perfect storm” of variables come together — this is a chance for Texas to rip off five wins in a row before their brutal OSU-Villanova-Nebraksa road stretch over an eight day period. Win two of those three, and Texas will be riding high as they head into the crunch time of February.

So, sure — you can be frustrated over the loss to the Vols. I know I definitely was, although that passed after ten or fifteen minutes. But give it just a few more weeks, and we’ll be talking about how this game was truly a sign of things to come….if you just ignore that little mark in the loss column.

I leave for the first true road trip of the season in about fourteen hours and am working for eight of them, so I figure I’ll jot down my initial thoughts on the Arkansas game and perhaps come back to it again next week once I get a chance to watch it on the DVR. Later this afternoon I’ll have an open thread for Knoxville suggestions, although from what I hear the town doesn’t have a whole lot. Hopefully I’ll be surprised.

The Texas-Arkansas rivalry was renewed on Wednesday night in front of a rowdy, near-capacity crowd at the Frank Erwin Center. Whether it was the Hogs’ Charles Thomas trying to give covert “Horns down” hand signs to the student section on free throw attempts, or the heated exchange between Thomas and Kevin Durant, the bad blood was still around fifteen years later. In an exciting, back-and-forth second half, Texas (8-2) finally came out on top, defeating Arkansas (8-3) by a final of 80-76.

I’d mentioned in my pregame that Razorback freshman Patrick Beverley had yet to have a true breakout game, his debut against Southeast Missouri State notwithstanding. He certainly had one against the Horns. While his nineteen points were ten less than he had against SEMS, the Longhorns are a bit of a tougher opponent than the Redhawks. On Wednesday night, Beverley was particularly deadly in a second half where Arkansas lit it up from behind the arc. After hitting only 27.3% of their threes in the first half, the Hogs upped their second-half rate to a much healthier 41.7 percent.

For Texas, it was once again a cast of stars. And while Kevin Durant was the biggest of them, dropping 28 points to go with 13 rebounds, there were great performances up and down Rick Barnes’ lineup.

Damion James was one, despite fouling out of the game. He provided a ton of minutes inside against Thomas and Steven Hill, and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line — a good step forward psychologically after the meltdown in the final minutes of the LSU game.

Then there was D.J. Augustin, who added another fourteen points, giving him 63 in his last three games. He had four steals on the night, although he got his hand in the passing lane on many more chances, knocking the ball out of bounds and disrupting the Arkansas flow. The kid is one of the most exciting players I’ve seen in my time on the Forty Acres, in every phase of the game. And when I’ve been priviliged enough to see T.J. Ford, LaMarcus Aldridge, and P.J. Tucker from my spot in the South O-Zone, that’s truly high praise.

Connor Atchley stepped up again, giving Texas 26 minutes off the bench. And while he fouled out, most of his fouls were not of the stupid variety, and they certainly took a hell of a lot longer than his four-fouls-in-four-minutes disaster back in New York. It appears that Connor’s light switch has finally been flipped, and I can’t wait to see his continued growth all season with the added minutes he’s rightly earned. Atchley was active underneath, and while he still needs to work on finishing putbacks and tip-ins, the fact that he’s mixing it up inside is huge for a team that is still searching for a consistent post presence.

A.J. Abrams brought his three-point stroke back to the Drum on Wednesday night, going 4-of-9 from behind the arc. He finished with 14 points and played all but two minutes of the game. Oddly enough, he didn’t get to the free throw line once. Perhaps coupling his outing against Arkansas with the one he gave against Texas State on Saturday, we can draw a conclusion about Abrams’ game. When his three-point shot was not falling against the Bobcats, he worked his way inside for more attempts off the dribble. Tonight, he only took two non-threes, making one. It’d be nice to see him get a nice, consistent mix, but you really can’t argue with 44% three-point shooting. And on a team that is playing this well offensively, it looks like A.J.’s scoring role with be of the catch-and-shoot variety.

The one oddity I noticed during the game was that there seemed to be two different Texas teams shooting free throws in each half. The Horns were a perfect 8-of-8 in the first twenty minutes, and made one of their first two in the second. Between those first ten and the final three that Texas made to finish off the Hogs, the Longhorns were 5-for-13 from the line for a huge chunk of the second half. And it wasn’t just Justin Mason who struggled from the line in the final twenty minutes, but Kevin Durant as well. Fortunately, both of them redeemed themselves at the line in the waning moments, as they combined to make those final three charity shots that I previously mentioned.

My player of the game goes to Mason, who made the clutch layup in traffic, drew the foul, and sank a free throw to put Texas up for good. While he only had ten points — albeit three of them were the biggest of the game — he dished out seven assists and gave Coach Barnes a solid 33 minutes.

I noticed a few interesting things on the defensive end, but will have to go back and watch the recording later to really get a feel for them. I find defense to be the toughest part to break down at home games, as I’m fairly busy with the jumping up and down and screaming myself hoarse. But I did catch Durant at the top of a 1-2-2 again for a brief moment in the first half, which I first noticed the Horns bust out on Saturday. I think Barnes is planning on using it as a change of pace, to force the opponent to make their own adjustments before Texas retreats back into a normal set.

