The Texas Longhorns are coming off of their most embarrassing performance of the season, a 78-63 defeat at Oklahoma that had Coach Rick Barnes so disgusted that he benched most of his starters for a majority of the first half. Unfortunately, the next game on the schedule for the reeling team is a trip to Lubbock, historically one of the toughest road environments in the conference for ranked squads. The Longhorns learned that first-hand last season, as their eight-game conference winning streak came to a crashing halt with an 83-80 loss at United Spirit Arena.

This year, Pat Knight’s Red Raiders were picked to finish 10th in the conference by the media, but showed grit and determination in their conference-opening loss to Baylor last Saturday. They have struggled for much of the year and don’t pose a huge threat on paper, but much of this Tech team is the same that pulled off last year’s upset. And considering that the Longhorns have shown a tendency to play to the level of their opponents this season, they cannot afford to let Tech keep it close.

The starting five

In the backcourt, John Roberson is making huge strides in his sophomore campaign. His 14.4 points per game are tied for team-best, while his great court vision has led to more than six assists per game. The young guard is lightning quick and can absolutely thread the needle with entry passes, so the Longhorns will have their hands full with him this afternoon.

Alan Voskuil was a thorn in the side of the Longhorns when they met here last March, leading the Red Raiders with 18 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the line. This season, he has picked up where he left off, knocking down 45% of his three-point attempts while averaging 14.4 points a game. One problem Tech often runs into is that the team will hit cold spells and look solely to Voskuil to hit a shot to break the skid. If he is missing his shots, the Longhorns can focus more on their post defense — an aspect the Horns have excelled at for most of the season.

In the post, D’Wayln Roberts has taken on a much larger role in his second season at Tech. Last year, he averaged just over 11 minutes a game off the bench, but has started all 16 contests this year. He’s one of the few rebounders on a team that is often getting demolished on the glass, so he will be called on to hold his ground against the Longhorns today.

Hailing from just outside Kansas City, Robert Lewandowski is making a huge impact as a freshman. He’s shown a knack for getting in excellent position for entry passes, and is great at scoring with his back to the basket down low. As a freshman, there isn’t a huge book on him yet, but one of the knocks on his play is a weakness on the glass. Lewandowski is the tallest significant player on a rather undersized Tech team, but he ranks only eighth on the squad in rebounds. As with Roberts, Lewandowski will have to step up against a Texas team that is solid on the glass. Otherwise, they will have far too many empty possessions to stay in the game.

Michael Prince earned his first start of the season against Baylor, and it was easy to see why. He’s a high-energy player who is excellent on the defensive end, and he can attack the rim off the dribble even though he’s a lanky forward. He did miss six games with a foot injury earlier this year, though, and Coach Knight thinks that Prince is still only at 80%. Texas is likely going to focus a ton of attention on Roberson and Voskuil today, so if Tech is hoping for an upset, Prince could well be the X-factor.

Off the bench

Mike Singletary and Nick Okorie are also likely candidates to earn that fifth starting slot, as the pair have combined for 14 starts on the year. Okorie is an amazing find for Tech, a JuCo All-American last season who is just as fast as Roberson. He knows how to get to the rim, can hit from outside, and is just as adept as Roberson at slipping passes past the defense and into the post.

Singletary was a starter for half of last season, and has been shuffled around the lineup this year. But he has made significant contributions this year, even when coming off the bench. He’s an undersized forward, but is leading the team in rebounds and is third in minutes despite only making four starts.

Esmir Rizvic is also back this month for his final semester of eligibility. After having his face shattered two years ago by the flailing elbows of Longar Longar, Rizvic applied for a medical hardship to earn another half-season of play. The NCAA showed its miniscule soft side and granted the request, allowing Rizvic to participate in conference play this year. He’s not going to see a ton of minutes at this point, as Coach Knight hopes to work him up to game shape. But on a team with a still-developing inside presence, the 7-foot Bosnian could provide some much-needed relief.

Keys to the game

On paper, this is a game that Texas should easily win. And despite the fact that the Longhorns have won 19 out of 22 against Tech in the Rick Barnes era, the fact remains that United Spirit Arena is a tough place to play. In all honesty, Texas just needs to execute the fundamentals to win this one, which means that today’s keys are incredibly simple.

Control the glass – Texas is a much better rebounding team than Tech, but also took 13 minutes against Oklahoma to secure their first offensive rebound. Their lack of offensive boards also led to a meltdown in the second half, so the Longhorns can’t afford to have a repeat performance against the Red Raiders.

Win the turnover battle – Tech is a very sloppy team with the ball and averages more than fifteen turnovers per game. Texas has had its own ball-control issues, but still has coughed it up less than twelve times per contest. The Longhorns can really squash any upset hopes by scoring points off of turnovers and not giving up any easy transition looks.

