On Thursday, the Longhorns finished off a three-game sweep of their rivals from Oklahoma. A night later, Texas repeated the feat against their most-hated in-state foes. The Longhorns scrapped their way to a 70-58 win over Texas A&M in last night’s Big 12 semifinal, earning their first three-game sweep of the Aggies since the 1991-92 season, when both schools were still in the Southwest Conference.

Unlike the first two games between these two teams, this one was never a laugher. There were four ties and ten lead changes, and neither team led by more than seven points until midway through the second half. Even then, the Aggies were able to trim the margin back down to four points with just five minutes to play. A 10-2 run by the Longhorns finally put the game out of reach, with Gary Johnson icing it at the free-throw line in the final two minutes.

Although this game had the exact same number of possessions as the first game in Austin, it felt completely different. A&M’s defense did an excellent job turning back the drivers and trapping Tristan Thompson when he caught the entry pass a few feet off the block. Texas turned it over on 20.9% of its possessions and missed a handful of easy finishes at the rim in the first half. Despite all of that, the Longhorns had one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season.

The key was another strong performance on the glass. On top of an excellent 49% shooting percentage for the game, the Longhorns also grabbed 52.4% of their missed shots. That number was so good, in fact, that it was the team’s third-best performance of the season, behind only their drubbings of Coppin State and Texas State. With the Longhorns making nearly half of their shots and adding 20 second-chance points, Texas A&M’s upset hopes were dashed.

On defense, the Longhorns allowed a respectable 1.01 points per possession. The Aggies managed that level of efficiency largely by drawing fouls and getting to the line. Texas A&M had a free-throw rate of 56.3% — the second-highest allowed by Texas all year — and they converted on 21 of their 27 attempts.

That strategy of manufacturing points obscured the fact that Texas did an excellent job defending in the half-court. After falling behind 14-7 just seven minutes into the game, the Longhorn defense held the Aggies to just one field goal over the next eight minutes, allowing Texas to reclaim the lead. For the game, the Horns limited A&M to just 35.4% from the field and 27.3% behind the arc, just one night after the Aggies had shot 57.8% against Missouri and made 50% of their threes.

Jordan Hamilton had his second-straight solid performance, scoring 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. After making just 31.4% of his shots in the team’s final six regular season games, Hamilton has a field-goal percentage of 51.6% in the two Big 12 tournament games, including a 40% success rate behind the arc. Having a more-efficient Hamilton was Texas’ number-one concern heading into March. So far, things are looking up, but the true test will come for him today against Kansas.

Once again, Hamilton’s strong effort was matched by freshman Tristan Thompson. The big Canadian posted his third double-double in the team’s last four games, scoring 14 points to go with 13 rebounds. Of those, nine of Thompson’s boards came on the offensive glass. His individual offensive rebounding percentage was a whopping 32.8% for the game.

The biggest concern in the win was questionable play from the other big men. Johnson had a painful game until his six points in the final few minutes. He struggled with foul trouble most of the way, and missed his first six shots from the field, including a dunk attempt. Off the bench, Alexis Wangmene never got into the flow of the game, and only showed up in the box score thanks to his three fouls in six minutes.

Fortunately, J’Covan Brown played well off the bench, scoring 15 points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting night. He knocked down three triples, including two in a row midway through the second half that helped the Longhorns pull away momentarily. Like Hamilton, Brown’s resurgance is coming at just the right time. He’s shooting 62.5% in the Big 12 tournament after making just 31.3% of his shots in the team’s last eight conference games.

Next up: vs. Kansas (31-2); 5 P.M. CT, Saturday

Rivalry week continues for Texas this evening, as they follow up their quarterfinal win over Oklahoma with a semifinal battle against Texas A&M. The Longhorns are a perfect 5-0 against their two rivals this season, with their two victories over the Aggies coming by a combined 41 points.

As we discussed in yesterday’s game preview, there aren’t any “big picture” things on the line for Texas tonight. By beating Oklahoma, the Horns avoided a bad loss that might have dropped them to a 3-seed, while Ohio State, Kansas, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Duke have the inside track on the four 1-seeds even if Texas manages to win the conference tournament. For the Longhorns, this weekend is more about getting the team back on track, playing the kind of basketball they did while dominating the first few weeks of Big 12 play.

