If you told most Longhorn fans that their team would hold the high-scoring Oklahoma State Cowboys to only 30 points in the first half, they would gladly take it. And if you told them that OSU would have just 60 points with only a minute and a half left, those fans would probably snap up the offer twice as fast as the first one. But on Saturday in Stillwater, those relatively low point totals were all that the Cowboys would need for a win, as their defense was the most stifling it’s been all season.

It’s true that Texas missed its share of easy shots in the lane, but the credit goes to Coach Travis Ford and the OSU players, who focused their attention on big men Dexter Pittman and Damion James in an effort to mitigate the huge height advantage Texas enjoyed. With Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay only negligible scoring threats, the Cowboys were able to sag off those two guards and give extra help down low.

That defensive strategy certainly underscored just how important Gary Johnson is to the Texas offense, as the sophomore forward sat on the bench for a second straight game thanks to an injury suffered against Oklahoma. All of the pressure to produce in the paint was then left on the shoulders of Pittman and James, who combined to go only 3-of-12 in the first half, including an inexcusable number of missed two-footers.

The bright spots for Texas were few and far between, which is to be expected when a team shoots just 31.5% from the field and has twice as many turnovers as assists. But the best news of the day was the play of Harrison Smith, who provided 17 minutes off the bench for Coach Rick Barnes. For once, Smith was not just eating up minutes on the floor in order to teach the starting guards a lesson; rather, he chipped in a career-high 12 points and helped ignite a furious Texas comeback.

That Longhorn rally is the other positive that their fans can take solace in, as the team refused to fold in a hostile road environment despite a 17-point deficit with only 17 minutes left on the clock. And even more impressive than the comeback itself is the fact that the team did it without the assistance of longballs from sharpshooter A.J. Abrams, who was absolutely shut down by the Pokes defenders. Abrams had just a trio of three-pointers on the day, which were sandwiched around his scoreless stretches of 18 and 16 minutes.

The loss muddies things up in the conference standings, as the Cowboy win and a Kansas State victory in Manhattan have forced a three-way tie for fourth place. Fortunately for those who dislike Big 12 tiebreaking procedures, the Wildcats and Cowboys meet on Tuesday night in a game that could decide who claims that final first-round bye in Oklahoma City. The Longhorns, meanwhile, must handle Baylor at home before traveling to Lawrence for a tough season finale against the Jayhawks.

Tonight the Longhorns head into the lion’s den known as Gallagher-Iba Arena, looking for that magical 20th win of the season, and perhaps a convincing hold on 4th place in the Big 12 Conference. Should the Longhorns win today and the Cornhuskers steal a road victory from K-State, Texas would claim a two-game advantage over the Wildcats and Cowboys with only two games left on the schedule. In baseball terms, that would leave the magic number at one, meaning only a Texas win or a loss by both trailing teams would seal the deal.

But the first half of that equation could be the most difficult part. The Longhorns must first win in Gallagher-Iba Arena, one of the toughest places to play in the country. It has been a particularly tough venue for Rick Barnes and Texas, as the Horns have won only two times in their last six trips to Stillwater. And although this season Texas has already blown out the Pokes, they are starting to hit their stride and are looking to play their way into the NCAAs.

The previous meeting

Texas came into the first match-up with Oklahoma State absolutely reeling. They had lost their three previous games by a grand total of 11 points, and the fans and media were bailing from the bandwagon faster than Takeru Kobayashi demolishing a hot dog. Their backs were against the wall, and unless the Longhorns started claiming some more victories, the NCAA tournament would be nothing but a pipe dream.

Fortunately, Texas came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and cruised to a comfortable 99-74 win. It seemed that the Longhorns could do absolutely nothing wrong, as they shot almost 56% from the field, drained 46% of their threes, and easily outrebounded the smaller Cowboys. The only weakness in the Texas game was a porous defense that allowed the Pokes to hit over 52% of their shots. Even that seemed reasonable, as the Oklahoma State offense was ranked in the top ten nationally in nearly every metric.

The barrage of points came from all over the Texas lineup, as five players logged double digits in scoring, including Connor Atchley, who briefly broke out of his slump to hit two threes and score fourteen. A.J. Abrams was a scorching 4-of-5 from long range, while Damion James abused the undersized Pokes for 19 points.

