The Texas Longhorns continue their season-opening four-game homestand tonight against Stephen F. Austin, in the first meeting between the two programs since 2003. The Longhorns have needed comeback efforts against Mercer and South Alabama to log their first two wins, and tonight’s contest against SFA could provide a similar mid-major challenge.

The Lumberjacks have been wildly successful in recent years, holding the best Division I record in the state of Texas over the last six seasons. That success came with recently-departed head coach Danny Kaspar at the helm, but it’s a tradition that newcomer Brad Underwood hopes to continue in his first year on the job. SFA is coming off a season in which it won the Southland Conference before falling to Northwestern State in the conference tournament finals. Then, in the first round of the NIT, the Lumberjacks nearly pulled off a road upset, coming up just short in a 58-57 loss to Stanford.

In addition to Coach Kaspar, the Lumberjacks also lost a trio of senior starters in Taylor Smith, Antonio Bostic, and Hal Bateman. Smith was Player of the Year in the Southland Conference last season and averaged nearly a double-double with 15.7 points and 9.2 boards per game. Bostic also logged a double-digit scoring average, while guard Bateman was on the SLC’s All-Defensive Team.

Now, senior guard Desmond Haymon (No. 25) is being counted on to take the reins after being third on the team in scoring as a junior. In the first two games this year, he’s scored 27 total points on 50% shooting. While he’s only 2-for-8 on threes this season, he did lead the team with 37 makes last year, when he sank more than 37% of his attempts.

Joining Haymon in the backcourt are sophomores Thomas Walkup (No. 0) and Trey Pinkney (No. 10). Walkup is coming off of a solid 14-point, eight-board performance against Texas State, and he has grabbed more than 17% of his offensive rebounding opportunities on the year. Pinkney has a very high free-throw rate of 142.9 in his first two games, but he has yet to capitalize on his trips to the stripe. For the season, Pinkney is just 5-of-10 at the line.

SFA’s biggest problem tonight will be its lack of size, as the team has started 6’5″ Nikola Gajic (No. 4) and 6’6″ Jacob Parker (No. 34) at forward in the first two games. In the team’s only Division I contest, a 64-57 win over Kaspar’s new team, Texas State, the Lumberjacks allowed the Bobcats to reclaim more than 43% of their missed shots. With the Texas frontcourt boasting four guys listed at 6’8″ or taller, that could mean an astronomical number of second chances for the Horns.

The Lumberjacks do have some options on the bench if they decide to try to match Texas’ size. Junior-college transfers Tanner Clayton (No. 30) and Sharife Sergeant (No. 32) both check in at 6’9″, but have both only averaged about seven minutes in the first two games.

For Texas, the size disparity should provide a good opportunity for the bigs to clean up their post game. The Longhorns have made it a point to work the ball down low so far this season, and sophomores Cameron Ridley and Prince Ibeh are both looking more confident and decisive with the ball. However, all four of the Longhorn big men have had problems actually finishing near the rim. While Texas shouldn’t have much trouble reclaiming any point-blank misses tonight, it would be nice to see the Horns start making their first attempts in and around the lane.

The Longhorns have also struggled with ball control early in each of their first two games, which is a reason for concern against SFA. The Lumberjack defense stole the show in the win over Texas State, forcing the Bobcats into turnovers on nearly 27% of their possessions. The young Texas backcourt has to take care of the rock tonight, especially freshman point guard Isaiah Taylor, who had a particularly rough start against South Alabama. Coughing it up early will only serve to give the Lumberjacks early momentum with extra possessions and easy fast-break buckets.

One glaring issue for the Lumberjacks in their first two games has been points left at the free-throw line. In the two wins, SFA has made just 63.3% of their attempts at the line, a number dragged down by the hideous 12-for-25 mark posted against Texas State. Those struggles may not be make a big difference tonight, as the Longhorns have actually not sent opponents to the free-throw line very frequently, even with the new emphasis on defensive contact. Through two contests, the Longhorns have a defensive free-throw rate of 30.3%, currently 57th lowest out of 351 Division I squads.

After a pair of games in which the Longhorns dug huge holes before storming back for wins, tonight could be the first opportunity for Texas to earn a comfortable victory. A year ago, this match-up probably would have resulted in a historic road win for SFA at the Erwin Center, but instead Texas is catching the Lumberjacks in a transition year and at a time where they lack interior size. If the Longhorns can avoid the turnover bug tonight, they should head into the weekend with a 3-0 mark.

