After last year’s disappointing collapse and ignominious exit in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Texas fans were understandably skittish about embracing this year’s team. Even after a torrid 11-0 start to conference play, Longhorn Nation was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It finally did, in the form of three losses in the team’s last five conference games and a slide to second in the conference standings.

Selection Sunday stung the spurned Longhorn fans even more. Texas dropped from a No. 2 or a No. 3 seed to a No. 4 seed, and drew a terribly tough match-up in an Oakland team that was probably under-seeded with its placement on the 13 line. Despite the tough draw, the Longhorns took a step towards erasing the demons of their past, hanging on to an 85-81 win against a feisty Oakland club on Friday afternoon.

While the win is just one small step in a much larger goal, it came as a relief to those Longhorn fans still skeptical after last year. Arizona will provide yet another tough test on Sunday in the NCAA Third Round, but at least for one day, Texas fans can finally breathe a little easier.

What looked good

The Longhorns did an excellent job forcing Oakland to settle for three-pointers. The Grizzlies averaged just 35% of their shots from behind the arc coming into the game, but took 39% of their attempts from long range on Friday. Texas was able to contest most of those looks, locking down sharpshooter Travis Bader and limiting him to a 2-for-11 performance from long range. Coming into the game, the freshman was drilling nearly 46% of his three-point attempts.

Star senior guard Reggie Hamilton found it just as tough to score from outside. He was just 2-of-9 against the Texas defense, and both of those threes came on stepback shots with a Longhorn defender just inches away from him. Texas couldn’t do anything better to defend those shots, and you simply have to tip your cap to Hamilton for sticking those looks.

Inside, Texas freshman Tristan Thompson did a fantastic job against Oakland’s Keith Benson. Thompson broke the school record for blocks in an NCAA game by swatting seven Oakland attempts, and four of those blocks came against Benson.

Oakland’s big man is a guaranteed NBA player, and might even be a lottery pick in the next NBA draft. Despite that intimidating match-up, Thompson set the tone early by taking it at Benson and forced Oakland to change their defensive approach to protect their star from foul trouble. Tristan finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points to go with 10 boards.

Jordan Hamilton also posted a double-double for Texas by scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He drove the lane consistently against Oakland, eschewing his usual flurry of three-point attempts. Hamilton took only three shots from behind the arc, the fewest attempts he’s had in a game since the team’s win against Kansas in Lawrence on January 22nd.

Against Oakland, Jordan made eight of his 14 attempts from inside the arc, simply because he put the ball on the floor and attacked the seams in the defense. If Hamilton will continue to attack defenses as the Longhorns move forward in the tournament, it will make the offense look much more like the well-oiled machine we saw in January and not the painfully stagnant mess we watched in late February.

Gary Johnson also had a solid game for Texas, which was a relief after how the last few weeks had gone for the senior. Johnson was just 26.7% from the field in the team’s last five games, including a 21.7% mark at the Big 12 tournament which included three missed dunks. Against Oakland, he was 4-of-6 from the field — including a made dunk — and was able to consistently knock down his patented mid-range jumper.

Off the bench, J’Covan Brown provided another solid game. He led the team with 21 points, twelve of them coming at the free throw line, where he was perfect on the day. While he had a tough time scoring inside against the physical Oakland frontcourt, Brown was able to manufacture points for his team by getting to the line. J’Covan also added three assists and six boards, and had an incredible block on a closeout against Bader on a three-point attempt.

It’s also worth noting that the rest of the team did fairly well at the free throw line, too. Hamilton and Cory Joseph were both 3-of-4 at the line, with all of Joseph’s attempts coming in the final minute of the game. Thompson was just 3-of-6 at the stripe, but at this point, 50% from the big man is a minor victory. With his season average sitting at 48.6%, Longhorn fans are simply hoping Thompson can sink one out of every two.

What needed work

Texas had just 10 turnovers in 71 possessions, but when the Longhorns did make mistakes with the basketball, it led to runs for Oakland. With Texas up 12 late in the first half, three straight turnovers and a missed three allowed the Grizzlies to slice the lead to just five points.

