Just a quick note that the Baylor post-game will be delayed until late this afternoon or early evening. Unfortunately, there’s a few too many “real world” things to attend to in the lone off-day we have before making the trip to Stillwater.

The Longhorns righted the ship with a high-scoring 95-83 victory over Texas Tech on Wednesday night, but the road ahead remains difficult. Texas hosts Baylor this afternoon, a young but incredibly talented team that is far exceeding its preseason expectations. While many media outlets pegged the Bears as the 10th-best team in the Big 12, they have shown flashes of absolute brilliance even in losses to teams like Kansas and K-State.

Although the Bears lost the senior leadership of Curtis Jerrells and Kevin Rogers after last season, they’ve added an imposing presence in the paint with Michigan transfer Ekpe Udoh. As just a sophomore, the big man broke Chris Webber’s blocked shot record, but he’s added a bevy of offensive moves since arriving in Waco.

Texas fans are very familiar with the backcourt combo of Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn. Both are very quick guards with silky-smooth shots, but Carter has become quite the facilitator in the point guard role this year. He is averaging 6.5 assists to go along with his 16.7 points per game. Dunn, meanwhile, is an incredibly streaky shooter who is very, very dangerous when he gets hot. In a 31-point blowout over Oklahoma earlier this season, he exploded for 28 points on a 6-for-8 performance behind the arc.

In the frontcourt, the Bears are incredibly intimidating. Besides the 6’10” Udoh, Baylor also starts 7-footer Josh Lomers and the 6’10” Anthony Jones. This trio of players gives Coach Scott Drew a back line in his 2-3 zone that blocks a lot of shots and gets great pressure out on the corners and wings. Jones is also a solid outside shooter, which means Texas will have to keep an eye on the pick-and-pop when he is setting screens for Dunn and Carter.

Off the bench, Quincy Acy is a high-energy sixth man who leads the team with a success rate of more than 71% from the field. This number is buoyed by the fact that Acy usually finds himself open for an authoritative dunk at least four or five times a game. If Texas continues its trend of poor defensive rotation, Acy is bound to get a ton of points this afternoon.

Keys to the game

Texas has had a lot of problems against zone defenses this season, and Baylor’s 2-3 is very, very good. The Longhorns have to be patient in their efforts to break down the zone, and simply cannot settle for lazy ball reversal around the perimeter that results in bad three-point looks. Texas must attack the soft middle of the zone and get its share of good looks inside the arc.

In addition, the Longhorns can’t afford to give Baylor a ton of points in transition. Last Saturday, Texas absolutely melted down in the second half against Connecticut, and turnovers were a huge part of the problem. The Bears love to pile up points by pushing the tempo, so Texas needs to limit their turnovers and get back quickly after their offensive possessions.

On Thursday night, Kevin Durant was named to the Western Conference All-Star team as a reserve. It’s the first time a former Longhorn has been tabbed for that honor since superstar Slater Martin’s seven-year All-Star run from 1952 to 1959. Durant is averaging 29.3 points per game through Oklahoma City’s first 45 contests, along with 7.3 boards and three assists.

The Texas road win against Arkansas looks a little better after the Hogs knocked off Mississippi State in Fayetteville last night. Courtney Fortson dropped 35 points in the victory on 53% shooting from the field. Elsewhere, the Pitt Panthers needed a second-half surge to knock off visiting St. John’s, while Long Beach State edged out Cal State-Northridge. Unfortunately, that was the extent of the good news for the Longhorn strength of schedule, as Cal-Irvine, Western Carolina, USC, and Gardner-Webb all lost last night.

Texas tumbled to 7th in Luke Winn’s latest Power Rankings, but what interests us most in his column is the conversation with NBA scouts. Winn reports that the consensus is that Damion James is a mid- to late-first rounder, and that the scouts would prefer to see Avery Bradley stay in school for another year, even though he’d be selected early in this year’s draft. Can we get extra copies of that column sent to AB in April?

We squeezed in lots and lots of work on the photo galleries tonight. Our latest update includes albums from the UNC, Rice, and Kansas State games, with the ones for Arkansas and UConn likely coming your way this weekend. Click here to browse all of the photos currently available.

When we wrote about the problems plaguing the Texas offense on Tuesday night, we addressed the fact that Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay were offensive liabilities that were crippling Dexter Pittman‘s productivity. Opponents were well-aware that the duo was averaging a combined 7.2 points per game, which allowed two extra defenders to sag into the paint and stifle Texas’ inside game. Our proposed solution was to limit the amount of time both players were on the floor simultaneously, hopefully clearing up the spacing issues for the offense.

