On Saturday night, Texas fans got their first taste of the nausea and heartburn caused by rooting for a young, inexperienced team. In the semifinals of the TicketCity Legends Classic, the Longhorns failed to execute in the final minutes, allowing Oregon State to force overtime and eventually escape with a 100-95 win.

The team had little time to dwell on the loss, as less than 48 hours later they square off against a formidable NC State team in the consolation game. The Wolfpack was expected to be rebuilding this year under new coach Mark Gottfried, but have looked impressive in the first two weeks of the season and could make some noise in a top-heavy ACC this year.

By the numbers

NC State has been an enigmatic team so far this year, as suspensions and injuries have made it difficult for Coach Gottfried to find his optimal lineup. He’s utilized seven different starters so far this year, and it’s just a matter of time until sophomore star C.J. Leslie ups that number to eight with his first appearance in the starting five.

The Wolfpack’s strength lies in a talented frontcourt, which allows them to grab nearly 40% of their missed shots and score at will in and around the paint. NC State is shooting 57.1% from inside the arc, with 166 of their 314 points (52.9%) coming in the paint. It’s not just the big men putting back missed shots, though, as the guards and wings are incredibly adept at drawing the defense with penetration and dumping it underneath or kicking it out for open midrange jumpers.

Defensively, the team’s two weaknesses are perimeter defense and a tendency to send opponents to the free throw line. Fortunately for the Longhorns, they have been solid this season both behind the arc and at the charity stripe. Wolfpack opponents are shooting 42.9% from long range and have made at least eight three-pointers in every game.

The Wolfpack also has a defensive free-throw rate that ranks in the bottom third of D-I hoops. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are in the top 75 offensively in that category, so they could find success today by being aggressive with the dribble and attacking the defense. That approach could yield twice the success, as it not only would pile up the points, but also could put the Wolfpack bigs in foul trouble and level the playing field.

Meet the Wolfpack

The floor general for NC State is sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown, who was recruited as a shooting guard but has made a smooth transition to lead ballhandler. He still scores at will as his 11.8-point scoring average attests, but his 7-plus assists per game keep the offense clicking. Brown’s assist rate of 35.8% is currently second in the ACC, behind only UNC’s Kendall Marshall.

The true star of the team, though, is sophomore sensation C.J. Leslie, who made his debut against Vanderbilt on Saturday night. Leslie’s season started late as a result of receiving $410 in impermissible benefits, which he had to repay to charity. The NCAA dinged the sophomore for accepting $260 from a student so his brother could pay the application fee for an apartment and for borrowing another student’s car for a week, which the NCAA figured would have cost $150 as a rental.

With three games to cool his heels and watch the team, Leslie was ready to go against the ‘Dores. He scored 20 points in 27 minutes off the bench, shooting a blazing 77.8% from the field. The 6’8″ forward and McDonald’s All-American is a truly elite talent, but might not be quite up to game shape yet. In the final minutes of the loss to Vanderbilt, Leslie cramped up and had to leave the game temporarily to down fluids and get stretched out on the sideline.

Senior wing C.J. Williams is known for his defensive tenacity, but he’s still averaging 11 points per game so far this season. With former point guard Ryan Harrow’s transfer to Kentucky, Williams also gives Coach Gottfried another ballhandler to compliment Brown. He also does a solid job rebounding from the wing, as his 17 boards are third-best on the team.

The leader in that department is junior Richard Howell. He’s currently averaging a double-double for the Wolfpack, scoring 16.3 points per game to go with 10.3 rebounds. Conditioning issues limited his minutes last season, so the 6’8″ big man dropped 15 pounds in the offseason and has seen his playing time increase to more than 27 minutes per game this season.

Joining Howell inside is fellow junior DeShawn Painter. The 6’9″ center can stretch out the defense with a solid midrange jump shot and has even knocked down a couple from just inside the arc earlier this year. Down low, he’s especially good at sealing off his defender and immediately demanding the ball. The versatile Painter will prove to be a very difficult matchup for the Longhorns tonight.

