In the long college basketball season, teams inevitably have off nights. Shots aren’t falling, the defense isn’t rotating, and the players all just seem a little bit flat. Fortunately for the Texas Longhorns, their first poor game came against a vastly inferior team. The Horns overcame a rough, sloppy start and poor shooting from its three-point specialist to move to 10-0 on the year, defeating their I-35 rival Texas State last night, 96-81. The Horns struggled coming out of the gate, turning the ball over three times in the first three possessions on errant passes by D.J. Augustin, Connor Atchley, and Damion James. The first-half defense was particularly poor for a Rick Barnes-led team, with Texas State able to shoot 42.4% from the field in the first twenty minutes. A.J. Abrams had a tough time getting going, making only one of his five first-half three point attempts, while the team was a paltry 3-of-12 from behind the arc. Despite the poor defense and long-range shooting, Texas still headed to the locker room with a 42-40 lead. The second half was a story of foul disparity, as Texas went to the line 21 times over the first thirteen minutes of the second frame, while the Bobcats shot only 20 free throws all game. The Horns used the charity stripe to their advantage, building a 21-point lead with just under seven minutes left to play. They fell into a harsh drought the rest of the way, though, scoring only ten more points on two field goals and five free throws. A win is a win, but this was certainly the ugliest one of the season so far. Besides Connor Atchley, each of the Horns had their struggles. Augustin played a little reckless and out of control in the first half, trying to force drives and shots when they weren’t available and making some poor passes at high speed. He settled down in the second stanza, getting himself to the line as the team pulled away. The breakneck pace of the game clearly had an effect on the sophomore point guard though, most evident when his late free throw attempts constantly hit front iron. This is one of those games where the loss of Dogus Balbay was clear, as tired legs were getting to The D.J. James had a rough game as well, settling for threes and long jumpers on a night when they simply were not falling. It’s clear that he will need to play more on the wings if Texas is ever going to “go big” and get the guards some rest, but on a night when the long-range Js aren’t going down, Damion needs to attack the rim and try to get himself jump-started with some easy buckets. He was an ugly 3-of-13 for the game, but made up for it with fourteen rebounds. A careful observer would note that twelve of those boards were on the defensive end, as he was almost always out of position on the offensive glass thanks to his inexplicable marriage to the perimeter. Coach was also pretty hard on DaMo during the time outs, especially in regards to the inbounds play. Against the Texas State pressure, James would wait along the baseline for a teammate to give him the ball, even if they had all run to get into position for the play. Letting the ball dribble to a stop a few feet from the baseline allowed the Bobcats ample time to set up their press and really killed the Texas transition game. James also was harped on for repeatedly trying to bring the ball up the floor by himself, which led to some scary moments for Texas fans as he flirted with disaster. Justin Mason had an incredibly difficult night shooting, constantly missing wide-open looks. Jay was only 2-of-8 on the night, including an 0-for-3 showing from long range. Mason still constantly hustled though, grabbing five rebounds and scrambling for all the loose balls. And on a night when the Texas D was looking a little hairy, Mason played fairly well on the defensive side. Like Mason, there was also a bright spot to be found in the game that Abrams had. Despite his struggles from long-range, the local kid created off the dribble and finished the night with 20 points. When Abrams would drive the lane and throw up a floater last year, Texas fans cringed. Those shots hardly ever went in, and his momentum usually took him across the court and out of the play. This season, the runners are falling, and it allows A.J. the opportunity to still help the team when he isn’t knocking them down from outside. Freshman Clint Chapman again put in some solid work on the glass, although a few of his five rebounds came off of his own misses at point-blank range. He still looks really stiff down low and he fouled out of this one, but you can’t help but notice the talent the kid possesses. With the staff Rick Barnes has on board, there’s no doubt he is going to be a beast before he leaves the Forty Acres. Now if only they can get him to stay straight up on the defensive end… While it was a bumpy night all around for the Longhorns, you can’t forget that they still had a 21-point lead with seven minutes to go. Despite playing their poorest game all season, they had the Bobcats right where you would expect them — down by a lot late in the game. That bodes well for the future, when Texas is bound to have more games that don’t go quite according to script. Although the UCLA game was an infinitely tougher gut-check win, this was yet another chance for the players to prove to each other that they can fight through and win on a sub-par evening. |