A tumultuous offseason came to a close for the Texas basketball team on Friday night, as the Longhorns finally tipped off their 2013-14 campaign with a game against the Mercer Bears. With huge questions surrounding the young, rebooted lineup and fan expectations at their lowest point in more than a decade, the Horns put together an exciting — albeit inconsistent — performance to start the season with a 76-73 win.

The offseason turmoil was well-documented, with five different Longhorns leaving the program after the 2012-13 season ended with a loss to Houston in the CBI. Forward Jaylen Bond actually announced his departure just before that game, and ultimately landed at Temple. Shooters Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis both hit the bricks shortly after, heading to Miami and Fresno State, respectively. Point guard Myck Kabongo decided to test the NBA waters, and was not selected in June’s NBA Draft. Kabongo is currently on the roster of the Austin Toros of the NBA’s D-League.

While only Bond’s decision wasn’t seen coming a mile away, even that one was understandable considering the pecking order in Texas’ frontcourt. But the biggest offseason blow did come as a surprise, as the versatile forward Ioannis Papapetrou decided in August to go pro in his native country of Greece. The Texas roster was decimated, forcing Coach Rick Barnes to hold an open tryout just to pick a few walk-ons and get enough bodies for practice.

The final roadblock in the soap-opera offseason came when sophomore point guard Javan Felix had sports hernia surgery at the start of October. The Texas program gave no recovery timetable, leading to debates amidst the dwindling fanbase over who would run the point for the Horns as the season tipped off.

The roster upheaval was the biggest storyline of the last seven months, but another had emerged during the disastrous 2012-13 season and it carried over into the summer. Long a topic in the echo chamber of internet message boards, the fate of Coach Barnes was being discussed by mainstream media. With the early struggles of the football team and rumors swirling about Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds, many fans and sportswriters were talking about the inevitable waves of change headed for Bellmont.

The first of those changes came with last week’s announcement of Steve Patterson as the next Texas AD, and it set an interesting backdrop for Barnes and the Horns as the season tipped off. The consensus from both the media and fans is that the Longhorns are in for another rough season, and many believe it will be the last for Coach Barnes. Others suggest that with expectations set so low, Barnes should be able to meet or exceed them and buy himself more time.

While the big-picture questions will likely be shadowing the program all season long, the Longhorns were at least able to start to answer some of the questions about the team in Friday night’s win. The Longhorns pushed the tempo and showcased a shooting touch that was sorely lacking last season. It was apparent that although Texas may struggle to log wins this year, the team will at least make it entertaining for its fans.

The recap

The Longhorns came out firing, shooting 50% from the field and knocking down six triples to build a lead as large as 12 points late in the first half. The experienced Mercer squad refused to fold, and its leader Langston Hall quickly responded with seven points in a 30-second stretch. The teams traded buckets as the half wound down, and the Longhorns took just a three-point edge to the locker room.

Mercer turned things around in the second half, finally finding its range from behind the arc. After shooting just 3-for-16 on threes in the first twenty minutes, the Bears drilled six of their next nine attempts and stormed to a nine-point lead with 9:44 to play. Staring a season-opening loss in the face, the Longhorns put a renewed focus on their interior scoring and turned up the defensive pressure. Fueled by Cameron Ridley’s second-half surge, Texas went on an 18-2 run in less than seven minutes.

Mercer continued to claw at the narrow margin in the final minutes, and the Bears found themselves with an opportunity to tie the game with five seconds left. Coach Barnes elected not to foul with his team up three, and the Bears found Jakob Gollon on the left wing for a potential game-tying trey. Connor Lammert stood tall and barely left his feet, blocking the final shot to secure an opening-night victory.

What looked good

The brightest spot for Texas and its fans was the excellent debut from freshman Isaiah Taylor. The youngster ran the point, shifting Felix off the ball to an undersized shooting-guard role. Taylor made quick, aggressive moves with the ball, and was able to shift gears in an instant to keep the defense off-balance. His smooth handles made it easy to weave through traffic, and he took full advantage of the new emphasis on defensive contact to earn fourteen trips to the line. He also showed an ability to pull up and hit the floater in traffic, something the tiny guard may have to rely on against bigger, stronger opponents. Taylor finished with 17 points in 29 minutes of action.