I also noticed a bit more man than I’d expected early on, and was pleased with how well some of our guys were switching on screens. As the game wore on and Arkansas got hot from behind the arc, we were clearly having issues flashing out on shooters. But in the end, the only numbers that really matter are the one on the big scoreboard in the middle, and that showed Texas with a four-point advantage.

The team travels to Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday to face the Vols, their third SEC opponent in December. Coach Rick Barnes will be looking for his 200th victory at the helm of the Texas Longhorns, while the team will be looking to push their winning streak to a season-high four games.

Coach Rick Barnes earned his 400th career win on Saturday as the Longhorns defeated Texas State, but it wasn’t pretty. That’s not to say it wasn’t an easy win, because it was — Texas pulled away in the second half and won by a final score of 96-70. But in a game marred by sloppy play and excessive fouling, it was hard for either team to look good doing it.

There were certainly bright spots for Texas despite their 19 turnovers. D.J. Augustin again had an outstanding offensive effort, following up his stellar performance against LSU with another 24 points against the Bobcats. He knocked down his two three-point shots, and on a day where Texas State had ten team fouls only eight minutes into the game, Augustin hit twelve of his thirteen free throws. The Bobcats finished the game with 31 team fouls and miraculously only had one player foul out.

Justin Mason looked good again, and the three-point stroke we saw from him in the waning minutes of the Gonzaga game returned. Jay was 2-for-3 from behind the arc and finished with eighteen points. He was active all over the floor, ripping down five defensive rebounds (seven total) and was credited with two steals. Mason is by far the biggest surprise of the season for me, and I’m thrilled to have him in our starting five every night.

The minutes from our young big men were once again outstanding. Like Augustin, Connor Atchley followed up his solid LSU game with another great effort. He provided 22 minutes off the bench, giving the team ten points, two blocks, and continued to show his improvement defensively.

One thing Atchley has done very well all season long is provide solid screens, and he gave one of the best I’d seen on Saturday afternoon. Bobcat Antwoine Blanchard ran straight into Atchley’s pick and fell to the ground. It was like seeing Wile E. Coyote hit a brick wall. Blanchard had to have medical staff come out to check on him, but ultimately was well enough to come back into the game.

Two of Atchley’s ten points came on a dunk right in the face of a Bobcat defender, which was the first time that I could remember Atchley successfully finishing a dunk attempt. But I’m not saying that his game is solely going to be inside now; Connor still tried two shots from the outside, although he missed both. We’ve all seen that he can hit those, so it’s important for him to keep shooting. When he can score on the outside as well, he throws a wrench into man-to-man defenses and their rebounding efforts.

Speaking of rebounding, the Longhorns had fun against their smaller opponents from San Marcos. Texas won the battle of the glass by a lopsided 51-33 margin, converting their 23 offensive boards into nineteen second-chance points.

Damion James was the most prolific rebounder of the day for the Horns, bringing down ten. He also looked better offensively, finishing strong on dunks and taking the ball to the hole. He finished the game with a double-double, scoring ten points.

Dexter Pittman played only six minutes at the end of the game, but somehow almost came up with his own double-double. He vacuumed up every rebound for a total of five, and actively called for the ball in the post. Harrison Smith set him up with a pair of nice entry passes in the pair’s limited minutes. Pittman went straight up — something that I’m hoping Matt Hill will pick up on soon — and forced his way to the line. He finished 5-for-9 at the line — nine free throws in six minutes! — and scored nine points. He also shamed a Bobcat player and his entire family with a monster rejection.

An unfortunate side effect of the sloppy, foul-ridden game was a poor day for Kevin Durant and A.J. Abrams. Both had three fouls on the day, and Durant spent much of the late first half riding the pine. I’m not sure if that was to protect him from foul trouble or to punish him for the sloppy ballhandling he showed in the game; Durant finished with four turnovers. He did make up for it, swiping four on the other end.

Abrams struggled with his shot in his 31 minutes, going 2-for-11 from the field and 1-for-3 from behind the arc. One point that might be lost amidst his rough shooting day was the effort he gave in creating closer looks for himself. Rather than be content with jacking up threes, A.J. made a lot of good cuts to the basket. Sometimes it resulted in off-balance misses, once it ended with a great layup, and twice it sent him to the line where he hit all four free throws.

For Coach Barnes, the win pushed his career mark to 400 wins and 212 losses, and his Longhorn win total rose to 198 against only 78 losses. His 200th win could come as early as Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee, but will come no later than January 2nd against UT-Arlington at home.

Tonight the Longhorns look for 199 against Arkansas, with a tip time of 8 P.M. Which means in addition to this very delayed write-up, you also get a Razorback preview. It’s content Wednesday! Preview coming to you within the hour.

Wow.

That was about the only reaction I could muster after last night’s game with LSU in Houston, which ended with a 76-75 Longhorn victory in overtime. And 24 hours later, it’s still the main thought running through my head. There’s so much to talk about, it’s hard to keep it straight.