The Aggies, meanwhile, still have a lot to play for. Prior to last night’s win over Missouri, The Bracket Matrix reported that Texas A&M’s averaged a 6-seed in 83 different bracket projections. With the potential to log massive résumé-boosting wins over Texas and Kansas in the conference tournament, the Aggies could earn themselves a significant seed bump this weekend.

Meet the Aggies

For a detailed look at the Texas A&M roster, please read our preview of the first game between the two teams.

The first meeting

The Longhorns never trailed when they defeated A&M in Austin by an 81-60 count. Texas attacked the Aggie frontcourt early, feeding Tristan Thompson for eight of the team’s first 12 points. Texas’ commitment to feeding the post led to early foul trouble for A&M, with Kourtney Roberson picking up three fouls in a 26-second span.

Thompson finished the night with 18 points, while Gary Johnson scored 14 of his own. Jordan Hamilton was the Horn who most enjoyed the Lone Star Showdown, though, scorching the Ags for 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting.

Defensively, Texas turned A&M into a one-man show. Khris Middleton dropped in 16 points, but no other Aggie scored more than eight. In terms of efficiency, the effort was actually one of Texas’ weaker outings. The Longhorns allowed 1.048 points per possession, a number buoyed by a flurry of late threes from A&M. Although that’s still a solid number against a good basketball team, it paled in comparison to the dominating sub-0.800 performances the Texas D was putting up early in conference play.

The second meeting

When the teams reconvened in College Station less than two weeks later, the Texas defense was much more oppressive. Once again, the Longhorns never trailed against their rivals, and dominated the first half so much that they took a 45-20 lead to the locker room. In the first twenty minutes, the Horns allowed just 0.559 points per Aggie possession. Texas was clicking so well, in fact, that their 17 first-half bench points nearly eclipsed those of the entire A&M offense.

Most impressive was the fact that the Longhorns completely shut out Middleton in the re-match. Texas played excellent team defense, sagging off the weak side and hedging to prevent Middleton jumpers off of curls. With their star player shut out, the Aggies were led by B.J. Holmes’ 19 points, many of which came at the expense of defender Jai Lucas.

Hamilton once again loved playing against the Aggies, scoring 20 points to go with eight rebounds. He constantly attacked off the dribble, going 6-of-10 from inside the arc, and he drew enough defensive attention on his baseline drives to add three assists.

The good passes and crisp ball movement was contagious, with the Longhorns dishing out 15 assists on 27 buckets. Cory Joseph and J’Covan Brown each matched Hamilton with three assists of their own, while big man Thompson even added a pair by making the extra pass inside.

Since then…

The Aggies have taken care of business since their last loss to Texas. They won six of their final eight regular season games, with the losses coming in tough back-to-back road games against Baylor and Kansas. The offense was able to get back on track, posting efficiency numbers of greater than a point per possession in five of the games.

Last night, however, A&M broke the scale. Long known as a defensive team under both Billy Gillispie and Turgeon, the Aggies simply could not miss in their quarterfinal against Missouri. Texas A&M scored an impressive 1.201 points per possession, shooting 57.8% from the field and 50% from behind the arc.

The scariest thing is that the Aggies were able to do all this with Middleton essentially relegated to a supporting role. The star sophomore only had to play 23 minutes in the blowout, and chipped in a modest nine points in the winning effort. Holmes was once again the catalyst, drilling 4-of-6 from long range to fuel his 20-point outburst. Down low, David Loubeau abused the overmatched Tiger frontcourt, scoring 20 points of his own.

Keys to the game

For the Longhorns, once again it will be important to play suffocating defense early. Just like Oklahoma, the Aggies come into this one fresh off of their best offensive game of the year. And also just like the Sooners, the Aggies were dominated by the Longhorns in the first two match-ups this season. If Texas can once again send an early message that things will be no different this time around, the Horns could squash A&M’s hopes for an upset.

Texas must also avoid foul trouble in tonight’s game. The Aggies have the 15th-best free throw rate in Division I basketball, with Middleton and Loubeau combining to draw more than 11 fouls per game. Last night was no different, with Texas A&M frustrating the Tigers and their fans by drawing 25 fouls and 34 free throws. The Longhorns are not nearly as deep as the Tigers, and the drop-off in frontcourt talent is a steep one. Having Thompson, Gary Johnson, or Hamilton in early foul trouble could spell disaster for Texas.