Since then…

The lopsided win apparently served as a wake-up call, as OSU has won its four games since the Austin lambasting. The argument could be made that this hot streak is simply a result of an easier stretch of the schedule for the Cowboys, and it would be a compelling case. The Pokes earned their four victories against the bottom four teams in the league, defeating Iowa State, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Colorado.

The statistic would back up that theory, as well. OSU has been a high-powered offensive machine all season long, yet still dropped a ton of conference games. So when a high-scoring team can’t seal the deal, the blame must fall on an incredibly weak defense. By extension, if the Pokes had actually turned a corner and were ready to make a stretch run, one would expect to see their defensive numbers improve in those four wins, especially against the dregs of the conference. That didn’t happen. The Cowboys still allowed their weaker opponents to post eFG numbers of over fifty percent.

The biggest change for Oklahoma State has been the demotion of Obi Muonelo from starter to sixth man, switching places with diminutive guard Keiton Page. This is a puzzling move for Coach Ford, because Muonelo has led the team in rebounding all season long, and putting Page in the lineup costs the already-short Cowboys another six inches in height. Against Texas, giving Page more minutes could definitely pay off, however. He’s an absolute dead-eye from behind the arc (41.7%) and the Longhorns are famous for allowing long-range gunners to get hot.

For a review of all of the Oklahoma State players and the team’s tendencies, check out the game preview from the first time these teams met.

Keys to the game

Own the glass – Against the guard-oriented lineup of Oklahoma State, Texas will have to exploit its height advantage. While that certainly includes piling up the points down low, the main way that the Longhorns must take advantage is by dominating the rebounding battle. OSU boasts one of the top offenses in the country, so when Texas gets a defensive stop, they must end the possession with solid defensive rebounding. On the offensive end, Texas will also find success if they can get a lot of junk points off of putbacks.

Toe the line – Oklahoma State is 11th in the country at shooting the longball, and we all know that Texas has major issues locking down the perimeter. There’s no easier way to let the game get out of hand and rile up the rabid Gallagher-Iba crowd than to give up a ton of easy threes to the likes of Page, James Anderson, Terrel Harris, and Muonelo.

Execute in crunch time – The main reason that Texas had its three-game slide in January and early February was an inability to make the right plays down the stretch. On the road this evening, in one of the most hostile gyms in the nation, Texas will find it even more difficult to do so. If the Pokes and Longhorns are in a tight one as the seconds tick away, the Longhorns cannot waste possessions or make dumb mistakes on the defensive end. Of course, putting the game away early could make this a moot point and save me from a few ulcers. But what’s the likelihood of that?

It’s easy to get excited by the 99-74 Texas victory over Oklahoma State last night. The Longhorns shot an incredible 56.9% from the field and scored their highest point total since blowing out the New Mexico State Aggies in the semifinals of the Legends Classic in 2007. A few simple lineup changes seemed to be a panacea for the offense, leading to an absolutely insane 1.379 points per possession for the Longhorns. But just days after suffering its third straight loss, is Texas truly hitting its stride?

It will be tough to know for sure, at least not until the Longhorns travel to College Station on Monday night. This weekend’s game at Colorado is a deceptive one, as the Buffaloes play a similar style to Nebraska, and the altitude in Boulder seems to always give road teams fits. The Longhorns will likely struggle, but should be expected to come away with a win. The trip to College Station, however, is another matter.

In the last four seasons, the home team has won every meeting between Texas and Texas A&M. And while the Longhorns have typically had to squeak out the victories in Austin, the Aggies have thoroughly spanked their rivals in all but one of their home wins. Only the 2006 game at A&M was competitive, as Acie Law needed a buzzer-beating three pointer to propel the Aggies to the win and eventually the NCAA tournament.

If Texas could overcome recent history and steal a road win in Reed Arena, the Longhorns would be riding a three-game winning streak, have 18 victories on the year, and still have five other contests in which to add to the resumé. Drop that game, and Texas would likely be staring another losing streak in the face with the powerhouse Sooners coming to down just six days later.

So while Texas fans might be feeling a little giddy after the dominating win last night, it’s best to temper expectations. If the Longhorns have truly made strides forward, the next two weeks could be surprisingly exciting.

We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with more detailed thoughts on the Oklahoma State mudholing.