While Taylor didn’t attempt a three-pointer in the game, the rest of the Longhorns found a ton of success from beyond the arc. Texas made six of their eight three-point attempts in the first half and finished the game with a 46.7% success rate. Last season, the Longhorns made just 29.7% of their threes on the year, and cracked the 40% mark in just five of their 34 games.

Three of the long-range makes came from Texas big men, with Jonathan Holmes knocking down a pair and Lammert adding the third. Holmes showed the ability to hit three-pointers last year when he took them in rhythm, and that trend continued in the season opener. His first came as a trailer in transition, while his second was a wide open look late in the game. Lammert added his on a pick-and-pop play. If the Texas forwards can consistently make their long-range looks, it adds an extra dimension to the Longhorn offense that will spread the floor and open up driving lanes.

Freshman Damarcus Croaker also added two threes on back-to-back possessions, with a defender providing token pressure on both. He threw a pass out of bounds moments later and sat on the bench for the rest of the game, but it’s reassuring to know that the new guards will at least add some long-range pop. Although one game is certainly not a sample size worthy of any true conclusions, there’s reason to believe that Texas fans might not have to struggle through the painful scoreless stretches of last season.

The Longhorn offense also came from the entire stat sheet, as all ten players who saw the floor scored at least two points. Big man Prince Ibeh made two out of three free throws to log his points, which is certainly noteworthy after he made just 37.5% of his free throws last year.

The Texas offense also featured good ball movement, especially right out of the gate. The three-guard lineup whipped the ball around the perimeter as they looked for post entry opportunities. Although the Mercer defense is experienced and generally well-disciplined, when the Bears were caught out of position, the Texas guards were quick to put the ball on the floor and attacked the defense off the bounce. While last year’s team often passed the ball around the arc with little direction or sense of purpose, there was a clear game plan for this one and the team stuck to it.

On the defensive end, there was a ton of energy. The Longhorns used a lot of zone looks, including a 1-3-1 and what even looked like a 1-2-2. They threw out some full-court pressure to force a few first-half mistakes and looked really strong in man-to-man as they mounted their comeback late in the game.

What needed work

On the flip side, that defensive energy didn’t always equal results in the first half. The Longhorns seemed overly amped up, repeatedly biting on head fakes. Texas trapped quite a bit out of their zones in the first half, but players who were supposed to be rotating were often late or lost their assignments. On one particularly poor defensive set, Holmes drifted towards a man flaring to the arc as the Longhorns trapped past the opposite elbow, and he let a Mercer player cut right behind him to the rim for an easy hoop.

Ridley also seemed to struggle in the zone, as his size and conditioning made it tough for him to match the energy and effort of his teammates for long stretches. Mercer was very disciplined when it came to making quick, crisp passes, and his lapses allowed for open midrange jumpers and cuts to the paint. However, when the Longhorns switched to a man-to-man at the end of the first half and again in the second, Ridley actually looked phenomenal. He cleaned up shots from the help-side and also stood his ground to block shots from the Mercer bigs near the rim. Ridley finished the night with five blocks and 11 boards in 27 minutes of action.

While Ridley and Lammert provided a spark down the stretch, it took a while for the Texas interior game to get going. The bigs were working hard to establish post position in the first half, but they simply weren’t clicking with the guards. On some possessions, the bigs couldn’t get position for a good entry pass, while on others they would finally get their spot but the guards couldn’t find them. On the few occasions in the first half where the ball made it down low, the Texas bigs were usually out of position or they struggled to make a good move.

Fortunately, things changed down the stretch, as the guards and bigs worked together to get good angles down low and seal off the defenders. Ridley and Lammert logged some easy layups as a result, while the latter also cleaned up the glass with some key tips from the weak side late in the game.

A recurring problem last season was Felix getting himself into tough situations, and unfortunately that was again an issue against Mercer. Javan had three turnovers on the evening, but also repeatedly had shots blocked when he drove against a set interior defense. He left his feet without a plan on a few occasions early in the game, leading to desperation passes into the teeth of the D. Felix did log nine assists on the game, but his 4-of-14 line is worthy of concern. It will take time for the point guard to settle into his new combo-guard role, so hopefully the decision-making and shot selection improve over time.

The turnover bug was not just an issue for Felix, but for the entire Longhorn roster. Although the turnover rate of 17.9% was an improvement on last year’s 21.4% mark, that isn’t saying much. Texas was in the bottom third of Divison I hoops last season, so it would be tough to match that level of carelessness this season.