Finally, the Longhorns must limit the perimeter scoring. The Aggies drilled eight threes against the Tigers last night, and made six against Texas when the teams played in Austin. If the Texas offense is struggling against a solid A&M defense, a sudden frenzy of three-pointers could change the complexion of the game in an instant.

The Longhorns must close out on Holmes and Middleton, and play another sound team game on the defensive end. Good communication should eliminate the breakdowns we saw when Levi Knuston and Rodney McGruder torched Texas from long range in losses to Colorado and Kansas State.

The Texas Longhorns badly needed a shot in the arm. After storming through conference play with an 11-0 mark and a efficiency differential of greater than 0.20 points per possession, Texas looked nearly unstoppable. But in their final five games of the season, the Longhorn offense stalled out at the exact time that their impenetrable defense began to lose its luster.

After holding 10 of their first 11 conference opponents to less than 0.80 points per possession, the Longhorn defense turned into a sieve during the final three weeks of the season. In losses to Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas State, Texas allowed an average of 1.174 points per defensive possession.

It was a stroke of luck, then, that the Longhorns and Sooners were matched up in last night’s quarterfinal. In the first two meetings between the teams, Texas held Oklahoma to just .797 points per possession and an effective field goal percentage of only 38.3%, while winning by an average of 12.5 points.

It was more of the same last night, as Texas built upon their strong defensive showing in the regular-season finale against Baylor. The Longhorn defense held Oklahoma to just six points in the first 10-plus minutes of the game, and jumped out to another early lead that they would never relinquish. Texas put it on auto-pilot at halftime, coasting to a 74-54 win, their third victory of the season over the Sooners.

A night after the Oklahoma offense had run roughshod over Baylor, Texas completely shut down the Sooner attack. Oklahoma shot 50% from behind the arc against Baylor in the first round game, but were just 0-5 from long range in the first half against Texas. While OU did manage to knock down half of their two-point attempts in the first half, their inability to reclaim any of the misses doomed them to failure.

Texas held the Sooners to just three offensive rebounds in the entire game, with two of them coming in the final 62 seconds. The absolute clinic on the glass gave the Longhorns a defensive rebounding percentage of 89.5%, their best mark of the season by far. The only game that saw Texas come anywhere close to that level of dominance was the season opener against Navy, in which the Horns grabbed 84.3% of the Midshipmen’s misses.

On offense, the Longhorns looked more crisp than they had in weeks. J’Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton drove baseline from the wings time and again, resulting in layups and wide-open interior passes for the bigs. Brown had a season-high five assists, while Hamilton added a pair of his own. The unselfish play was a team-wide attitude, as Texas logged 18 assists on 29 baskets.

The biggest surprise of the day came from Jai Lucas, who gave 20 minutes off the bench and gave the Longhorns an early spark with his eight points. Lucas had a very tough outing against Oklahoma in the home game on January 15th, playing just six minutes thanks to poor defense against OU’s Carl Blair. In this one, he kept the speedy guard in front of him, knocked down both of his three-point attempts, and logged three assists.

While Lucas is not going to be playing that many minutes against better opponents, the key takeaway from this one is that it appears his confidence has improved dramatically. In the last three games, Lucas shot 57% from the field, 3-of-4 behind the arc, and logged four steals. In the first 29 games of the year, he was 33.6% from the field, 20.5% from three-point range, and had three total steals.

Where Lucas was once just a spot-up shooter, he now has the confidence to drive for pull-up jumpers, and he finally seems capable on the defensive end. If Texas can just get at least 10 minutes of quality bench play from Lucas in tournament games, the team’s depth issues become less of a factor.

Inside, Tristan Thompson abused the Sooner frontcourt. He posted his eighth double-double of the season, grabbing 11 rebounds to go with his 13 points. In his last five games, Thompson is averaging 18.2 points, 11.2 boards, and 2.4 blocks per game. Without a doubt, the freshman has chosen the best time of the year to become an unstoppable force.