Another player who can stretch the defense is Indiana native Scott Wood. He started three games before spraining his ankle in a win over Princeton on Wednesday and was forced to sit out against Vanderbilt on Saturday night. His status for tonight’s game is unknown, but if he is on the court, Texas will have to stick to him like glue. Wood made more than 40% of his looks from beyond the arc last season, and was an incredible 58.3% from long range before his injury this year.

NC State has a solid reserve guard in Alex Johnson, a transfer from Cal State Bakersfield who is eligible to play immediately as a graduate student. He brings hard-nosed defense to the team and gives the coaching staff another quality ballhandler to spell Brown. The experienced 5’10” guard is playing more than 30 minutes a game despite coming off the bench in all four games, and his quick hands have logged six steals so far.

Freshman forward Tyler Harris is slowly adjusting to the college game, but he has a lot to prove tonight in front of his friends from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey. The younger brother of former Tennessee star Tobias Harris, Tyler is a good outside shooter, but has looked uncomfortable so far this year. He’s bound to have a breakthrough game soon, so the ‘Horns will have to hope it doesn’t come against them.

The final piece of the core rotation is seven-footer Jordan Vandenberg. The Australian import is still a little raw and his lateral movement is slow and choppy on defense, but his height is an undeniable game changer. When he plays solid defense and stands tall, opponents have a very, very difficult time scoring in the post.

Vandenberg will have another frontcourt reserve joining him tonight, as NC State announced this afternoon that Belgian product Thomas de Thaey‘s amateur certification has been cleared by the NCAA and he will be available against Texas. The 6’8″ big man adds even more depth and size to the Wolfpack roster.

Finally, it’s also worth noting that NC State has one of the best-named, seldom-used players in the country with Staats Battle, whose name sounds like a Swedish advertisement for a throwdown between Ken Pomeroy and John Gasaway.

Keys to the game

1) Limit interior scoring – If Wood is back in action tonight, this will be a very tough task for the Longhorns. His three-point prowess stretches the defense and opens things up inside for the talented NC State frontcourt. Without Wood, however, the Pack becomes much more one-dimensional. Take away his 58.3% mark from behind the arc, and NC State is just 24.5% from three-point range. Without that threat, Texas will be free to zone the Wolfpack, but will have to communicate very well, as NC State moves the ball quickly.

2) Minimize second-chance points – Defensive rebounding has been a glaring issue for the Longhorns through the first three games, and unfortunately the solid NCSU frontcourt does a great job of getting back their missed shots. The Wolfpack reclaimed at least 39% of their missed shots in each of their three wins, but struggled when Vanderbilt kept them off the glass. Gottfried was frustrated by the contact inside, and it was clear his team was too. Texas will certainly not be as successful as Vanderbilt was, but if they can limit the damage from extended possessions, it will only help their chances tonight.

3) Keep J’Covan Brown involved – Brown had a tough second half and overtime against Oregon State, scoring just eight of his 25 points during that stretch. When he’s on his game and lighting up the scoreboard, the rest of the team is also elevated. Defenses have to sell out to stop his drives, which has allowed him to dish out a team-leading 23 assists. Texas must work to keep him involved for the entire 40 minutes tonight.

Keeping up with the game

As it was on Saturday night, this one is airing exclusively on Longhorn Network and streaming online at ESPN3.com. If you don’t have either of those options available to you (or you just want additional commentary), you can also follow along with our live updates from the IZOD Center via Twitter @LonghornRdTrip.

The Longhorns had a fresh-faced 23-year old on the bench Saturday night. He sat with graduate assistants Connor Atchley, Royal Ivey, and Chris Mihm. He listened in from the back of team huddles. He even pulled freshman point guard Myck Kabongo aside for a few quick pointers. About the only thing Kevin Durant didn’t do at the IZOD Center last night was check into the ballgame. Coach Rick Barnes probably wishes that the NBA superstar could have.