Of course, having Mason and Balbay combine for 31 points might also solve the problem.

That’s exactly what happened in Wednesday night’s 95-83 Texas win, as the pair of offensively-challenged guards made mincemeat of the Tech defense, leading the Horns to a win on a night where Pittman didn’t even score in the first half. It was clear from the start that the two guards had the green light on offense, as Mason attacked the rim for layups almost immediately, and Balbay shot the first open mid-range jumper he was given. That particular shot clanged off the iron, but the junior kept firing, and knocked down a pair of Js later in the contest.

With all five Texas players actually a threat to score, the offense immediately opened up. Avery Bradley found himself with open looks behind the arc and he took advantage, knocking down 3-of-6 from long range. Damion James was able to secure his Big 12-record 48th double-double with a monstrous 28-point, 13-rebound night. To say the Texas offense was clicking on all cylinders would be a gross understatement. According to number crunching by stat guru Ken Pomeroy, last night’s performance was actually the 4th-most efficient one for the offense all season, and the best since the Big 12 opener against Colorado.

Unfortunately, even with all of that scoring, the game wasn’t safely in hand until the final minutes. Texas had yet another poor defensive performance, giving up dribble penetration far too easily in the first half. In response, the Longhorns peeled back the defensive pressure inside the arc to cut off the driving lanes, which left the perimeter wide open. That let Tech — a team which was averaging just thirteen three-point attempts per game — fire up thirteen attempts in just the first half and actually make eight of them!

In the second half, things improved marginally, but there is the question of how much of that defensive improvement was thanks to fatigue slowing down the Tech ballhandlers. The Longhorns were much more successful staying in front of their man for the final twenty minutes and certainly made John Roberson work much harder in the second half to score his points. But with the Red Raiders only playing seven men when they typically run nine or ten deep, it’s quite possible that tired legs just made it harder for them to blow by the Texas defense.

While Tech had lost most of its depth, Texas was choosing to work with less. The Longhorns played with a core group of seven men, and even sat Dexter Pittman for more than half the game as Coach Barnes chose to go with a smaller lineup against the speedy, undersized Red Raiders. J’Covan Brown earned most of the reserve minutes in the backcourt, playing 20 minutes in relief. Down low, Gary Johnson made the most of his 21 minutes, scrapping for six points and five boards. After the UConn loss, there was much talk in the media about downsizing the Texas rotation, and for now that approach seems to be working.

With the losing streak at an end, the Longhorns can now think about getting the season back on track. Fortunately, the UConn loss has no bearing at all on the goal of a conference championship, so Texas still sits just one game back of Kansas in the league standings. The tiebreaker will belong to the winner of the February 8th showdown at the Frank Erwin Center, so as long as the Longhorns stay within one game of the Jayhawks, they still maintain the ability to wrest control of the league with a head-to-head win.

Texas has a tough week on the road between now and then, but also cannot afford to look past a very dangerous march-up with the Baylor Bears on Saturday. Scott Drew has his team playing defense for the first time in ages, and Michigan transfer Ekpe Udoh gives the Bears an inside presence they simply haven’t had with Josh Lomers in the paint.

Check back tomorrow evening for some statistical analysis of the Texas defense, and perhaps even a few more photo galleries from this season’s road trips.

After two straight road losses and a narrow overtime victory against Texas A&M, a pair of home games is the perfect remedy for the Texas Longhorns. Fortunately, that two-game homestand starts with tonight’s tilt against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, a team that is just 2-4 on the road this year and will be playing without two of their starters in the frontcourt.

Historically, Texas has dominated this series, particularly in the Erwin Center. The Longhorns have won thirteen-straight meetings at the Drum, and are 21-3 against the Red Raiders since Rick Barnes took over as head coach. While Tech’s poor road play and battered roster will likely lead to an easy Texas victory tonight, fans should know that Coach Pat Knight has certainly improved his team since last year.

The key players

Tech’s offense is still anchored by the talented John Roberson, a lightning-quick guard from Plano who also has excellent court vision. When he’s not scoring his 13.8 points per game, he’s often threading the needle to get his teammates open looks. Roberson has more than five assists per game, and in Tech’s smooth-flowing motion offense, his ability to get the ball to his teammates at the right moment is key.