At the end of the game, Texas again made some poor decisions with the ball. With just five minutes left, Texas led by 15, but had three turnovers down the stretch to aid a furious Oakland comeback bid. The most egregious mistake was when Gary Johnson tried to single-handedly break the Oakland press, dribbling it three-quarters of the court before having it stolen. Oakland drilled a three on the ensuing possession, and Texas’ lead had shrunk to five.

Games are going to be close for the rest of the season, so the Longhorns must make better decisions in the clutch. The ball simply has to be passed to the best shooters on the floor. Rick Barnes was furious with Hamilton for passing to a poor free-throw shooter in crunch time against Kansas in Lawrence, so you have to be concerned that this could be a deadly trend in March.

Finally, it should be noted that the Longhorns had some major issues shutting down the slashing attack of Oakland inside. While Texas did a great job contesting Oakland’s long-range shots, it was often far too easy for the Grizzlies to score inside. The Longhorns allowed 1.148 points per possession, which was just under Oakland’s season average coming into the game.

A big part of Oakland’s excellent offensive efficiency was the 38 points they scored in the paint. with Benson limited to 12 points from the field, most of those points in the paint came on layups from the slashing guards and wings. If the Longhorns are going to continue to advance in the tournament, they will have to make sure the defense shuts down driving lanes as well as it shuts down the perimeter.

Next up: vs. Arizona (28-7) in Tulsa, OK; 5:10 P.M. CT, Sunday

March has been a tough month for the Texas Longhorns in recent years. In the first half of the decade, Texas was one of the nation’s best performers in the NCAA tournament. From 2002 to 2006, the Longhorns made the Sweet 16 four different times, played in one Elite Eight, and even landed in the Final Four in 2003.

But since then, Texas has had difficulties advancing past the first weekend. Although the Longhorns advanced to the Elite Eight as a No. 2 seed in 2008, they lost in the second round in both 2007 and 2009, and were knocked out at the overtime buzzer in the first round by Wake Forest last season.

Throw in the epic collapse by last year’s Texas team, and there’s been a lot of national attention on Texas this March. Yahoo’s Jason King claimed that Rick Barnes is the coach with the most pressure in this NCAA tournament, and he may be right. But even more than historical trends and cute storylines, the true source of pressure comes in the form of a very tough opening match-up for the Longhorns.

Predicted by many to be a No. 2 seed in this year’s field, Texas inexplicably showed up on the 4-seed line when the brackets were revealed. As an added bonus, the Longhorns were paired with the Summit League champion Oakland, a very scary squad that could easily pull off the upset.

By the numbers

The Grizzlies are an up-tempo team that can score the ball in a hurry. Oakland averages 72.9 possessions per game, which is the 7th-fastest pace in D-I basketball and a full six possessions per game faster than the Longhorns.

Oakland has a team full of quick, athletic players that can score, and as a result, have a solid offensive efficiency mark of 1.159 points per possession. Their effective field goal percentage — a statistic that takes into account the greater value of a three-point shot — is third-best in the nation at 56.1%.

All of the Golden Grizzlies have excellent handles, and it allows them to run tons of curls from the perimeter following ball screens. They also move really well without the basketball, leading to tons of open looks at the rim when defenses lose their men on the backcuts. Add in one of the nation’s premier big men, and it’s easy to see why Oakland’s offensive numbers are so potent.

The Golden Grizzlies want to turn today’s game into a track meet because they simply cannot defend. They allow more than 1.03 adjusted points per possession, ranking them 200th in the country. Oakland doesn’t guard the perimeter, where opponents are shooting more than 36%, and the Grizzlies simply don’t force turnovers.

Meet the Golden Grizzlies

The player you’ve heard about all week is big man Keith Benson. At 6’11”, he’s much more athletic and sleek than other players his size. Benson leads Oakland with 18 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, and is guaranteed to be a first-round draft pick if the NBA doesn’t follow the same path as the NFL this summer.