The most reassuring thing about the victory was the resurgence of sophomore star Jordan Hamilton. After shooting just 31.4% from the field over the team’s final five regular season games, Hamilton played a fantastic game against the Sooners. He was 9-of-18 from the field, with three of those misses coming on one particularly physical sequence inside. Hamilton seemed more willing to attack inside, wasn’t primarily focused on shooting, and used his teammates screens to come open for mid-range jumpers. If this is the Hamilton that shows up against better teams — instead of the one that dribbled the air out of the ball in recent weeks — Texas is once again a scary team.

Next up: vs. Texas A&M (24-7); Friday, 8:30 P.M. CT

The last three weeks have been dicey for the Texas Longhorns. Considered the trendy pick for National Champion by many pundits back in early February, the Longhorns struggled through three losses in their last five regular season games. Even in a road win over Baylor in the season finale, the Texas offense was painful to watch.

But now, the real season begins. Sure, college basketball’s November-to-March regular season is much more exciting than practically every other sport. But once Championship Week tips off, the rules are the same for everyone. From the one-time title favorites to the NJITs of the world, all you have to do is win. Win and advance.

Fortunately for Texas, the Big 12 Tournament isn’t a must-win. They are safely in the NCAA’s field of 68, and are likely locked into a 2-seed. A loss today could make things interesting, and perhaps slide them down the S-curve into the 3-seed range. But even if the Longhorns reel off a three-game streak to claim the tournament title, there are other teams that would likely shut them out of a 1-seed. What is at stake for Texas is a chance to reclaim momentum and to rediscover the things that made their offense so scary in January and early February.

They will get their first chance to do that against the Oklahoma Sooners this evening. Texas knocked off the Sooners in both games this year, and have won 10 out of the last 12 games against their Red River rivals. An old college hoops cliché holds that it’s tough to beat the same team three times in one season. Teams learn tendencies and have more chances to adjust, making each rematch a little tougher for the victor to defend their crown.

Of course, if you’re a Texas fan that puts stock into historical numbers, you can shrug that off with smug satisfaction. In 2008, the last time Texas and Oklahoma met three times on the hardwood, the Longhorns swept the series and went on to the Elite Eight.

Meet the Sooners

For a full look at the Oklahoma roster, please read the preview of the first game between the two teams.

The first meeting

The Longhorns knocked off the Sooners 66-46 in Austin on January 15th, a game in which Texas led wire to wire. The Horns jumped out to an early lead by holding OU to just three field goals in their first 13 attempts, and allowed the Sooners just 19 points in the first half.

On the offensive end, the Longhorns were given numerous open looks from long range, and they were able to knock down seven of 12 from behind the arc on the afternoon. Jordan Hamilton was the biggest beneficiary of the poor perimeter D, and he knocked down five threes as part of his 17-point performance.

For the Sooners, Andrew Fitzgerald was the lone bright spot in an embarrassing loss. The big man had 18 points, scoring at will inside. Tiny guard Carl Blair also had a pair of easy layups when defended by Texas’ Jai Lucas, who couldn’t match Blair’s speed. Unfortunately for Blair, Lucas only played six minutes in the game.

All told, the 0.747 points per possession that Texas allowed was OU’s worst offensive performance of the year. The Sooners were just 1-of-15 from long range, leading to an effective field-goal percentage of just 40.2%, their lowest mark at that point of the season.

The second meeting

Texas’ excellent field goal defense would actually get even better when the two teams squared off again on February 9th. The Longhorns limited the Sooners to an eFG of only 36.6% on that night in Norman, as Oklahoma actually shot better beyond the arc (38.5%) than inside it (30.2%).

The Texas defense set the tone early, holding Oklahoma to just four buckets on their first 17 attempts. Like the first meeting, the Longhorns never trailed, and this time they actually built a massive 15-point advantage in the first ten minutes.

Offensively, the Longhorns had a well-balanced attack in which all five starters scored at least 11 points. Dogus Balbay opened the scoring by constantly attacking the rim, and the Sooners seemed disinterested in stopping the Turkish guard in transition. He finished with 12 points and four rebounds, and even knocked down a mid-range jumper.