With the most famous face of the Texas basketball program looking on, this year’s young batch of Longhorns surrendered a late lead and lost to Oregon State in overtime, 100-95, in the semifinals of the TicketCity Legends Classic. It was a script that likely seemed all too familiar for Durant, as his 2006-07 Texas squad lost their own November tournament semifinal to Michigan State on a last-second shot from Drew Neitzel.

For this year’s team, the well-known weaknesses of depth and rebounding came home to roost. Five Longhorns fouled out in the game, forcing little-used walk-on Andrew Dick to check in for action in the final seconds of action.

Unfortunately, it never had to come to that point. The Longhorns had the game in hand with less than 30 seconds left. Up by two points, J’Covan Brown missed a three as the shot clock expired and managed to race across the top of the key to secure his own rebound. But as he dribbled towards the left wing to await the inevitable foul, Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham stripped him from behind and flipped the ball to a teammate as he fell out of bounds.

Cunningham knocked down three of four from the line in the game’s final 18 seconds, while Kabongo made one of two and had his potential game-winning layup blocked at the regulation buzzer. The Longhorns would take an early lead in overtime, but the ensuing 9-0 push from the Beavers proved to be the difference in the game.

Wilting under the pressure of the final few minutes underscores the youth of this team. Players are still defining their roles, and no one seemed prepared to step up and be the leader in the clutch. Fortunately the season is a long one, and the Longhorns have many months to grow.

What looked good

In the first half, the Texas offense was humming. They moved the ball crisply around the perimeter and on kickouts off of the drive. The Longhorns were 6-for-12 from behind the arc in the first half, but strayed from the long ball after half. Texas shot just three three-pointers in the second half as Oregon State whittled away the five-point Texas lead.

Brown was again the star for Texas, just missing a double-double with 25 points and nine assists. He created shots for himself and for teammates with penetration, piling up the dimes with easy drop offs to the bigs underneath when the defense collapsed on him. There were still times that the junior guard tried to force things and play one-on-five, but Texas fans have to be happy with Brown’s commitment to finding his open teammates this season.

Brown was not the only one creating shots. Sheldon McClellan looked very confident with the ball, proving that he can put it on the floor and knife through the defense for good looks. Despite coming off the bench, McClellan scored 12 points on 56% shooting and grabbed five rebounds.

Jonathan Holmes also did a good job on the boards, snagging five in his 21 minutes of play. Unfortunately, his playing time was limited by foul trouble, an issue that dogged the entire Texas lineup all night.

The Longhorns also continued their success at the free throw line, knocking down 73.3% of their attempts. Texas will likely find themselves in a lot of close games this season, and every single point will be huge. Some fans might point to the eight missed free throws in this game and bemoan missed opportunity, but the overall trend is much more important than dwelling a few single shots. These new-look Longhorns are more than 11 percentage points better at the line than last year’s squad.

Fans can also take solace in the fact that Texas actually won the rebounding battle and did a solid job on the offensive glass. The Longhorns reclaimed 47.5% of their misses, a massive improvement over their first two games. The offense has been highly efficient through three games, and if they can build on this success on the glass and continue to extend possessions, it will only make them even tougher to stop.

What needed work

While the offensive rebounding was solid, Texas still had a terrible time on the defensive glass. They allowed the Beavers to grab 43% of their missed shots, leading to 26 second-chance points. Time and again the Longhorns let balls come off the weak side and fall into the hands of a waiting Oregon State player for an easy putback.

Most troubling about the continued issues on the defensive glass is that Texas struggles regardless of the opponent. The Beavers were a very average offensive rebounding team in their first three games, but absolutely obliterated their previous season high with their performance against Texas.

A big reason for Oregon State’s success was that Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman were practically non-existant on the glass, combining for only six rebounds in 42 minutes on the floor. Although they were the beneficiaries of the Texas drive-and-dish attack, scoring 17 combined points, they absolutely have to show up on the glass if Texas wants to find success this season. With games against intimidating frontlines like UCLA and North Carolina still to come, the Longhorn bigs have their work cut out for them.

Texas also looked wild and out of control at many points in the game. The Longhorns have proven to be a run-and-gun team so far this season, but didn’t have any issues handling the ball in their first two wins. Against the Beavers, however, they coughed it up 23 times, which equated to miscues on 28% of their possessions. Kabongo actually turned it over five times against just three assists.