The Horns had six turnovers in the first 8:16 of the game, but managed to tighten things up the rest of the way. It’s worth noting, however, that many of the miscues were of the self-inflicted variety. With a young team and a lot of new faces, it’s natural that teammates sometimes won’t be on the same page, but for a Texas team that is going to have to battle for every win, the unforced errors will have to be reigned in.

Up next: vs. South Alabama (1-0); Tuesday, 7 P.M. CT

For the first time in fifteen years, the Texas Longhorns will be sitting at home when the NCAA’s Round of 64 tips off tomorrow morning. Although Texas will not be part of the NCAA tournament, the team is still participating in a post-season event, albeit a much-less prestigious one. Tonight, the Longhorns open play in the College Basketball Invitational, traveling to Houston’s Hofeinz Pavilion.

Like Kentucky in the NIT last night, the Longhorns could not host a first round game in the CBI because their home floor is being used to host NCAA tournament games this weekend. The road trip could grow longer, as even if the Longhorns advance to the quarterfinals of the CBI on Monday, a school spokesman told Mark Rosner that the Frank Erwin Center could not be flipped in time for a home game that night. That means that a win in tonight’s game would slate Texas for another road game on Monday, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Tonight’s match-up revives a long-dormant Southwest Conference rivalry. Houston and Texas have not faced off since the 2000-01 season, when the Longhorns notched a 71-60 win in Houston. It was the second consecutive win for UT over the Cougars, and gave Texas a narrow 32-31 edge in the series. Tonight’s head coaches, Rick Barnes and James Dickey, have previously met six times. Barnes holds a 6-0 record against his counterpart, with all of the match-ups coming during the final three years of Dickey’s tenure at Texas Tech.

By the numbers

The Cougars run an up-tempo attack, logging an average of 70.4 possessions per game, adjusted for the opposition. That quick pace ranks 20th in Division I, according to Ken Pomeroy.

Houston does not force many turnovers, instead opting to get their transition opportunities after reclaiming opponents’ misses. Cougar opponents cough it up on just 17.9% of their possessions, ranking Houston in the bottom fifth of the country when it comes to forcing miscues. The Cougars are near the median in D-I for reclaiming opponents’ misses, grabbing 31.2% of their opportunities. The average for all Division I teams is 31.8%.

That inability to force turnovers and the average performance on the glass are two reasons why Houston has one of the worst defenses in the country. However, it is a problem with turning back dribble penetration — especially in the second half of many games — that has allowed Cougar opponents to score 1.073 adjusted points per possession. Those struggles with keeping the ball in front of the defense allows opponents to get to the rack and find easy looks inside, leading to the sky-high 49.7% field-goal percentage that Houston opponents have logged inside the arc.

On the other end of the floor, Houston has had much less trouble. The Cougars score an adjusted 1.057 points per possession, currently good for 88th out of 347 Division I teams. Houston has a nice blend of quality shooters who can knock it down from outside and talented forwards who can score in the paint and crash the glass. The Cougs’ field goal percentages both inside (50.2%) and outside (36.9%) the arc put them in the top 20% of Division I teams.

In addition to being able to put the ball in the basket, Houston also benefits from making possessions count. The team coughs it up on just 18.5% of its possessions and reclaims 33.3% of its missed shots. With a nice stable of bigs in the frontcourt, Houston also makes its way to the line fairly often, posting a free-throw rate of 40% on the season. In simpler terms, that means that the Cougars earn two free throws for every five field goals they take.

Meet the Cougars

At the point, juco transfer Tione Womack (No. 14) runs the show. He came to Houston from Hagerstown CC in his home state of Maryland, and took over the starting role a month ago. In the last nine games, he has averaged 28 minutes per game as the starter and dished out four assists per game. Although he’s not very strong at 6’1″ and only 170 pounds, Womack sets the table for his teammates, logging assists on 22.5% of the buckets scored when he is on the court.

The man who previously held the starting gig was 6-foot freshman J.J. Thompson (No. 3). He has seen his minutes drastically reduced with Womack now holding the reins, even failing to see the court in three of those nine contests. In the other six, he averaged 8.2 minutes, pulling his season average down to roughly 21 minutes per game. Turnovers were a major issue for the freshman this year, as he posted a 1.37 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season.

