They added a scoreboard to Reed Arena…and a really good basketball team to go with it

Texas A&M has let a lot of teams hang with them for 30 to 35 minutes a game. But not many have managed to last all 40 minutes with the Aggies. Just ask Colorado, Kansas State, OU, and Oklahoma State. Or watch the game from Saturday night, where Texas A&M trailed almost the entire game against the vaunted Kansas Jayhawks, but took the lead on an Acie Law three to pull off the upset.

The same held true on Monday night in College Station, where the Aggies pulled away in the final minutes with a 100-82 victory over the Texas Longhorns. Rick Barnes’ young team fought back from an early fourteen-point deficit and found themselves tied with just over thirteen minutes left. But the experience and stifling defense of the Aggies showed in the end, as A&M put on a 24-9 run over the final 7:30 of the game.

For much of the game, Barnes and the Longhorns looked to draw fouls on the Aggies and get to the line. In the first half, the resulting free throws got Texas back into the ballgame. The Longhorns hit 20 of 21 attempts at the charity stripe, while the Aggies only converted five of eleven. The fouls caused Billy Gillispie to play mix-and-match with his bench, getting significant minutes (and fouls) from reserves Donald Sloan, Marlon Pompey, and Bryan Davis.

Gillispie adjusted defensively in the second half, sagging his troops back into a soft zone that dared the Horns to shoot over it. And they did, abandoning the gameplan of attacking the rim and drawing fouls. Texas did manage to grab a brief 58-57 lead at the 14-minute mark, but the change protected the Ags’ key players from more foul trouble and bought them valuable minutes on the floor.

In the end, the Texas defense was exposed on a night where they gave up 100 points for the first time in a regulation game during the nine-year Rick Barnes era. (The previous high was the 95 points put up by ‘Melo and Syracuse in the 2003 Final Four.) When the Horns were trying to make a comeback, they were allowing easy transition buckets and wide open shots in the paint. Granted, their shots weren’t falling on the offensive end either, but the complete lack of late-game defense made any hopes for a miracle foolish.

The lack of depth on the team really showed, and is likely a reason that the late-game defense is such a problem. Our guys are constantly gassed in the most important minutes of the game, and it was obvious that they were tired and overwhelmed as the game wore on. Dexter Pittman gave some key minutes inside, and Connor Atchley continued to exceed expectations. But three of our starters played 39 or 40 minutes, and have done so in most of the games. It’s killing the team late in games, and could really be a huge problem when tournament play rolls around and the team is expected to play multiple games in the span of only a few days.

The return of Matt Hill from a foot injury will definitely help things, but does not really alleviate the pressure and strain on the guards. It will be possible to go with a bigger lineup if Barnes is so inclined, allowing him to rotate in a pair of guards from the Abrams-Augustin-Mason troika. But honestly, without Augustin on the floor, the offense grinds to a halt. J.D. Lewis is not a point guard, and Abrams is made to play the 2-guard. I don’t think there’s an easy answer to the problem, or that there is necessarily an answer at all. It’s really more like a game of Jenga where the pieces will always eventually tumble; it’s just a matter of choosing the right moves to make it hold together as long as possible.

All of this is not to say that there weren’t positive things in Monday night’s game. Kevin Durant was again spectacular, logging a 28-and-15 game for his fourteenth double-double on the year, a new school record. He did force some shots when the team got behind late in the game, but that was the least of the team’s concerns at that point. Augustin also played extraordinarily well, as the attack-the-rim gameplan fit his style perfectly. D.J. got to the line thirteen times and hit twelve of his attempts, finishing the game with 23 points and nine assists.

The scary thought is that the season as a whole could mirror the game on Monday night. Texas started out rough, dropping a game to Michigan State, barely beating St. John’s, and getting destroyed by Gonzaga in the most lopsided ten-point game ever seen. The middle of the year showed promise, just like the valiant comeback by the Horns in College Station. But Texas has lost four of their last seven and has a brutal three-game stretch to finish the year. They will need to refocus, take at least three of the next four games, and find a way to address the depth problems that have plagued them all season long. The thought of a tired, sapped squad playing road games in Norman and Lawrence is not a welcome one.

A horrible Iowa State team comes to Austin on Saturday, and it provides a good opportunity for Texas to bounce back and get on track for the homestretch of the season. Later this week, I’ll take a closer look at our defensive woes by examining the last two games in depth, and will break down the remainder of the conference race. If time allows, I’ll try to explore the NCAA situation as it pertains to the Horns.