Freshman Sterling Gibbs had the most trouble hanging on to the basketball. He absolutely froze against the Oregon State pressure, twice dribbling himself right into traps. He turned it over three times in just three minutes of play, including an inexplicable one in the final seconds of the game where he simply dribbled it out of bounds. Gibbs did have a couple of key buckets during the team’s late comeback bid in overtime, but he’s going to spend much of the year on the bench if he can’t hang on to the ball.

Jaylen Bond also had a rough night, and it all stemmed from problems on defense. He couldn’t seem to keep any of the Beavers in front of him, and was constantly drawing whistles by hacking from behind the play. He only played 22 minutes and still managed to foul out.

Cunningham played out of his mind for Oregon State, and Texas could do little to stop him. He scored 37 points, earning 20 of them in 23 trips to the line. Unfortunately, Texas is going to have trouble with strong, slashing players like him all season long. The guards and wings were picking up tons of whistles trying to contain Cunningham, and UT actually switched to a zone defense to limit the foul trouble. That led to too many open looks for their shooters — who fortunately made only two threes in the second half — as Texas’ closeouts weren’t very quick.

It’s also concerning that while Brown played with fire and intensity early, he disappeared for the second half and overtime. He had only eight points in the final 25 minutes of the game, and was clearly frustrated as the game came down the stretch. He yelled at McClellan for not passing the ball on one possession and had to be calmed down by Kabongo. Brown and Kabongo also appeared to squabble over who should be handling the ball on a later possession. With such a young team, Brown is going to need to be a leader, so he cannot afford to be petulant when he’s struggling.

All told, it was a tough loss to swallow, as the Longhorns were just seconds away from victory and have an even tougher task awaiting them in the form of NC State on Monday. There were a lot of teachable moments in the game and Coach Barnes will certainly take full advantage of building on them. But teams can learn from close wins just as much as they can from close losses, and for a team that might be sweating the bubble in March, this November win would have been huge.

The young Texas Longhorns looked impressive in their first week of action, knocking off a pair of solid mid-major teams in Boston University and Rhode Island. The Longhorns proved versatile in their two wins, using stifling defense to knock off the Terriers, while the Rams forced them to win a high-scoring duel.

With action in the Legends Classic now moving to the championship rounds in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the opponents change from mid-majors to major conference foes. Texas landed the most-favorable draw, getting the chance to square off with rebuilding Oregon State in the semifinals.

The Beavers are led by fourth-year coach Craig Robinson, who immediately won favor in Corvallis by turning a 6-25 Oregon State team into 18-game winners in his first season on the job. Since then, the results have been less impressive. Robinson’s record in years two and three was just 25-38, and that came in a time period when the Pac-10 Conference was on a downslide.

This year, Oregon State has avoided any early-season stumbles, knocking off Hofstra and Cal-State Bakersfield along with D-II West Alabama. With the rest of their non-conference slate peppered with the likes of Chicago State and Towson, tonight’s game against the Longhorns is one of the few chances the Beavers have to prove that they’ve turned a corner with a win against quality competition.

By the numbers

With the Longhorns coming off a high-scoring win over Rhode Island, they will be very prepared for the up-tempo style of Oregon State. The Beavers have had at least 71 possessions in all three of their games so far, and their adjusted tempo of 71.2 possessions per 40 minutes against D-I opponents is one of the fastest in the nation. Texas has shown it is willing to get out and run, so we are likely in store for another fun, offensive showcase again tonight.

Defensively, the most glaring number for Oregon State is a 40% success rate for opponents behind the arc. This Texas team is full of long-range sharpshooters, so the Beavers will have to improve their perimeter defense. The Longhorns have connected on 42.6% of their threes so far, led by Julien Lewis (7-for-14) and J’Covan Brown (8-for-19). If either of those two are allowed free reign behind the arc, the Longhorns could win this one running away.