The shooting guard for Houston is hometown product Joseph Young (No. 0), a selection to this year’s All-Conference USA Third Team. Young is deadly from long range, having connected on more than 42% of his attempts this season. He also can knock down the pull-up jumper, and will put the ball on the floor to punish teams that play him too tightly on the perimeter. His 17.9 points per game are tops on the team, and his offensive rating of 124.2 is ranked 33rd out of all D-I players.

On the wing, Danuel House (No. 23) is a tough cover. He’s a very strong 6’7″ with great handles and an ability to slip right through the defense. That slashing ability gets House to the line with regularity, where he knocks down 72% of his attempts. His free-throw rate of 58.8% ranks him 100th in the country at getting to the line, something that will be a concern for a Texas team that frequently sends opponents to the stripe.

The Cougars have a very deep frontcourt filled with bigs who are not only strong, but very athletic, as well. Sophomore forward TaShawn Thomas (No. 35) is the most dangerous of these, as his selection to the First Team All-Conference USA squad would indicate. At 6’8″ and 215 pounds, the Killeen product is a handful inside. He is second on the team with 16.8 points and leads the squad with 9.5 rebounds. That number is inflated a bit by the up-tempo approach of Houston, but his offensive and defensive rebounding rates of 10.5% and 21.9% are still both ranked in the Top 250 for D-I players.

Thomas has a nice repertoire of moves, which could cause issues for a Texas frontcourt that was destroyed by the likes of OU’s Romero Osby and Kansas State’s Thomas Gipson. Thomas can bull his way inside for points, but also can go over either shoulder to hit hook shots and can knock down turnaround jumpers from anywhere near the paint. The Texas bigs will have to stay home and avoid biting on fakes if they hope to limit his damage tonight.

Joining Thomas in the frontcourt is Mikhail McLean (No. 1), another 6’8″ forward for Coach Dickey. McLean is averaging just 13.9 minutes per game, but has seen his role increase over the final few weeks of the season as he works his way back from a broken hand. Although he’s not a focal point of the offense, McLane has started nine of the last ten games and has done a great job reclaiming missed shots.

The Cougars see little dropoff when they go to their reserves in the frontcourt, as senior forward Leon Gibson (No. 15) started 12 games this season. A transfer from Navarro JC, Gibson has the prototypical back-to-the-basket game that allows him to score easily when he gets touches on the block. He is also a beast on the glass, but his limited 16 minutes per game prevent him from being ranked nationally in rebounding percentage.

Another solid reserve for Coach Dickey is swingman Jherrod Stiggers (No. 21), who would draw all of the attention as a long-range sharpshooter, if it weren’t for the presence of Young. Stiggers has knocked down 39.8% of his three-point attempts this season. Texas has the sixth-best defense in the country when it comes to defending the arc, so the Horns must continue that level of dominance if they want to neutralize Stiggers tonight.

Fellow guard Brandon Morris (No. 2) will likely see the court for ten to twelve minutes tonight, but is not a huge offensive threat. His 2.9% steal mark would be ranked nationally if he played more minutes, so the Texas guards cannot afford to be loose with the ball in his vicinity.

Forward J.J. Richardson (No. 55) rounds out the rotation, but his minutes have been limited all season long due to a nagging foot injury. In a road game against crosstown rival Rice, Richardson showed just what kind of a post presence he could be at full strength, putting in 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Since then, he has played in just five of the team’s ten games, and he logged only eight total minutes in Houston’s two games at the C-USA tournament.

Keys to the game

1) Stop transition – Although the Longhorns have been wildly inconsistent all season long, the one aspect of their play that has been generally strong is the defensive effort. If Texas can prevent Houston from pushing the pace after missed Longhorn shots, it should be able to force the Cougars to score in the half-court. That will play to Texas’ strengths, while also eliminating easy points for Houston. If the Cougars are not able to pile up fast-break points against the Horns, they will likely find it difficult to advance to the CBI quarterfinals.

2) Attack the paint – Houston has repeatedly struggled to keep the basketball in front of its perimeter defenders, opening up the lane to dribble penetration. If the Longhorns can avoid their bad habit of settling for jump shots, they should be able to frequently slash to the rim and get easy buckets, or at least draw help defense that opens up teammates.

3) Win on the glass – The Cougars are fairly average when it comes to rebounding the basketball, while the Longhorns have had a Jekyll and Hyde history on the two ends of the court. Texas does a great job rebounding its own misses, but lost many close games due to an inability to secure defensive boards in crunch time. If the Longhorns can continue their success on the offensive glass, they will be able to earn extra possessions against a Houston defense that is already very poor.