Our recent return from a cryogenic freezing also means that we’ve rejoined the ranks of the voting basketball bloggers. Below is this week’s poll, which reflects games played through Monday, January 12th. If you want to check out the full breakdown, click on over to see the spreadsheet with everyone’s votes.

With Louisville still hanging in the rankings following their OT destruction of Notre Dame on Monday night, it left Tennessee as the only team on our ballot (ranked 24th) to not make the consensus poll.

Aside from the Volunteers, the only major outlier in our ballot was Arizona State, which we had four slots higher than consensus. They have looked good so far this season, but still lack the kind of victory that would make the nation take notice. Sophomore stud James Harden and the Sun Devils will soon have their chance though, as they travel west this weekend to face both USC (Thursday) and UCLA (Sunday).

This week’s blogpoll included our rankings and those of voters from the following eleven websites: Bryce’s Brackets and Observations, College Hoops Journal, The Daily Gopher, George Mason Basketball, March Madness All Season, March to Madness, Rush the Court, A Sea of Blue, The Slipper Still Fits, Storming the Floor, and Tar Heel Mania.

If you happened to check the website yesterday (or have LRT’s feed set up on your RSS reader), you may have noticed our quiet and unassuming return to coverage. For the rest of you, chances are you won’t even notice the return for another few days…or more. But this is the time of year when everyone tries to make changes in their lives, and the ones we’re making are allowing more time for writing. We can’t promise things will be as consistent as last season, when there was content here on a daily basis. But we can promise that we are damned sure going to try.

The recruiting bonanza continues for Rick Barnes and the Longhorns, as they’ve now secured a verbal commitment from 2011 point guard prospect Myck Kabongo, beating out the likes of Villanova, Kansas, and Florida. The high school sophomore is a teammate of 2010 Texas commit Tristan Thompson, but he credits Barnes and assistant Rodney Terry with selling him on the program. This verbal is just the latest in a string of recruiting successes for the Longhorns, who have already inked one of 2009’s top classes in Avery Bradley, Jordan Hamilton, and Shawn Williams, in addition to landing Florida transfer Jai Lucas for next season. When you throw in Thompson and fellow ’10 commit Daniel Bejarano, it seems that Texas will be loaded for years to come.

While Gallagher-Iba Arena is certainly never an easy place to play, Texas A&M might have lost a huge opportunity when they stumbled there on Saturday. The defeat came in the conference opener for the Aggies, who now have a murderous four-game stretch approaching that could easily sink their aspirations for a league title. Mark Turgeon’s squad hosts a salty Baylor squad tomorrow night before the Sooners come to town this weekend, but then also must travel to Lawrence and Austin the following week to take on the Jayhawks and Longhorns. For a Texas A&M team that has hardly been tested in non-conference play, this opening slate will truly be a trial by fire.

Kansas JuCo transfer Mario Little won’t take a medical redshirt this year, despite missing the first twelve games of the season. The guard has seen limited action in three games, including a lightning-quick foul-out in East Lansing this weekend. But with the hardship option still on the table until tonight’s game against Kansas State, Little informed Coach Self of his intentions to finish out the season. The decision will give Sherron Collins some much-needed veteran help in a backcourt that starts freshmen Brady Morningstar and Tyshawn Taylor.

The Texas Longhorns face their biggest test of the young conference season as they head to Norman tonight for a top-ten matchup with the rival Sooners. Both Oklahoma and Texas have hopes to win the conference this season, and the home-and-home series between the two teams will play a huge part in deciding the league’s champion.

The Longhorns have won six straight against the Sooners, and eleven of the last fourteen matchups between the two teams. Prior to that, Oklahoma enjoyed their own dominance in the series, reeling off eight straight wins under former coach Kelvin Sampson. But even with recent history on their side, the Longhorns will have their hands full against a very talented Sooner squad which hasn’t lost at home since the Longhorns last visited on February 6th, 2008.

By the numbers

Based solely on the efficiency stats, tonight’s game looks to be a battle of strengths. All season, the Longhorns have survived with a stifling defense that is ranked 13th in the nation. Oklahoma, on the other hand, has been unstoppable with the ball, scoring 1.168 points per possession, an impressive clip that is 11th-best in the country.

Unfortunately for the Longhorns, their offense does not match up as well with Oklahoma statistically. Texas’ offensive efficiency is only 75th nationally, while the Sooners’ D checks in at 45th. Combining all of those ratings gives the Longhorns a +0.205 differential per possession, while OU enjoys a more robust +0.250 margin. While these fractions of a point may seem miniscule, over the course of a 65- to 70-possession game, it can easily add up.