Another area of concern for the Oregon State defense is their propensity to send opponents to the line. Oregon State’s defensive free throw rate (measured as free throw attempts divided by field goal attempts) against D-I opponents is just a shade under 60%, putting the team among the worst 25 teams in the country in that category.

Texas made hay at the free throw line against Rhode Island, taking a whopping 44 attempts at the line. If Oregon State continues its trend of handing out free throws like candy, look for the Horns to once again manufacture a lot of points at the line tonight.

While the Beavers have sent opponents to the stripe quite often, they have at least evened things out by taking a bunch of free throws of their own. Their own free-throw rate is an incredible 74.5%, which was ninth-best in D-I hoops heading into today’s games. With that kind of aggressive play from the Oregon State offense, there is a strong possibility of interior foul trouble for Texas, which is cause for concern with such a thin frontcourt.

Meet the Beavers

The leading scorer for Oregon State is 6’4″ junior guard Jared Cunningham. Known best for his authoritative putback dunk against Arizona last season, he has exploded out of the gate this year with a flurry of points. On Wednesday night, he dropped 35 on Hofstra and is averaging more than 22 per game so far.

Joining Cunningham in the backcourt is tiny sophomore Ahmad Starks, who is averaging 10 points per game. At just 5’9″, the speedy Chicago product easily weaves through traffic with the ball and showed some skill from behind the arc in last year’s Pac-10 tournament. That long-range success hasn’t carried over into this season, though, as Starks is just 3-for-13 on his three-point attempts so far.

Forward Devon Collier will be playing in front of family and friends tonight, as the Izod Center is just a short ride from his hometown of the Bronx. In the offseason, he tried out for the Puerto Rican national team, and the experience against top-flight talent appears to have paid off. After averaging just seven points per game last season, the 6’8″ sophomore has averaged 15.7 so far this year.

Junior Joe Burton is a great passing forward, and his great court vision actually has him leading the team in assists. Listed at 6’7″, 280 pounds, Burton is a load to handle on defense, and that extra attention has allowed him to dish out 21 assists in three games to go with his 35 points. The Longhorns will have to make sure they keep an eye on the cutters when Burton has the ball in his hands, or they will likely give up a few easy buckets.

In the middle, Australian center Angus Brandt rounds out the starting five for Coach Robinson. Like Collier, Brandt added some international experience this summer, representing his country in the World University Games in China. His minutes have been limited so far this season thanks to foul trouble, but Brandt is still providing eight points and nearly three rebounds per game while averaging just 16 minutes.

With Brandt spending more time on the bench, redshirt freshman Eric Moreland has had to pick up the slack. A native of Missouri City, Texas, Moreland is tied for the team lead in rebounds despite not earning a single start. In addition to his skills on the glass, the big man is also known for stout defense, and he’s chipped in two blocks and three steals so far this year.

Along with Moreland, the Beavers are getting quality bench minutes from sophomore guard Roberto Nelson. Although he has just 15 points through the first three games, he showed flashes of his scoring prowess down the stretch last season. While playing a full 40 minutes against Arizona State last season, Nelson dropped 34 points on the Sun Devils, and he logged another 12 off the bench against Stanford in late February.

Senior forward Kevin McShane is the final player in Oregon State’s core rotation, a position he earned after three years as a walk-on. Now a scholarship player, McShane has played nearly 15 minutes per game this season and is currently the team’s third-best rebounder.

In addition to the eight-man rotation, Coach Robinson has also used Challe Barton and Rhys Murphy for short stints. The pair average a combined 18 minutes and eight points per game off the bench. Barton, a 6’3″ freshman guard from Sweden, has appeared in all three games. Murphy — a 6’7″ slasher with a solid three-point shot — did not play in the team’s most recent game against Hofstra.

Keys to the game

1) Control the defensive glass – The Longhorns are currently one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to limiting offensive rebounds. Texas reclaims just 41.9% of their opponents misses, which leads to far too many extended possessions on defense. Fortunately, the Beavers haven’t had much success with their own offensive boards so far, grabbing less than 30% of their own misses. This might be the perfect recipe for Texas to get some confidence on the glass.