In the meantime, buy some tickets for the game with the Cyclones on Saturday and I’ll see you at the Drum.

Tip: 8 PM, ESPN

Remember the year that A&M went 0-for-conference? Or how about a little more recently, when Coach Billy Gillispie had to grind out defensive wins in low-scoring games that ended up in the 40s or 50s? Forget about all of that. It’s ancient history at this point. The A&M team that is going to take the court tonight against the Texas Longhorns is a legit Final Four contender.

Texas A&M (19-3 overall, 7-1 Big 12) is coming into the game riding the biggest win in their school’s history, a last-minute victory on the road in Lawrence, Kansas. That triumph vaulted them into sole possession of first place and may have finally awoken the national media to the elite basketball team that Gillispie has quietly been building in College Station.

Looking at Ken Pomeroy’s statistical rankings, Texas A&M is one of only two teams that can claim a top-ten ranking in both defensive and offensive efficiency. The other? Perennial powerhouse North Carolina. If you crunch the numbers, the Aggies are enjoying a +36.5 efficiency margin, meaning they outscore their opponents by that number per 100 possessions.

Texas (16-6, 6-2) is going to have fits with big man Joseph Jones. Last year in Austin, Jones scored 31 points before fouling out late in the game. That ridiculous performance was against a Longhorn team that sported LaMarcus Aldridge and Brad Buckman inside. This smaller Texas squad is definitely going to have its hands full. Look for Barnes to employ the 2-3 zone that shut down LSU big man Glen Davis in an effort to deny Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas the ball inside.

Of course, that 2-3 zone leaves the Horns susceptible to the three-point shot, as Kansas State so adeptly demonstrated on Saturday afternoon. For A&M, that will mean that Josh Carter and Acie Law XIVLCIII will have to shoot us out of it. (Or not, if we prefer to allow them 14 three-pointers.) Carter is hitting at 50% so far this year from behind the arc, so if he is on his game it could be a long night. Barnes may toy with putting Durant out on the perimeter in the zone, not only to protect against foul trouble, but also to actually get the pressure on shooters that was lacking Saturday.

Law is also one of the more underrated point guards in the country, and he can certainly penetrate and dish to the open man on the perimeter, or to the open big underneath if the help defense collapses. He is a huge part of A&M’s success thus far, and the LSU loss highlighted that fact. Law was 1-for-11 that night, and the Tigers absolutely blew them out, finishing with a 12-point win.

One of the most striking things about this A&M team is how much their offense has improved since just last season. Dominique Kirk is honestly only a fifth option for the Ags, yet he still manages nearly seven points a game while dishing out three assists. Everybody on this team contributes, and that can be bad news for a Texas team that likes to mysteriously lose a man on defense.

For the Horns, KD is going to be key, as always. If he isn’t scoring at least 25 points, Texas doesn’t stand a chance. Fortunately, his skill set allows him to score even when double and triple-teamed. (See: Oklahoma State, January 2007.) He can shoot the three over their tough defense, and should open up some of our other players just by drawing the extra attention from their defense.

Even with Durant, the Horns will need all of the other players to work within their roles. A.J. Abrams has to limit himself to a catch-and-shoot mentality, and needs to flash out to the perimeter quicker on defense. Justin Mason must continue to provide good D while occassionally adding a nice layup or three-pointer. Connor Atchley needs a fourth-straight big game on the glass against the bigger, tougher Aggie team. The same goes for Damion James, although a modicum of offense from the big guy would be a nice bonus. And D.J. Augustin is going to have to break down the Aggie defense, limit his turnovers against their pressure, and not force the ball inside when the passing lanes aren’t there.

All told, it’s a very tall order. I think that Texas can hang with A&M, but won’t be able to overcome a well-coached team playing in front of a rabid fanbase. Aggies take this one and continue their march through the Big 12, but Texas keeps it within ten.

Mark Rosner has some good ink in the Austin-American Statesman today on fan favorite Dexter Pittman. As always, Todd Wright is given a ton of credit and the requisite McDonald’s joke is thrown in.

It’s great seeing Dexter getting all the love from the media and the fans. There’s no doubt that Kevin Durant is the superstar on this team, but Big Dex is by far my favorite player. He works his tail off — obviously, considering his huge weight loss — and has a really great attitude about it all. From the moment I met him this summer, he has been the nicest and most gracious UT athlete I’ve known.

He’s been called Dex-a-trim by someone on the UT athletic department publicity staff, Dex Armstong because he spent so much time on exercise bikes, and Sexy Dexy by coeds he knows.