The other big-time playmaker for the Red Raiders is Mike Singletary. After being a starter two years ago, he was an on-again, off-again member of the starting five last season. Then came his signature game, a 43-point outburst against A&M in the opening round of last year’s Big 12 Tournament. At one point in his amazing performance, Singletary scored 29 consecutive points for the Red Raiders.

This year, there’s no question that Mike is the go-to guy. He’s leading the team with more than 15 points a game, and his presence down low will be even more important tonight thanks to the suspension of center Darko Cohaderavic and the injury to forward D’walyn Roberts. Texas must use their frontcourt depth to attack Singletary, as there will be a huge drop-off in talent if he is forced to the bench with foul trouble.

Thanks to the absence of Cohaderavic and Roberts, a ton of pressure now falls on the shoulders of Robert Lewandowski, a sophomore forward who has seen his production tail off after a promising freshman campaign. He’s great with his back to the basket, which gives Coach Knight the opportunity to focus a little more on an inside game instead of the typical Tech offense of constant cutting, midrange jumpers, and layups. The biggest knock on Lewandowski last season was his inability to get rebounds despite his 6’10” frame, and this year those troubles have limited him to about ten minutes per contest. Tech will need him to step up tonight, which includes making some immediate improvements on the glass.

Nick Okorie is a senior guard who is nearly as quick as Roberson, and is just as big of a threat to score. He’s only started ten games this season, but is still fourth on the team in scoring with nine points per game. He’s a very good rebounder for being just 6’1″, which is important for a team that will be giving up a lot of size against the Longhorns.

The Red Raiders don’t shoot very many threes, but if they do happen to get hot from long range tonight, it will likely be thanks to JuCo transfer David Tairu. The 6’3″ guard has only taken 36 three-pointers on the year, but is by far the most accurate long-range shooter for Tech so far. Tairu is also an in-your-face defender who loves to get in his man’s jersey well beyond the perimeter.

Brad Reese is the only other Tech player who is available tonight that has logged significant minutes. He’s another junior-college transfer, coming to Lubbock from Gulf Coast CC in Florida. He’s a versatile 6’6″ player who will likely be asked to fill a multitude of roles tonight. If Tech chooses to go small, which the roster changes may necessitate, he is able to slide down to the power forward position and actually can play some solid defense. Reese also has the handles to bring the ball up the floor and attack off the dribble, so the Red Raiders will likely be looking for some added offense from him tonight.

Keys to the game

As has already been mentioned, this thin Tech bench is going to have a hard time keeping up with the depth and size of the Texas offense. But based on the last twenty minutes of Longhorn basketball we’ve seen, it’s entirely possible that the Bad Horns could show up and tank against a well-coached team. Here, then, are our keys to getting the home win and getting back on track…

Extend the defensive pressure – The Red Raiders love to score on midrange jumpers and easy layups. They are constantly cutting across the lane, setting screens away from the ball, and forcing the defense to make decisions when their skilled ballhandlers penetrate. What Tech doesn’t like to do is shoot three-pointers. Texas needs to extend their defensive pressure out past the perimeter and make the Red Raider offense work 20 feet from the basket. They must force the cutters to catch passes out by the free throw line, instead of midway down the blocks for easy jumpers. If the Longhorns can keep their men in front of them and far from the rim, it should be very tough for Tech to cobble together much of an offense.

Get Dexter involved early – We talked about the issues leading to Dexter’s disappearance in last night’s column. While we’re not holding our breath for Barnes to make any of these changes in the near future, there has to at least be a concerted effort made tonight to work the ball inside to the big man early. Texas is going to enjoy quite the size advantage against this depleted lineup, so Pitt has to pile up some points. In addition, Big Dex also has to hold up his end of the bargain by avoiding the early fouls that have hampered his playing time in recent weeks.

Force mistakes – Statistically, the Red Raiders don’t make that many mistakes with the basketball. Their 19.2% turnover rate is 96th-best in the country, but they’ve shown a tendency to make many more mistakes on the road. In Tech’s last five road games — four of which were losses — their turnover rate was never lower than 20.9%, and it even spiked as high as 29.3% in a blowout loss to Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders coughed it up 21 times in that one, leading to 29 Cowboy points off the miscues. If Texas can take advantage of this trend and steal some possessions from a less-talented Red Raider squad, it should squash any hopes of an upset.