The real challenge will come on the other end of the floor, where the Cougs have an active frontcourt that can kill Texas with second-chance points. If the Longhorns can mitigate the damage from extra Houston possessions, they might escape Hofheinz to play another day.

Although the Texas Longhorns failed to make the NCAA tournament field for the first time in 15 years, their season is not yet over. Citing sources, the Houston Chronicle’s Joseph Duarte reported that the Longhorns have accepted a bid to the 2013 College Basketball Invitational. Texas will open play at the University of Houston on Wednesday, at 8 P.M. CT. The winner of Wednesday’s game will advance to face the College of Charleston or George Mason in the second round on Monday, March 25th.

The matchup with Houston will renew an old Southwest Conference rivalry that has been dormant since the 2000-01 season. The all-time series is nearly even, with Texas holding a two-game winning streak and a narrow 32-31 overall edge. Texas coach Rick Barnes also has a 6-0 record against Houston’s James Dickey, with all of those games coming in the last three years of Dickey’s tenure at Texas Tech.

Now in its sixth year, the CBI is a 16-team tournament culminating in a best-of-three Championship Series. All games are played at the home arenas of the participating teams, meaning that the Longhorns would be able to host games if they can advance to later rounds. With the Erwin Center home to NCAA tournament games this weekend, Texas had no choice but to open CBI play on the road.

The College Basketball Invitational is produced by the Gazelle Group, a New Jersey-based sports marketing firm. The Gazelle Group also manages exempt November events that the Longhorns frequently play in, such as the 2K Sports Classic, Legends Classic, and CBE Classic.

For Coach Barnes, this post-season bid is his 21st-consecutive and 24th overall in his 26-year career. The 21-year streak includes all four years he spent at Clemson and the final two years of his stint at Providence. It is comprised of 18 NCAA bids and two NIT appearances, in addition to this year’s CBI nod.

Although the CBI bid extended Barnes’ streak of post-season appearances, his personal string of 17-straight NCAA bids was snapped on Sunday. Barnes’ 17-year run was tied with that of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski for the longest active streak, but Coach K can now lay sole claim to that title. The Blue Devils earned a No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, extending Krzyzewski’s streak to 18 years.

Fans will be able to purchase tickets for Wednesday’s game online or by calling the University of Houston box office at 1-877-COUGAR5.

The clash between Texas and Houston is one of four CBI first-round games that will be broadcast live on AXS TV, the cable network owned by Mark Cuban, Ryan Seacrest, and the Creative Artists Agency. In Austin, AXS TV can be found on AT&T U-Verse (Channel 1106) and Grande Communications (880). Satellite customers can also watch the game on DIRECTV (Channel 340) and Dish Network (362).

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this post did not include potential second round opponents and listed both possible game times.

Last night, the Texas Longhorns took the first and easiest step in their pursuit of an improbable Big 12 title, dispatching No. 10 seed TCU, 70-57. Texas must win the conference tournament to avoid missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in 15 years, which means that the young Horns have to put together four wins in four days. With the first victory under their belt, things now get much tougher for Rick Barnes’ inconsistent bunch.

Awaiting the Horns in the quarterfinals are the experienced Kansas State Wildcats, who beat the Horns by a combined 38 points in the team’s two meetings earlier this year. It has long been said that it’s tough to beat the same team three times in a season, but those prior results offer Texas fans little reason for optimism about tonight’s match-up. Even in the relatively-close 12-point loss to Kansas State in Austin, Texas was out of the game for the entire second half, and trailed by as many as 19 points.

Ken Pomeroy gives the Horns a 27% chance to win, predicting a six-point margin of victory for the ‘Cats. The Longhorns will have to overcome those odds and what will amount to a home crowd for KSU if they want to keep their NCAA dreams alive.

Meet the Wildcats

For an in-depth look at the Kansas State roster and the team’s style of play, check out LRT’s game preview from the first meeting between these two teams.

The first match-up

When Texas and Kansas State first faced off on January 30th, the game was quickly out of reach. The Longhorns had two leads in the first four minutes, but trailed 9-7 at the under-16 media timeout. Texas would never get any closer, falling victim to a brutal stretch of offensive inefficiency. For a span of more than 12 minutes in the first half, Texas managed only eight points, with all of them coming from Sheldon McClellan.