2) Hang on to the ball – Texas has done a great job controlling the ball in its first two games, turning it over on just 14% of their possessions. Oregon State likes to push the tempo, and it typically leads to miscues from their opponents. So far, the Beaver defense is ranked 33rd in turnover percentage, forcing their two D-I opponents into mistakes on 27.9% of their possessions. The young Longhorns cannot afford to get sloppy against a team that will capitalize.

3) Knock down the threes – Oregon State’s defense has had issues guarding the perimeter, while the Longhorns have been strong from long range so far. Texas should get its share of quality looks from outside, so Brown, Lewis, and the rest of the Longhorns need to take advantage of that weakness and knock down the triples.

A final note

Texas will be playing in the second game of a doubleheader tonight, so a start right at 8 P.M. Central is unlikely. Texas and Oregon State will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of the Vanderbilt/NC State game, so give some extra time at the end of those DVR recordings.

Of course, only those with the Longhorn Network can record tonight’s game on their DVRs. For many fans in Austin and other parts of Texas, that means Craig Way and the internet are their only options for keeping up with the Horns tonight. Fans can watch online at ESPN3.com, and can also follow our live updates from the Izod Center via Twitter @LonghornRdTrip.

When six freshmen make up the majority of your roster, you’re bound to have some growing pains. Texas coach Rick Barnes might not have expected them to happen so soon, however. His Longhorns made it interesting against Rhode Island yesterday afternoon, building and then conceding a 17-point lead before finally finishing off the Rams, 100-90.

Texas fans were able to see brief glimpses of their team’s problem areas in a thoroughly dominating win over Boston University on Sunday, but the flaws came out in full force as the Horns slowly gave up their double-digit lead against Rhode Island. Poor rebounding, failure to control the ball, and a cold spell from long range allowed Rhode Island to erase that 17-point deficit and briefly claim a 59-58 lead early in the second half. Fortunately, the backcourt of J’Covan Brown and Myck Kabongo took charge and attacked a pesky Rhode Island defense, guiding Texas to the win.

What looked good

After tying his career high with 28 points against Boston, Brown upped the ante with an impressive 35-point performance against the Rams. He was 5-of-10 from behind the arc and earned 10 points at the line by pressuring the aggressive Rhode Island D with dribble penetration.

But while his epic scoring totals are impressive, Brown’s assist numbers are just as important. J’Covan dished out six assists, giving him 14 on the season. Opponents are going to be keying on the junior guard this season, so it’s a good sign that he is already looking for and finding his open teammates. When other teams start throwing double teams at Brown, he’ll have to make them pay with timely passes.

The Longhorns also found a spark in freshman Jaylen Bond. When the team was having difficulties on the glass, he simply went out and got the basketball. Bond showed nice hops and ripped his rebounds out of the air, not allowing the ball bounce to around like many of his teammates have been. In just 17 minutes on the floor, the freshman secured six rebounds, four of them on the defensive end.

The team leader in rebounding was Clint Chapman, who grabbed eight boards on the afternoon. He also showed a little more agility with the ball than fans have seen in past seasons, unveiling a few nice face-up offensive moves. He finished with seven points, which is really all that Texas can expect at this point from the big man. While he still was beat for some rebounds that he should have controlled, overall it was a satisfactory performance.

On the perimeter, Julien Lewis picked up right where he left off, knocking down a triple to open the scoring for Texas. He took one ill-advised three early in the first half and was promptly removed and talked to by Barnes, but he learned from the mistake and stuck to open looks the rest of the way. Lewis finished 3-for-7 from long range, giving him a cool 50% success rate for the season.

Texas also found success at the free-throw stripe, a welcome sight for fans used to seeing the team struggle there in recent years. The team earned a whopping 44 free throw attempts and missed only nine of them. Bond and Jonathan Holmes, who didn’t make any trips to the line in the season opener, combined to go 9-for-10.