The Texas Longhorns return home to the Frank Erwin Center as losers of three straight, unranked for the first time in nearly two years, and absolutely reeling with only a month left in the regular season. They hope to get things back on track against the visiting Oklahoma State Cowboys, a team that Texas has defeated five consecutive times. But this season has proved that nothing will come easy for this Longhorn squad, so they are likely in for yet another heated battle.

By the numbers

Based simply on the lineup and sizes of the players involved, at first blush one might compare Oklahoma State to the Nebraska team that just defeated Texas in Lincoln on Saturday. But while both teams are severely undersized and run a four-out, one-in look, the Cowboys and Cornhuskers are on absolutely opposite ends of the tempo spectrum. Travis Ford’s OSU team is the 16th-fastest in the country, sprinting through 72.5 possessions per contest. They are also quite efficient with the ball, earning 1.134 points per possession, good for 28th in the NCAA. The up-and-down tempo and quality offense combine to make the Cowboys the 5th-highest scoring team in the country with 83.2 points per game.

Statistically, the biggest weaknesses for OSU are a lack of offensive rebounding and a penchant for putting their opponents on the free throw line. The inability to crash the offensive glass stems from not only the tiny lineup Coach Ford throws out there, but also the Cowboys’ love affair with the three-point line. Following the mysterious mid-season dismissal of Ibrahima Thomas, OSU was left with only two real options in the post. The tallest Cowboy to see significant minutes is Malcoln Kirkland, a 6’8″ forward who still looks awkward in his second season.

The height problems also are a big reason why Oklahoma State sends their opponents to the line so often, as teams love to attack the lane and draw fouls on the smaller defenders. With a thin bench, the propensity for ringing up fouls causes a major problem for the Pokes, who have had players foul out 18 different times this season. The constant hacking also gives opponents a ton of extra points, as Big 12 opponents have shot 40 more free throws than OSU, and made 20 more of them.

Meet the Cowboys

The face of Oklahoma State is point guard Byron Eaton, a 5’11” senior who Texas fans best remember for hitting a ridiculous over-the-shoulder prayer from half court in a triple-overtime thriller back in 2006. After struggling with his weight for his first three seasons, Eaton has slimmed down and added muscle this year, making him even more of a threat. He’s strong enough to take the contact inside and still finish, and his solid dribble-drive penetration opens things up for an OSU offense that loves the drive-and-dish. While he’s only a 32% three-point shooter on the year, Byron has hit a scorching 44% of his attempts in conference play. Eaton’s biggest flaw is that he is one of the prime offenders when it comes to picking up stupid fouls, and he DQ’s far too often for someone who is supposed to be a team leader.

Terrel Harris is the other senior starter for Coach Ford, but has struggled as the calendar turned to the new year. Once the conference’s leading three-point shooter, Harris is now only fourth-best on his own team. His scoring average dropped over five points per game between the first ten contests and the second ten, but he did lead a crazy second-half comeback against Texas Tech last Tuesday with 22 points. He is insanely quick with the basketball and demands extra attention from the defense, so the Cowboys will have to hope his performance against the Red Raiders is just the beginning of his resurgence.

Junior guard Obi Muonelo is only 6’6″, but leads the tiny OSU team in rebounds. He is the true key to the offense, as Okie Lite seems to struggle the most when Obi’s shot isn’t falling. Just like the rest of his team, Muonelo is not a man you can leave alone at the perimeter, as he’s hitting almost 41% of his three-point attempts. But if the defense plays him too tightly, the guard loves to put it on the floor to create some space for mid-range jumpers. He has solid handles and can get the defender off balance just long enough to showcase his quick release on the J.

Leading scorer James Anderson has continued his impressive play in his sophomore season, chipping in over 16 points per game for the Pokes. The biggest change he made in the off-season was a commitment to improving his dribble penetration, and it shows. He’s no longer just a jump-shooting threat, and as with Eaton, Anderson’s ability to slash to the rack opens things up for the outside shooters. He still loves to knock down the J, though, and is the team’s top three-point threat with a 41.6% mark from behind the arc.

As mentioned earlier, Malcoln Kirkland is the tallest player who gives significant minutes for the Cowboys, although the word “significant” is a bit of a misnomer for any forward in Coach Ford’s offense. Once a starter, Kirkland plays just over 10 minutes a game, sharing the frontcourt duties with Anthony Brown and Marshall Moses. He’s not a particularly skilled rebounder, as he lacks the muscle necessary to body up the Big 12’s quality forwards, and he hardly ever scores. With Moses supplanting him in the starting lineup, Kirkland’s role has shrunk dramatically.