The rest of the Longhorns simply toyed with the Sooners for most of the first half. Excellent ball movement and great interior passing led to numerous easy layups and dunks, with Gary Johnson logging four assists to go with his 14 points.

Since then…

The home loss to Texas was only the beginning of the slide for the Sooners. They dropped their next six, suffering through a seemingly interminable eight-game losing streak. Last year, Oklahoma lost their last eight regular season games before bowing out in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Unlike that team, these Sooners managed to stop the bleeding by defending their home court against Oklahoma State for a narrow three-point win in the season finale.

Last night, the Sooners built upon that OSU game and started an actual winning streak, dominating Baylor — sans Perry Jones III — for an 84-67 victory. Cade Davis led the way for Oklahoma, scoring 24 points in just 30 minutes thanks to 4-of-8 shooting behind the arc.

The Sooners scored an amazing 1.29 points per possession against the Bears, a stat made even more impressive when you consider that Oklahoma was so careless with the ball that they posted a 21.5% turnover rate.

Keys to the game

First and foremost, Texas needs to set the defensive tone early. The Longhorns raced out to early leads in the first two games with Oklahoma, largely on the back of their stingy defense. With the Sooners coming off an incredible shooting night against Baylor, Texas needs to send an early message that today is going to be very different.

The Longhorns also need to exploit the rebounding advantage this evening. Texas outrebounded the Sooners in both previous meetings, but they really wreaked havoc by limiting Oklahoma to just one offensive rebound in the first half of the game in Norman. If Texas can keep Andrew Fitzgerald and Cameron Clark from extending Oklahoma’s possessions, they should be able to finish off the sweep.

Finally, we’ll be looking to see if this is the game that gets Jordan Hamilton out of his slump. Although he is averaging 17 points per game over his last six games, those points have come on 31.4% shooting from the field.

Hamilton and the Longhorns need to rediscover the offensive mojo they had at the beginning of the conference season. At that point, the sophomore took most of his outside shots off of curls or coming around solid screens. For the last few weeks, most of his three-point attempts come as he’s dribbling against a defender and decides he has enough space to suddenly pop one.

In the two games against Oklahoma, Hamilton scored 37 points on 46% shooting, including an 8-of-17 mark from behind the arc. If there’s any opponent left in the tournament field that can help Jordan bust out of his slump, Oklahoma would be it.

It was far from pretty. But after losing three of their last four games, the Longhorns were willing to take any win they could get.

Texas finally ended its road woes last night, winning in Waco for the team’s first victory away from the Erwin Center since beating Oklahoma in Norman on February 9th. The Horns overcame 35% shooting from the field, capitalizing on an excellent rebounding performance to gut out a 60-54 win over Baylor.

The loss was much bigger for the Bears than the win was for the Longhorns. Texas was already locked into the Big 12’s second seed in the upcoming conference tournament, while the Bears entered the game as one of Joe Lunardi’s projected “First Four Out” of the NCAA field. Following the defeat, Baylor was still entrenched in that dreaded group, as other bubble teams failed to secure convincing wins.

Fortunately for the Bears, they can get another crack at Texas. Thanks to a late season win against Nebraska, Baylor owned the tiebreaker over the Cornhuskers and earned the league’s 7th seed in the conference tournament. Now they only have to beat 10th-seeded Oklahoma in order to face Texas in the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night. At just 7-9 in league play, with just a pair of victories over Texas A&M to hang their hat on, even a win in that game might not be enough for the Bears.

What looked good

In a game that had just 45 combined points in the first half, there wasn’t much that looked exceptionally good. Much of the ugliness on the court was caused by the long-awaited return of Texas’ stifling defense. The Longhorns limited Baylor to just 0.915 points per possession, only the second time in the last five games that Texas was able to keep an opponent under one point per trip. The other came against the league’s cellar-dweller, Iowa State, who managed only 0.767 points per possession in Austin last week.

While the Texas defense was finally making its reappearance, the offense was struggling. Tristan Thompson managed to keep Texas afloat in the first half, however, dominating the offensive glass and piling up second chance points. Thompson finished the game with 19 points and 13 rebounds, with eight of those boards coming on the offensive end.