Not only are Horns knocking down 78.6% of their free throws so far this year, they showed great awareness in getting there against Rhode Island. With the refs calling a very tight game and the Rams playing even tighter defense, the guards put the ball on the floor and drew a hefty share of fouls all the way out on the perimeter. As a result, Texas’ free-throw rate — measured as free throw attempts per field goal attempts — was a ridiculous 74.6%. For comparison, last year’s national leaders at Northwestern State posted a 50.6% FTR.

What needed work

Unfortunately, Texas made this game much closer than it ever needed to be. The Horns were sloppy in the transition game, costing them a lot of points on turnovers and bad shots. They often careened right into the defense on the break, forcing up challenged looks or getting into positions where their only option was to throw a terrible pass at the last minute.

Kabongo was one player who especially had issues with this, and it underscored the fact that he isn’t quite the inside finisher that former point guard D.J. Augustin was. If Myck isn’t strong enough yet to score amongst the trees in the paint, he will have to be more under control on his drives. Flying headlong into good interior D with no passing options to bail him out simply won’t work.

Texas also had trouble with the transition game on the defensive end. As Rhode Island put together their late first-half run, their speedy guards were able to get deep into the defense and often all the way to the rim without a single Horn trying to stop the ball. When Texas did manage to turn away dribble penetration, often someone else failed to pick up an assignment coming down the court, leading to mismatches and open threes.

The Rams also utilized a ton of full-court pressure during their comeback, and the Longhorns had quite a few issues against it. Rather than beating it with the pass, their only solution was to wait for Brown or Kabongo to beat the press with their dribble. Once Texas can learn to move the ball quickly with smart passes, they can score a lot of easy points against aggressive defenses like this one.

While Chapman had a generally positive game, Alexis Wangmene struggled early and saw his playing time diminish. Early on, he had a rough time keeping up with the quicker Orion Outerbridge when the forward played face-up against him, and Barnes elected to go with Chapman and Holmes instead. Wangmene also continued to have issues hanging on to the ball on passes, rebounds, and loose ball situations. Fortunately, he did do quite a few little things right, taking a charge, setting some good screens, and sinking the midrange baseline J he took late in the game.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that different players had defensive lapses at different times throughout the game, which is to be expected with such a young team. Barnes was liberal with the hook and took advantage of the teaching opportunities, talking over the mistakes with each player as they came off the court. Even though these Longhorns are going to have to run-and-gun to beat quite a few teams, Barnes is still very focused on teaching sound defense.

Up next: vs. Oregon State (2-0) in East Rutherford, NJ; Saturday, 8 P.M. CT

On Sunday afternoon, the Longhorns opened the season in impressive fashion, discarding the Boston Terriers in a 36-point blowout. The freshman-laden Texas roster looked active, athletic, and managed to at least temporarily placate the preseason fears of many Longhorn faithful.

Of course, there were certainly areas for concern. Texas big men had issues on the boards, while the guards were repeatedly outhustled by the Terrier backcourt for long rebounds. The offense looked stagnant at times, particularly in the first half against the BU zone.

A week from today, Texas will be squaring off with either a highly-talented Vanderbilt team or an NC State squad that looks rejuvenated under first-year coach Mark Gottfried. Today’s opening-round game against the Rhode Island Rams provides one last chance to work on the early-season kinks before facing major-conference opponents in New Jersey next weekend.

By the numbers

Rhode Island Coach Jim Baron, now in his 11th season at the helm in Kingston, loves to push the tempo. In the team’s season opener against George Mason, his Rams played at a pace of nearly 69 possessions per 40 minutes. In six of his 11 years on campus, Baron has fielded teams with adjusted tempos of more than 68 possessions per game, with the 2007-08 squad racing out to a breakneck adjusted tempo of 71.1 PPG.

This year’s team lacks size inside, and will likely have issues on the glass against bigger teams. Today, that might not come into play, as the Longhorns were outrebounded by a smaller Boston University team on Sunday evening. Rhode Island and George Mason were nearly even on the glass, with the Patriots holding a +1 rebounding margin on Friday.

