On a night when everything seemed to go right for the Texas Longhorns, even their fans made half-court shots. Twice. While the hometown Longhorns were cruising to a convincing 77-50 win over the rival Aggies, a pair of students hit 47-footers to win a year of Chick-fil-A and two round-trip tickets on American Airlines. The prize for the Longhorns, though, was a ninth conference victory and a tie for the league lead.

Texas came roaring out of the gates, hitting 4-of-5 from behind the arc to start the game as their defense limited Texas A&M to just 2-of-17 shooting over the first ten minutes of play. D.J. Augustin and Damion James led the offensive charge in the first half, scoring 17 and 10 before even heading to the locker room.

Despite having a comfortable 21-point lead at the break, Rick Barnes didn’t let his team’s intensity waver. The Longhorns were still pressing the ball in the backcourt with nearly a thirty-point lead and only seven minutes on the clock, and reserve forward Alexis Wangmene was even knocking down jumpers with regularity as the final minutes ticked away. By the time the student sections led the crowd in singing “Poor Aggies,” many of the maroon-clad supporters in the upper decks had long since departed.

There were a ton of things to like about this one for Longhorn fans, starting with the return of Augustin as a scorer. While Texas continued to win during D.J.’s recent slump, other players were forced to step up in his place. But while his teammates maintained their strong play against A&M, the re-awakened Augustin poured in 27, including his 1,000th point as a Longhorn. The only downside for the point guard might have been the fact that he sat on the bench for just four minutes in the rout, despite having the game well in hand the entire second half.

Justin Mason continued his scrappy play, picking up loose balls and rebounds for putbacks, including an improbable dunk following an airballed hook shot by Dexter Pittman. Mason may have fired too many three-point attempts during the early scoring barrage, but he was getting open looks and was certainly not afraid to try to capitalize on them. Personally, I will take a slightly overconfident Jay Mase over one who is unsure on the offensive end and only contributes on defense. If Mason continues to play at this level the rest of the way, Texas has yet another X-factor that can put it over the top in close games.

One of the other reassuring things seen on the court last night was the solid contribution from every member of the frontcourt rotation. Gary Johnson continues to amaze me in how quickly he has progressed from the guy who seemed overwhelmed in late January. He played 23 minutes against the Aggies this time, after managing only four ineffective minutes during the game in College Station. He had eight points and seven boards, but perhaps his most surprising contribution was how well he defended the giant DeAndre Jordan when given the unenviable task. And with that solid mid-range jumper he’s got going now, he’s turning into a mini-Damion James, ripping down rebounds, popping Js, and attacking the rim. Exciting stuff is ahead for this guy.

While I’ve praised Gary for his solid defensive work on Jordan, I certainly can’t overlook the excellent D from all of the frontcourt players, who put on an absolute block party down low — twelve shots were officially swatted — and limited the Joseph Jones/Bryan Davis/DeAndre Jordan troika to 18 points on the night. In the first game between these two teams, those three players combined for 33 points. If Texas continues to hold down the fort in the paint, their recently-improved rotations on the perimeter shooters mean that this defensive resurgence could be around for the rest of the year.

Even the lesser-used forwards played well, as Clint Chapman had some solid minutes, including some great work on the glass just before half and an assist on a kick to Augustin for three. Wangmene earned a lot of his points in garbage time, but his continued hustle inside and nice touch on that high-arc jumper are going to be a great addition for five-to-ten minutes a game.

It can be easy to get drunk on the burnt-orange Kool Aid after a convincing win like that, but the last few games have made it seem like Texas is finally putting it together. Take away two scary minutes at the end of the Baylor game, and the Longhorns have looked incredibly impressive against three excellent ballclubs in a row. There’s a huge test looming next Monday in Manhattan, but much of the remaining schedule for Texas is very favorable and could set things up nicely for the post-season tournaments.

Enjoy the win for now, Horn fans. We’ve got quite a bit to talk about this week, including yet another rivalry game on Saturday.

Nineteen days ago, Texas A&M was absolutely reeling, having lost three of four after a nearly pristine start to their season. Only a narrow win in Stillwater kept the Aggies from stumbling into a home date with rival Texas on an ugly four-game losing streak. But the first eight minutes of the game that night went completely in Texas A&M’s favor, and they obliterated the Longhorns for an easy 80-63 win.

Since then, Texas has won five straight games, including Monday’s home upset of Kansas and road wins against OU and Baylor. And until Saturday’s fumble against Oklahoma State, the Aggies were just as hot, winning their next three after the dismantling of their rivals. The hot February for the top two teams in Texas has helped them separate from the pack in the Big 12, putting the Longhorns just a half-game out of first while the Aggies are hanging on to the coveted 4th-place spot in the conference — and the tournament bye that comes with it.

Lost amidst the ugly start to the January 30th game is the fact that Texas A&M and Texas played a pretty even game from that point on. As I mentioned in the game preview of that match-up, A&M is a very turnover-prone team, and there was a stretch in the first half where they made unforced error after unforced error. In front of a rowdy Texas crowd, there’s a chance that the Ags could get even more rattled tonight and make more mistakes. Don’t forget — this Aggie team is only 3-3 on the road, with the three wins coming against the bottom half of the Big 12.

As we look forward to tonight’s game, I feel that the biggest factor in the re-match will be the recent emergence of Gary Johnson. He is now a great offensive weapon in the paint, and the combo of Johnson and Connor Atchley in the hi-low game is really a treat to watch. When these two teams met at the end of January, the key post presence for the Longhorns was Dexter Pittman, while Johnson played only four ineffective minutes. With the addition of GJ’s offense and his work on the glass, the outlook for Texas is much rosier this time around.