Oddly enough, no mention of the newest Pittman nickname, “winDex.” He does clean the glass, after all. I can smell the NBA endorsements now.

Rosner also notes that Pittman played on the same AAU team in Houston as A&M star Joseph Jones. The two might get a chance to tangle tonight, although it might be best for the Horns to avoid playing Dexter for too long. I’ll get into that in more depth on my game preview in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, check out the article at Statesman.com.

Kevin Durant scored 32 against the Wildcats

On Saturday afternoon, the Texas Longhorns lost at the Frank Erwin Center for the first time since December of 2005, falling to the Kansas State Wildcats, 73-72. The loss snapped a 22-game home winning streak and dropped the Longhorns into a three-way tie for second in the conference with the Wildcats and Kansas.

A home loss to a team playing without its biggest star is a tough pill to swallow. And Texas certainly should have won this game. Unfortunately, that means that the good things the Horns did are going to be overshadowed by the final score. I’ll get to what they did well, but first let’s get the depressing stuff out of the way.

Kansas State came into the game shooting 31% from behind the arc. The three-point shot was such a small part of their overall success, I didn’t even touch on it in the game preview. But the Wildcats got absolutely scorching hot from three-point range in this game, and it made all the difference in the world. K-State hit 51.9% of the threes they took, and those treys made up a whopping 42 of their 73 points. Unreal.

While you don’t want to take anything away from a team that is shooting that well, some attention has to be paid to the atrocious defense Texas displayed against the outside shooters. For much of the game, the Horns were married to a zone defense. Typically, when a team shoots well from outside, it will cause the opponent to switch to a man scheme in order to cut down on the open looks. But thanks to the foul trouble plaguing point guard D.J. Augustin, Coach Barnes had to stick with the zone for longer than was probably prudent.

Of course, the threes that K-State was knocking down in the final minutes of the game were coming against a man defense, so it may have been “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” for the Texas D on Saturday. But there were still a ton of wide open looks that allowed really hot shooters to take all day when launching the threes. That’s a recipe for disaster, and the Horns will need to flash out on shooters much faster in the future if they want to avoid the same kind of problem.

A.J. Abrams had another rough game, going 2-for-16 from the field. One of those buckets was a three-pointer, and the other was a floater over the K-State bigs. But among those fourteen misses were a ton of other floaters, including one airball on the next-to-last possession that Kevin Durant was fortunate enough to see fall into his lap.

The guys over at Burnt Orange Nation addressed the “A.J. problem” last week in a painfully accurate entry. Abrams is great when he comes off of curls and takes a quick shot. When he’s hitting those threes, he’s content to stay in that role. But when he’s not getting those looks, or the shots aren’t falling — look out. He’ll dribble back from high screens or trying to take ridiculous floaters against guys a foot and a half taller than him, and that’s hurting the offense.

Abrams is a 90% free throw shooter on the year, so I have no problem with him driving to the basket — if he’s going to draw the foul and get to the line. But tossing up a running floater over a big guy is not exactly a high-percentage look. And as long as he’s taking shots like that, there is absolutely no reason that he should be playing more minutes than Kevin Durant. You read that correctly — Mr. 2-for-16 Abrams played more than 13-for-21, Player-of-the-Year candidate, future lottery pick Kevin Durant. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

As always, KD was a bright spot for the Horns. Sure, he was the reason that K-State had an open look for the go-ahead three. But without his 32 points, Texas isn’t even in the game with the lights-out Wildcat shooters. Durant just missed his fourteenth double-double on the year, falling one rebound short with nine. And in one insane series midway through the second half, he blocked three shots on the same possession.

The best story of the conference season has to be Connor Atchley. On Saturday, he turned in his third-straight solid game for Barnes, securing eight rebounds and blocking five shots. Yes, this is the same Connor Atchley we’ve had on our bench this season, but now he is a key role player for this team. His defense is miles beyond where it was last season and even in the earliest games of this year. He is getting better position on rebounds, and he’s still setting great screens to get the offense going. Combining Atchley’s surge with the problems A.J. has been facing, I would not mind seeing a bigger lineup on the floor for Texas a little more often in order to get Connor some more minutes.