Thompson’s rebounding percentage on the offensive glass was an insane 22.8%, the first time he had even cracked the 15% mark since beating Missouri in early January. As a point of reference, the nation’s best offensive rebounder — Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried — is averaging a 20.1% success rate on offensive rebounding opportunities against his overmatched Ohio Valley foes.

Thompson wasn’t the only one dominating the rebounding battle. As a team, the Longhorns grabbed more than 51% of their missed shots, which resulted in quite a few boards thanks to their 38 missed shots on the night. In the first half, Texas reclaimed 44% of their offensive rebounding opportunities, and did an even better job out-muscling the Bears in the second half. The Longhorns secured 12 offensive boards in the final twenty minutes, while Baylor grabbed just eight defensive rebounds.

A big part of Texas’ late-game success was clutch play from Alexis Wangmene. He played only 11 minutes in the game, but grabbed five offensive boards, including three in the final three minutes. He earned four attempts at the line, and sunk all of them, a huge feat for any Longhorn. The team made just 59.3% of their free throw attempts on the night, and just 52.2% if you take Wangmene’s makes out of the equation.

With the game still in doubt and less than a minute on the clock, Wangmene managed to grab his most important rebound off a missed jumper by Cory Joseph. The Horns kicked it out to the sure-shooting J’Covan Brown, who essentially iced the game with a pair of free throws. Although Alexis doesn’t get credit on the stat sheet for those points, the much-maligned reserve was instrumental in preserving the win.

The other player who must be singled out for an impressive performance is Gary Johnson. Playing in his final regular season game, Johnson did it all on both ends of the court. In addition to eight big rebounds, Johnson also had a pair of clutch jumpers that kept Texas in the game early in the second half when it looked like Baylor was going to run away with it. Most important, however, was his surprising defense on Baylor’s LaceDarius Dunn, who was becoming a one-man wrecking crew coming out of halftime.

Early in the second half, Dunn drilled a three-pointer with Balbay in his face. Texas responded on the next possession, as Joseph left A.J. Walton to double Dunn. The extra attention backfired, as it allowed Walton to get an easy putback on a weakside rebound. Two possessions later, Anthony Jones had a wide-open three because Joseph again elected to double Dunn instead of sticking with Walton, and Baylor’s quick ball reversal around the perimeter led to the easy triple. LaceDarius followed all of that with another bucket on the ensuing possession, and the Bears were suddenly up by nine.

Coming out of the under-16 media timeout, Rick Barnes gave Gary Johnson the difficult task of sticking with Baylor’s superstar. Where Dunn could once pop ridiculous shots with Balbay in his face, he now had to deal with a 6’6″ defender. Beyond just the height advantage, Johnson also showed incredible athleticism and hustle in sticking with Dunn through screen after screen, limiting his ability to find the space to shoot. With Johnson defending him, Dunn had a scoreless stretch of more than seven minutes, and went just 2-for-9 the rest of the game.

What needed work

Unfortunately for the Longhorns, a big part of their early struggles was the continued difficulty for Jordan Hamilton on the offensive end. He was just 1-for-7 from the field in the first half, with his only basket coming on a dunk. Two of his misses were on ugly, forced shots, and he passed up open looks inside by trying to make unnecessary interior passes to the blocks.

Those extra passes inside were indicative of a larger problem for Texas, namely that the team looked incredibly tight in the first half. The Longhorns had a few early possessions where they actually penetrated the zone or made the pass into the soft middle. But instead of being assertive with the basketball and taking the shot or making the quick pass, the players seemed to be too concerned with not making mistakes. That indecision let Baylor recover, and Texas was forced into long, ugly possessions that typically ended in bad looks.

As always, free throws were an albatross for the Longhorns. As previously mentioned, the team shot below 60% at the line, the 11th time they have been below that watermark in their 31 games. Add in the fact that Texas missed the front end on three different one-and-one attempts, and that’s a ton of potential points the team left on the line.

While it’s a known fact that Thompson is going to struggle from the line — and that he gets to the line more frequently than the rest of the team — the troubling thing is that J’Covan Brown and Cory Joseph were the culprits on two of those wasted one-and-ones. When even the guards are struggling at the line, Texas is going to have some major issues with offensive efficiency.

Up next: Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinal vs. Baylor or Oklahoma (in Kansas City); Thursday, 6 P.M. CT