A huge problem that teams face when playing Texas A&M is the pick-your-poison defensive quandary that their inside-out attack gives opponents. While a lot of Baylor’s ineffectiveness from behind the arc on Saturday was a result of their shooters going cold, the Texas three-point defense has improved tremendously over the last few weeks. If the Longhorns can shut down Dominique Kirk and Josh Carter — who was 4-of-7 behind the arc in College Station — it will make things a lot easier for the defense inside.

I linked it once earlier in this game preview, but take the time to go back and check out the preview I wrote of the first Texas/Texas A&M game to get an in-depth look at the Aggie squad and their style of play. Tonight is certainly going to be a hard-fought game, but Ken Pomeroy is predicting a three-point Longhorn victory, while Vegas likes Texas by 4.5 points.

Tonight’s game is sold out, so if you’re without a ticket you can tune in to ESPN or ESPNHD for the action or plop down $12 to watch it on the big screen in selected theatres throughout Texas (Plug in your zip code here to look for cinemas in your area.) See the rest of you at the Drum tonight.

Burnt Orange Nation game preview
Texas Sports game preview

Texas travels to Waco today, riding high after the home-court upset of Kansas on Monday night. The win was the fourth-straight for the Longhorns and their seventh victory in the last eight games. Texas also has a much longer streak hanging in the balance tonight, as they have won all 21 games against Baylor since Rick Barnes arrived in Austin for the 1998-99 season.

For an in-depth look at the Baylor players, you can re-read the game preview from the February 2nd match-up between these two teams, a game which Texas won by an 80-72 count. That loss was the start of a rough February for the Bears, who have since lost two of three. The ensuing game was an 80-72 home victory for Baylor over Texas Tech in Pat Knight’s first game as head coach. But since then, the Bears have dropped a pair of road games against Kansas and Oklahoma State, and are more than ready to return to the friendly confines of the Ferrell Center.

Just a week ago, there was a clear dividing line in the conference standings, with five teams lumped at the top and the other seven teams wallowing in mediocrity. But with Baylor’s recent dive, they now find themselves caught firmly between the two groups, and a loss today could drop them into the muddled middle of the conference.

It’s a “Gold Out” today in the sold-out Ferrell Center, so if you don’t have tickets you’ll probably want to plop down in front of the television. This ought to be another great match-up of two solid backcourts, and it’s one you won’t want to miss.

Thursday’s new ESPN Power Rankings saw the Horns moving up the ladder after the impressive win over Kansas on Monday. Texas rose from 12th to 8th, with three of the twelve voters slotting the Horns at their high-water mark of 7th. The ballot most worthy of an eyebrow-raise came from Dick Vitale, who still has the Indiana Hoosiers sitting at 12th, one spot ahead of Texas. These being the same Hoosiers who are 0-4 vs. the RPI Top 20 while Texas is 3-2 against the same pool and holds a victory over St. Mary’s, who is currently 21st in the RPI. I know you just had surgery, Dicky V, but lay off the drugs.

Luke Winn’s power rankings aren’t out yet for this week, but he did promise in last week’s edition that Texas would leap from the pool of the “just unranked” into the top ten with a win over the Jayhawks. And if he’s impressed with the Texas defense, you know things are looking good for the Horns.

While things are certainly getting dicey in Bloomington for Coach Sampson and the Hoosiers, they’ve still got a tough stretch of Big 10 play coming up. So while President Michael McRobbie orders a new investigation, IU has to look ahead to a pair of home tests against Michigan State and Purdue on Saturday and Tuesday. And lest we forget the stat I just mentioned two paragraphs back, the Hoosiers have plumped up on a cupcake schedule all season and have yet to beat a quality opponent. Now, with their backs against the wall both on and off the court, this could be the time for them to man up and prove that they are a legitimate team.

And while FSU was busy with some self-policing of its own, Seminole forward Ryan Reid was throwing Wake Forest players to the court. Some may call it a punch or a forearm shiver, but no matter how you slice it, the refs decided it was flagrant. Check it out below, and then you can forget about these two teams again until football season.

Arizona State 72, #7 Stanford 68 (OT) – It was a seesaw game out west last night, with both Stanford and Arizona State overcoming double-digit deficits in the second half. James Harden led the way for the Sun Devils down the stretch, tying the game with six seconds left in regulation and carrying his team to an overtime victory in front of the home crowd. A huge rebound from little-used Duke transfer Eric Boateng helped ASU milk the clock at the end of OT, and he sealed things up at the line with two seconds to go. The loss drops the Trees a half-game behind UCLA heading into this weekend’s action.

#10 Butler 89, Youngstown State 73 – The Bulldogs just keep marching on, this time cruising to a victory against the over-matched Penguins. A.J. Graves scored 15 points in the contest — all coming from the field— and grabbed five boards in the winning effort. This now marks the second-straight year that Butler has started the season 23-2, and with only five games left in Horizon League play, the Bulldogs could sew up the conference title by next weekend.

#20 Washington State 70, Oregon State 57 – There’s bad, there’s abysmal, and then there’s Oregon State. Wazzu ran all over the homestanding Beavers, who have lost 14 straight games, including all 12 of their Pac-10 contests. The Beavers’ quest for conference imperfection continues on Saturday against Washington before asskicking appointments with USC and UCLA next weekend. It’s safe to say at this point that the fans are ready for college baseball season in Corvallis.