In terms of tempo, the two teams are nearly identical, with both averaging just a shade under 70 possessions per contest. The Sooners do look to push the ball in transition off of defensive rebounds, but their half-court offense is so efficient that they are far from a run-and-gun team. If the Texas defense can make a difference in this game, they should stay close enough with the Sooners to have a shot as time winds down.

The starting five

The Sooners return a very experienced roster with a key addition in the backcourt, making them one of the scariest teams in the conference and the country. This year, Capel is going with a three-out, two-in look, relying on the Griffin brothers to provide a strong scoring presence in the paint.

The one newcomer in the starting five is heralded freshman Willie Warren, who was named a McDonald’s All-American and Gatorade Texas Player of the Year during his senior season at Fort Worth’s North Crowley High. Warren is an incredibly quick guard who creates his own shot and has an uncanny knack for getting to the rim. Although he was plagued by the typical early-season freshman struggles, the guard has exploded in his last five games, averaging 21 points per game over that stretch.

The presence of Warren in the backcourt has really opened things up for senior point guard Austin Johnson, who has long struggled with leading the OU offense. Johnson is not terribly quick with the ball, but the extra attention defenses are giving to Warren is allowing the point guard more room to drive. As a result, Johnson has made fewer unforced errors and is dishing out 3.3 assists for every turnover this season.

The key player for the Sooners is Blake Griffin, a sophomore who is averaging a double-double with 22 points and 14 boards per game. Despite the possibility of being a high NBA draft pick last June, the younger Griffin returned for his second year and is one of the leading candidates for the Naismith Award. His skill set is incredibly impressive for a guy his size, which has pro scouts salivating. Griffin is not only a near-lock within ten feet of the basket, but he is a defensive stud, has great mid-range, and can handle the ball extremely well. This allows him to pull big men out near the perimeter, opening up the lanes for his teammates, and also exposes his less-talented opponents to being taken off the dribble.

The older guy in the frontcourt is Taylor Griffin, who has been overshadowed by his kid brother the last two seasons. But he’s also benefitting from the focus defenses are giving Blake, as he often finds himself wide open for dump-offs under the basket and gobbles up easy putbacks on weak-side rebounds. Taylor is only averaging nine points per game, but his presence keeps defenses honest when they want to key solely on Blake. He’s also the team’s second-leading rebounder with just over six boards per game.

Tony Crocker is the primary long-range threat for the Sooners, although his numbers have decreased slightly this year. Crocker is only hitting 34% of his threes this season after logging an impressive 42.4% rate from behind the arc last year. He’s also adept at attacking off the dribble, so if Texas plays him too tightly on the perimeter, he can quickly get to the rim for an easy two. Checking in at 6’6″, he could create also a match-up problem for the Longhorns, who sometimes elect to go small with a three-guard look.

Keys to the game

Hit the threes – Oklahoma struggled early against Arkansas, Purdue, and Kansas State, falling behind all three teams in the first half. The common thread in those games was an unencumbered barrage from behind the arc, as the Sooners allowed those three opponents to shoot a combined 16-of-33 (48.4%) from long range in the first half of those games. Oklahoma managed to claw their way back for victories against K-State and Purdue, but Texas can really help their chances by attacking the weak perimeter defense.

The key to doing so will likely be A.J. Abrams, who has been practically a ghost during the last month. Fortunately, history bodes well for A.J., as he lit up the Sooners for seven three pointers in their last meeting, which came at the Big 12 tournament last March. Without a resurgence from Abrams tonight, the Longhorns may find it tough to earn their points inside against a stout post defense.

Keep OU off the charity stripe – With the Sooners pounding the ball down low to the Griffin brothers, they enjoy a distinct advantage at the free throw line. Oklahoma averages ten more free throws per game than their opponents, while nearly 25% of their scoring comes from the charity stripe. With the Longhorns missing an inexcusable 36% of their own free throws, this stat could be the difference in the game.

Weather the crowd – Texas has performed well in hostile road environments this season, grabbing a win at the Kohl Center last month against Wisconsin three weeks after they beat Villanova in an alleged neutral-site game that was 95% Wildcat fans. And even though they fell short against Arkansas in the electric Bud Walton Arena last week, the Longhorns have proven they aren’t shaken by road crowds. Tonight’s top-ten contest will take place in front of the craziest crowd the Lloyd Noble Center has seen in years, so the Longhorns will have to maintain that same poise when the Sooners go on their inevitable scoring runs.

No time for a preview of today’s game, as I’m running late to the arena already. You can visit last year’s preview to brush up on a few of their returning players and the high-speed brand of basketball we’ll be seeing today.

There are still a ton of tickets left for this one, and in the middle of finals the student support should be pretty light. If you’re in Austin with nothing to do, you should definitely hop in the car and fly down to the Erwin Center. Parking might not even be an issue for this one.