Honestly, I’d rather not dig any further into this loss than that. The Horns took on a team that was playing absolutely out of their minds and still only lost by a point. If Kansas State shoots only 40% from three-point range — still a full 9% above their season average — Texas wins by ten. And honestly, by season’s end Kansas State could easily be one of the teams earning a first-round bye in the conference tournament. They enjoy the same “north” scheduling as Kansas, which means two games each against Colorado, Iowa State, and Nebraska. While it’s a frustrating loss to be sure, it might not look quite as bad by Selection Sunday.

Now the Longhorns must quickly put this one in the rearview mirror, as they certainly have their work cut out for them less than 24 hours from now in College Station. Maintaining focus is key; a 20-win season and a ninth consecutive NCAA berth are still well within reach.

Tip: 2:30 PM, ABC

It’s a chilly 32 degrees outside the Erwin Center, but inside my tent I’m cooking up a hot and fresh game preview. That was a pretty shitty lead, but then again, I can’t really feel my toes.

Today’s game is being called a split national telecast, but come on. It’s two games being shown regionally. And, according to this coverage map, Alaska and Hawaii are smack in the middle of the North Carolina region. Allllllrighty.

At the helm for Kansas State is infamous coach Bob Huggins. Love him or hate him, he’s the sports story of the year in Kansas and he’s gotten interest in Wildcat hoops back on the rise. One of six new coaches in the Big 12, Huggy Bear is planning to threaten the Jayhawks’ dominance in the near future. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen this year, but with his squad at 5-2 in conference play, they are already competing for a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

The Wildcats play a style of ball similar to Billy Gillispie’s Aggies and are going to look to force the game into a physical, defensive battle. If Texas gets stuck settling for half-court sets, they will playing right into their opponent’s hands. Burnt Orange Nation took a look at Ken Pomeroy’s statistical analysis earlier this week to quantitatively show the things we’ve been seeing all along, including our reliance on transition and the need to stay away from that half-court game.

Fans of Texas basketball will remember K-State’s Cartier Martin, if only because the announcers of last year’s game said his name more times than they showed Jim Woolridge flailing aroud in his neck brace. This year, Martin is a sixth-man for the purple and grey, and is still just as effective. He is scoring 15.8 points in his nine games coming off the pine and is giving Huggins roughly 27 minutes a game.

For the past five games, the Wildcats have sported the same starting lineup — guards Clent Stewart, Lance Harris, Akeem Wright, and forwards David Hoskins and Luis Colon. Despite only starting two big men, K-State is third in the conference in rebounding advantage (+5.4). Although Texas leads the league in this category, this is going to be one of the toughest battles on the glass that the Horns have had thus far.

Hoskins and Martin are the key men on offense, according to Ken Pomeroy’s metrics. They combine to end possessions for the ‘Cats over 50 percent of the time, which indicates their importance to the (admittedly) anemic offense. Granted, K-State’s offense has seen an upswing with the recent stability of their starting lineup, but this is definitely a team that relies on their defense.

In their current six-game winning streak, the Wildcats are holding opponents to an average of 59 points per game. They are holding league foes to a 39.7 shooting percentage, good enough for fourth in the conference. As earlier stated, Texas cannot afford to let the score stay as low as Kansas State wants.

In the middle, freshman big man Jason Bennett towers over the lane at 7-foot, 3-inches. In only 13.6 minutes per game, he’s averaging 2.3 blocks. If our guards try to penetrate against this guy, we might have a few balls rejected into the mezzanine.

While I’d love to see Big Dex play against this good rebounding squad, I’m not sure he can keep up with the pace we’re going to want. If we can get three to four minutes out of him per half and utilize him inside during those stretches, he will have done his part. Damion James and Connor Atchley are going to have to step up and stop Martin and Colon, while getting the offensive rebounds to keep our possessions alive.

A quick recap of the keys to the game:

Play our tempo – The half-court set does nothing for Texas, particularly in these next two games against defensive-minded opponents. The Horns need to have a good transition game and also keep the Wildcats from capitalizing on their own turnovers.

Fight on the boards – This is particularly important on the offensive end, because K-State is going to likely force more misses from the Horns than they are used to. They’ll need to be nails on the offensive glass if they want to get the second- and third-chance points they’ll need.

Draw fouls – D.J. Augustin and Kevin Durant are particularly effective at getting to the rack and then the line. With Kansas State’s physical style of play, the Horns need to try to take advantage of the home-court whistles and get the key Wildcat players on the bench in foul trouble.

Tip is at a little after 2:30 on ABC, but there’s still activity at the ticket window on Red River. So buy up some mezzanine tickets, pack the Drum, and let’s send Huggy Bear back home with a loss — where he can continue to not graduate his players.