Defensively, Rhode Island’s numbers were rather vanilla. While they allowed a pedestrian 1.001 points per possession, they blocked just 5.2% of George Mason’s shots and forced turnovers on 21.3% of the Patriot possessions. The Longhorns, meanwhile, had a suffocating defensive performance against Boston, posting block and turnover percentages of 25% and 34.2%, respectively.

Meet the Rams

Having lost three starters and two reserves from last year’s team, the Rams can relate to the rebuilding situation on the Forty Acres. Rhode Island welcomes a five-man freshmen class this season and will add two juco transfers in December.

The infusion of fresh blood means that former role players will have to step up this season for Rhode Island. In their season-opening overtime loss to George Mason, senior Jamal Wilson took charge. He exploded for 38 points, an unexpected career-high for a guy who averaged just 5.1 per game last season. The 6’5″ Wilson is an all-everything guy for the Rams, as he can play the 3 or either guard position, and provides rebounding from the wings.

Although Wilson was the headliner in Friday night’s game, the starting five all managed to provide double-digit scoring. Serbian sharpshooter Nikola Malesevic chipped in 12 points, but was only 2-of-7 from behind the arc. As a sophomore in 2010-11, Malesevic’s 45.8% mark from long range was tops in the A-10 and was in the top 20 nationally.

The only other upperclassman in the starting five for Rhode Island is big man Orion Outerbridge, who missed a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer on Friday night. The 6’9″ forward scored 11 points and grabbed seven boards against the Patriots, a significant improvement on his 5.1/3.0 averages as a junior. On a smaller team that lost 67% of its rebounding, Outerbridge will have to be a double-double threat on a nightly basis.

Fortunately for the Rams, freshman Jonathan Holton was a rebounding machine in his collegiate debut. The Miami product snagged 14 boards in his 39 minutes and scored 12 points in the losing effort. In high school, he averaged 25.5 points and 15.5 rebounds as a senior, and scouts were high on his shot blocking skills. True to form, he swatted two George Mason attempts on Friday night.

The other freshman in the starting five is point guard Mike Powell, who struggled a bit in his collegiate debut. While he scored 11 points, he was just 1-of-6 from long range and had a troubling five turnovers to go with his six assits. At just 5’10”, the left-handed Chicago product might run into problems against taller, lengthy backcourts.

Against George Mason, the Rams ran nine deep, although freshman guard T.J. Buchanan played only five minutes. Fellow freshman Dominique McKoy made the biggest impact, scoring six points to go with two steals in 15 minutes. The Atlanta swingman shot 75% from the floor in his debut.

Sophomore Levan Shengalia played 14 minutes off the bench against the Patriots, grabbing five boards. He also committed four fouls, giving him a personal every 3.5 minutes. After missing all but one minute of last season due to a knee injury, it’s safe to say he was a little too amped up in his return to the court.

Freshman Rayvon Harris rounds out the rotation for the Rams. He didn’t make much of an impact in his collegiate debut, picking up three fouls and missing his only shot while leaving the rest of the stat sheet empty.

Keys to the game

1) Get back in transition – The Rams will force the issue this afternoon, looking for easy buckets before the defense gets set. The Longhorns did a great job disrupting the half-court offense of Boston on Sunday afternoon, but they’ll have to change their approach against the up-tempo look from Rhode Island. It will be interesting to see if Texas can once again put up impressive defensive numbers this afternoon.

2) Control the caroms – While Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman did grab 11 combined rebounds against Boston, they had even more in their mitts that they failed to control. Whether the ball was knocked out of bounds or it just bounced off their fingertips, it often seemed to be covered in Crisco when the Texas frontcourt was involved. Both big men need to secure the boards that come to them and give Texas a rebounding advantage against a smaller team.

3) Limit the damage from Malesevic – Although the junior was just 2-of-7 in his season debut, his career numbers underscore just how dangerous he is from behind the arc. The three-pointer is widely referred to as the great equalizer, and there’s no dobut that a big game from Malesevic could make things dicey for Texas. If the Horns can replicate their perimeter defense from Sunday, when they limited the Terriers to just 16% from long range, a Rhode Island upset will be much harder to manufacture.