The Longhorns did manage to get some good looks early in the game, but could not make any buckets. With shots not falling, Texas only made things worse by constantly turning it over and giving up easy points to the Wildcats. On the night, Texas ended 27.5% of their possessions with a turnover and allowed KSU to score 33 points off of those miscues. In a lopsided 83-57 loss, those wasted possessions and free points were easily the difference in the game.

Most troubling for Texas fans is that this beatdown came with Rodney McGruder limited due to foul trouble and Will Spradling (No. 55) playing with a broken nose he suffered in the first half. With those two only chipping in 12 points, it was Texas-born big man Thomas Gipson (No. 42) who dominated the game, scoring 17 points and grabbing seven boards in only 21 minutes on the court.

The rematch

Even with Myck Kabongo back in the lineup, things did not get much better for Texas when they hosted Kansas State on February 23rd. The Longhorns failed to challenge the Kansas State shooters all afternoon, allowing the Wildcats to knock down 50% of their 18 three-point attempts.

Texas still managed to find itself down just three points late in the first half, but a disastrous exchange shoved the momentum to the Kansas State sideline before the teams headed to the locker room. With 22 seconds left, it appeared the Wildcats would hold for the last shot. Instead, Javan Felix fouled Angel Rodriguez (No. 13), who knocked down a pair of free throws. Kabongo then turned it over with just two seconds left in the half, and the Wildcats raced down the court for a three from Shane Southwell (No. 1) just before the horn.

Things continued to deteriorate in the second half. The Longhorns took more than four minutes to score a basket, allowing Kansas State to extend its lead out to fifteen points. Texas never recovered, trailing by as many as 19 points midway through the half. The Horns closed the gap for cosmetic purposes, but still dropped the final decision at home, 81-69.

Kabongo led the way for Texas, scoring what was then his career high of 24 points. McClellan came off the bench to score 15 points, rebounding quickly from his benching in the TCU game just five days earlier. Both players were able to score in transition and Kabongo drove to the rack in half-court sets, but otherwise the offense was bogged down.

The Longhorns also again struggled to keep Kansas State from reclaiming missed shots. The Wildcats snagged 41.4% of their offensive rebounding opportunities in Austin, improving upon the impressive 40% mark they had posted in Manhattan. Those extra chances only resulted in seven second-chance points for K-State, but they demoralized the Longhorn defense when it did manage to force a missed shot.

Keys to the game

1) Look for transition opportunities – In both games against Kansas State, the Texas offense had a very difficult time scoring in their half-court sets, but did find some success on the break in Austin. Unfortunately, the Wildcats take good care of the ball, turning it over on only 18.4% of their possessions. That means that transition opportunities for Texas will have to come off of missed K-State shots. Of course, the Horns have had difficulties winning defensive rebounds against the Wildcats, so this could be a very tall order.

2) Communicate and rotate on defense – Kansas State’s offense can look like a well-oiled machine when it is clicking, as the Longhorns discovered when the ‘Cats sliced them up with crisp ball movement in Austin. In addition, Rodriguez has the ability to slash through defenses and pull defenders away from the K-State bigs inside and the shooters waiting on the perimeter. The Longhorns must play sound team defense, communicate, and rotate quickly if they hope to disrupt a Kansas State offense that scored 1.26 points per possession against them in their two earlier meetings.

3) Aggression from the guards and wings – Texas found success in the second half of last night’s game when Kabongo, McClellan, and Julien Lewis started attacking with the bounce and making harder cuts off the ball. As a result, the Horns posted a free-throw rate of 82% against TCU, meaning that they shot more than eight free throws for every ten field goal attempts. Coming on the heels of a 62.7% free-throw rate against Texas Tech, it appears that the normally-stagnant Texas offense is finally making an effort to grind out points at the line.

Combine this recent trend with Kansas State’s penchant for sending opponents to the stripe, and the Longhorns may be able to pile up some points. Even if Texas does not end up drawing many fouls by attacking with the bounce, any sort of aggression will be an improvement. Static possessions with excessive perimeter passing and challenged looks late in the shot clock have unfortunately been the norm for Texas for much of the season. If the ballhandlers can be aggressive, while Lewis and McClellan work hard to get open off the ball, Texas can stay competitive this evening. If not, the Horns will likely be victims of a third K-State beatdown this year.