Moses, meanwhile, is having issues staying on the court. He is the one OSU player who has fouled out of more games than Eaton, despite the fact that he averages just 15 minutes per game. He is a better rebounder than both Kirkland and Brown, but is still severely undersized at just 6’6″ and should have problems against a much taller Texas team.

The high-energy sixth man for the Cowboys is tiny Keiton Page, last year’s High School Player of the Year for the state of Oklahoma. He’s a deadly long-range threat and is surprisingly able to score in the paint despite being listed at a generous 5’10”. Page will push the ball in transition and hustles all over the floor, but will occasionally let his energy get the best of him in the form of over-pursuit or bad turnovers.

Anthony Brown is a senior forward who sees fourteen minutes per game, but is often hampered by knee injuries that have plagued him throughout his college career. He’s simply a role player at this point for Oklahoma State, a guy who will be called upon to eat up some minutes in the frontcourt for a team that lacks both height and depth.

Keys to the game

Give Dexter the ball – It was the number one key against Nebraska, and it remains the number one key against Oklahoma State. Sure, the Cowboys play an up-tempo game. But most of their offense is on the perimeter, which will hopefully mask the fact that Pittman is usually a step slow defending down low. Offensively, he can grab a ton of points against this team, and with the Pokes’ love of fouling in the paint, Big Dex can put his 73% free throw mark to good use.

Frustrate them early – Oklahoma State has a bad habit of letting their poor shooting snowball, and it has run them out of numerous ballgames before they even head to the locker room at halftime. If the Cowboys aren’t making their threes or getting transition buckets early in the game, they tend to force bad looks and hang their heads. Texas needs to stifle the potent OSU offense out of the gate and allow their own less-efficient offense time to build up a lead in front of the home crowd.

Don’t be afraid to run – The Longhorns can’t score nearly as often as Oklahoma State, but they are much, much deeper. If the Cowboys aren’t shooting lights out from long range, Texas can likely afford to let the visitors run themselves ragged. A tired team plays poor defense late in games, and for a Texas squad that has struggled in the final minutes of recent contests, playing against an OSU team that is grabbing their shorts can only help. Of course, if the Pokes are knocking down the three ball, this tactic would be a very, very bad idea.

Stick the perimeter – While Oklahoma State is a small team that can be dominated on the boards, their guards and wings are significantly taller than the short Texas backcourt. The Longhorn guards absolutely cannot allow the Cowboy shooters to get a ton of open looks. Yes, the Okie Lite marksmen can easily shoot it over A.J. Abrams or Justin Mason, but the Texas guards have to at least get a hand in their face.

Hoops is certainly back in full swing, with ESPN broadcasting college basketball all damned day. Unfortunately, we’re not quite in full swing here at LRT with insanity at the McJob and cramming to get everything ready for Maui by Friday. We’ll try to get back to the daily content sometime this week, and look for some cosmetic changes around the site before December arrives. You can thank the 20-plus hours on airplanes to and from Hawaii.

The Big 12 is off to a hot start, with its members logging a perfect 19-0 record through last night’s games. The conference probably won’t match its solid RPI numbers from last year, when it spent most of the season slotted as the second-toughest league in the nation. But the Big 12 teams are taking care of patsies so far, something that couldn’t be said even during last season’s strong start — yes, we’re looking at you, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

Oklahoma faces the league’s stiffest test yet when it hosts Davidson tonight in the NIT Season Tip Off. It’d be great to watch this Top 25 match-up on TV, but the “Worldwide Leader” has better things to show. Like Kansas hosting the mighty Florida Gulf Coast (ESPNU, 8 PM CT). Or maybe Billy Wrong Way Gillispie getting demolished by The Anointed Ones better suits your fancy (ESPN, 8 PM CT)? If you thought VMI was bad, Billy Clyde, just try not to clench the muscles…

Tulane preview will be headed your way this afternoon. In the meantime, you can find us in a basketball coma with remote in hand.

Edit (3 P.M. CT): ESPN2 will now be broadcasting the Davidson/Oklahoma game at 8 P.M. You’ll definitely want to check that one out once the Horns are finished discarding the Green Wave.