Benson is tough to defend because he’s much more mobile than other big men. He can knock down the jump shot, even out to the three point line, where he is 9-for-22 on the season. Inside, his length makes it practically impossible to block his shot, and he has a solid left-handed hook.

Benson isn’t just the scoring machine inside for Oakland, though. He was the Summit League’s Defensive Player of the Year, and is leading his team with 3.6 blocked shots per game.

In the backcourt, Reggie Hamilton gets the Oakland offense going. A junior, Hamilton transferred from UMKC and has made an immediate impact for Coach Greg Kampe. He can drive the lane with either hand, and has such a quick first step that he can easily get to the rim or stick a quick pull-up jumper that leaves defenders stumbling backwards.

The speedy Hamilton is also the facilitator in the Oakland offense. When he’s dissecting defenses with his dribble-drive, the junior always has his head up, looking for passing lanes that open up as the defense reacts. As a result, Hamilton averages more than 5.3 assists per game.

Joining Hamilton in the backcourt is freshman sharpshooter Travis Bader. The 6’4″ Michigan product is averaging more than 10 points per game, in large part thanks to his ridiculous three-point shot. Bader has made 45.8% of his long-range attempts this season, and is second on the team with 201 attempts.

At the three, slasher Drew Valentine is averaging 7.9 points per game. He is a steady ball-handler who can finish through traffic thanks to his strength, and he is constantly active on the glass. Valentine averages 5.6 rebounds per game for Oakland.

Another excellent rebounder for the Grizzlies is senior forward Will Hudson. Even though Hudson is often at the free-throw line when Oakland runs their high-low game with Benson, he is still second on the team with 7.1 rebounds per game, and is 44th in the nation with an offensive rebounding mark of 14.1%.

Guard Larry Wright was the Summit League’s Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 9.8 points per game. He is yet another long-range weapon for Coach Kampe, drilling 35.8% of his attempts from behind the arc.

Another guard off the bench is tiny freshman Ryan Bass. He only averaged 9.5 minutes per game this season, but saw his average climb to 11.3 minutes in conference play. Like Hamilton, Bass is a speedster, but hasn’t been able to handle defensive pressure as well as the starter. When Hamilton needed a breather in the Summit League Championship, Oral Roberts broke out a full-court press against Bass and caused major issues.

The only other player to see significant minutes in Oakland’s eight-man core rotation is guard Ledrick Eackles. Like Bass, he averaged just over 11 minutes per game in Summit League play, and averaged nearly four points per game. The son of former NBA player Ladell Eackles, Ledrick has yet to make a huge impact on the Oakland program.

Keys to the game

As Texas fans saw all too clearly last Saturday, the number one thing the Longhorns must do is keep Tristan Thompson out of foul trouble. Benson is an exceptional post player that is going to give Thompson a real challenge in the paint. Texas needs Tristan’s scoring punch and offensive rebounding skills to keep the offense clicking, so he simply cannot afford to pick up cheap fouls guarding the 6’11” Benson.

On defense, Texas must stop Oakland’s transition game. The Golden Grizzlies score a ton of points on the fast break, but score even more on the secondary break. The Longhorns need to get down the court in a hurry and force Oakland into playing a half-court game.

The Grizzlies haven’t faced a defense as good as Texas’ since they played Ohio State back in December. In that one, the Buckeyes held Oakland to just 0.862 points per possession. If Texas can keep the Grizzlies from getting a lot of easy points on the fast break and secondary break, they can have the same kind of defensive success.

If Texas is able to do that, they then must also limit damage from the perimeter. While Benson is an outstanding player, he will not beat the Longhorns on his own. If Texas can shut down the transition game and prevent Oakland from knocking down threes, there is no way Oakland can win the game solely on Benson’s talent.

One of the biggest reasons that teams get upset in NCAA play is hot three-point shooting from low-seeded opponents. With five different Grizzlies posting three-point percentages of greater than 35%, Texas has to make sure it doesn’t fall prey to that this morning.