There was D.J. Augustin, who took his early flashes of offensive brilliance and turned in the performance of the year. There was Connor Atchley, who looked remarkably unlike the Connor Atchley Texas fans are used to. Then there’s the implications this has on March, even though we’re still twelve weeks from Selection Sunday. There’s the drunken LSU fan on row one. And of course, there’s the complete lack of the LSU Golden Girls, which is basically a crime against humanity.

I figure you have to start with Augustin, who dropped 25 points on the Tigers as 50 fans from his New Orleans high school watched, waving “D.J.” signs and sporting the school’s colors of garnet and gold. His performance in the one game was good enough for Big 12 Rookie of the Week, as announced today by the league office.

After the last game, I noted Augustin’s lack of dribble penetration against the Gonzaga zone. Sunday night, he was able to do that time and time again against an LSU man defense that seemed a little too committed to sticking A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant. He started the game by driving to the bucket, laying it in, and drawing the foul. It was a sign of things to come, as he seemed to effortlessly control the game the rest of the way.

Coming into the game, I expected the Atchley/Hill/Pittman platoon to eat up some minutes and absorb some fouls against the physical Glen “Big Baby” Davis (real name Ronald). Instead, Connor Atchley played the game of his life, giving Coach Rick Barnes 27 strong minutes, 9 points, and 6 rebounds. But most importantly, Atchley played very well in the middle of the 2-3 zone’s back line. In the past, Atchley was constantly picked on by opposing teams in the past — even St. John’s — but on Sunday night he performed admirably.

Sure, the Tigers got the best of him occasionally, but the Atchley we saw last night was head and shoulders above his past performances. And I’d like to see him used more in the zone defense in the future. He has always struggled with the man-to-man defense, often getting lost on screens…or just lost, period. I feel that Barnes can get him some more practice with the man defense against Texas State, Centenary, and UT-Arlington. But the next time that the team is in its 2-3 zone, I have a strong feeling that I won’t instinctively cringe if I see Connor run to the scorer’s table.

Durant was well off of his season scoring average, providing only eleven points in his 43 minutes. But he contributed in so many other ways, including one that won’t show up on any stat sheets. Much of Augustin’s success can be attributed to the game plan that LSU coach John Brady utilized, which keyed on Durant and Abrams much of the night. In addition to the huge boost his mere presence brought to the offense, K-Smoove also ripped down ten boards and blocked four shots.

Damion James matched Durant’s double-double, scoring ten while logging thirteen boards. And the really frightening thing is that we’ve yet to see all that Damion can do. Many fans will focus on the four missed free throws in crunch time. But James is an athletic freak, and he makes a huge difference for the Horns both on defense and on the glass. He still misses some point blank shots, a problem dating back to the games in New York. But I feel that by the end of the season, the full package of Damion James will be on display for the conference and the nation to see. And with Durant, Abrams, and Augustin on the same team, that’s going to be one hell of an offense.

Justin Mason was the only Longhorn who seemed to take a significant step back from the Gonzaga game. But considering that he did much better than many of the other players, that was probably to be expected. Mason went 0-for-3 from behind the arc, including one ugly airball. Shot selection has been a problem for Texas in this young season, and I think Jay was afflicted with that disease on Sunday night. He hit some threes during that 18-0 run at the end of the Gonzaga game, so he likely felt more confident to let the shots fly. Mason also turned over the ball four times with only two assists, so he’ll need to just regroup and beat the crap out of Texas State on Saturday.

Most importantly, last night’s win goes a long way to making March a lot less nerve-wracking for Horns fans. I maintained early in the season that a 10-6 conference record would get us into the Big Dance, as long as we won two out of our five tougher non-conference games. However, the one game out of the five that I thought we had no chance in was the LSU contest. Oops.

Now, Texas has a reasonable chance to win two more of its three tough non-cons left. They draw an Arkansas team at home who was absolutely shit-stomped by an up-and-coming Mizzou squad. The road game at Tennessee could be a hell of a test, but as the Volunteers proved last year, games in front of meager Christmas crowds can easily become traps. And the road game at Villanova on January 20th has looked winnable absolutely all season. Win only one of the three, and Texas needs only a 10-6 record in the Big 12 to reach 20 wins. Win two, and they’ll have a nice handful of quality wins — yes, I’m also assuming some quality wins against the RPI top 50 in conference. Simply put, this win was huge in terms of the resumé

As for that drunken LSU fan on row one who got under the referee’s skin, I’ll save him for the picture-laden trip wrap-up. And I’d like to extend a middle-finger salute to the LSU brass for keeping the school’s band and world-class dance team at home. Finals on Monday? Pfffsssssh. That is an unacceptable excuse for the lack of purple-and-gold eye candy.

This week might be light on sports, but keep your eyes peeled here as I bring you more content and new features. I’ll have the overdue Phoenix wrap, a short bit on the one-day Houston trip, and unveil the new photo and map sections which will help bring readers along on the road.