No, the title doesn’t say “pasties.” That would be an entirely different sort of game preview. What it does say is patsies, the collective noun for the awful-to-middling teams that the Longhorns face in non-conference when not squaring off against the North Carolinas and Michigan States of the world. With Tuesday’s road trip to Arkansas looming on the horizon and conference play starting up on Saturday, this afternoon’s contest with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi represents the final “easy” win on the schedule.

While the Islanders likely won’t provide much of a threat to the Longhorns’ perfect mark this afternoon, they are infinitely better than the teams from Gardner-Webb and UT-Pan American that played sacrificial lamb at the Erwin Center. A&M-Corpus Christi started their season with a convincing 67-43 win over Oregon State at Texas Tech’s “Duel in the Desert” event. Since then, they’ve added a trio of wins against teams that play in Division II, and destroyed UT-Pan Am at home. Unfortunately for the visiting Islanders, they are 0-5 in road games this year.

By the numbers

Coach Perry Clark has taken the Islanders in a different direction since Ronnie Arrow led the team to a Southland Conference championship and nearly a first-round upset over 2-seed Wisconsin in the NCAAs. While Arrow’s teams were pushing the tempo and forcing a ton of turnovers, the current batch of Islanders are perfectly content playing half-court games, where they rely on a stout defense to earn their victories.

The biggest hole in the A&M-CC game is at the free throw line. It may be hard for Texas fans to believe, but the Islanders actually shoot a lower percentage from the stripe than the Longhorns do. No, really — it’s true. Texas A&M-CC shoots just 60.5% from the free-throw line, while the Longhorns have improved to 62.2% after Tuesday evening’s solid shooting night.

Another issue for the Islanders is their trouble hanging on to the basketball. They cough it up on more than a quarter of their possessions, which is 332nd in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy. While that percentage only equates to about 18 turnovers per game, A&M-Corpus Christi plays a much slower brand of basketball than what they will see today. The up-tempo pace of Texas basketball means that the Islanders could likely turn it over 25 times this afternoon.

Meet the Islanders

Everything in the Corpus offense starts and ends with Kevin Palmer. At 6’6″ and 205 pounds, his natural position is small forward. But due to injuries last season, he was forced to play in the backcourt and turned out to be quite the facilitator. Palmer dished out 94 assists, tops on the team, while also leading the Southland Conference in scoring with 18.2 points per game. Back in the frontcourt this season, his scoring has increased to 20.2 PPG to go along with 5.6 boards per contest.

The reason Palmer has been able to shift back to forward is that freshman point guard Terence Jones was finally cleared to play by the NCAA. He’s responded quickly, scoring more than eight per game, and has reclaimed the team lead in assists from Palmer. He’s a strong 6’2″ guard that fits well into Clark’s defense-focused game plan, but he will certainly have his hands full with the high-powered Texas offense.

Jones’ newfound eligibility also allows guards LaMarr Drake and Shamar Coombs to shift off the ball to shooting guard, after splitting the duties at point last season. Drake missed the second half of the year after being ruled academically ineligible, forcing Coombs to take the reigns the rest of the season. This year, Coombs has been fairly invisible on the offensive end, scoring less than five points a game while posting a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. Drake, meanwhile, is having his own struggles. He finally made his season debut against Kent State, and his first three games back have been shaky.

Where the Islanders have made their hay this season has been inside. In addition to Palmer, they are relying on the solid play of forwards Demond Watts and Justin Reynolds. They are 1-2 on the squad in rebounding, combining for fourteen boards per game, while they are responsible for almost 20 points per game for the Islanders.

Big man Filip Toncinic could be the most interesting match-up for Texas, as he checks in at an even 7-feet. Coming off the bench, he is a much bigger contributor on defense than offense. Although he scores just five points per game, his defensive presence is game-changing. He has only seven blocks on the season, but having Toncinic down low forces opponents to find other ways to attack the defense. It should be interesting to see the shot-averse Dogus Balbay drive the lane when the seven-footer is in the game.

Horace Bond is a junior who has started every game this season and last season, and provides solid numbers on the glass. He’s playing more than 25 minutes per game this year, and is chipping in nearly six points per contest. Interestingly enough, his 44% shooting from three-point is tops on the team, but he has taken just nine attempts this year. That stat will likely not matter in a game as lopsided as this one, but don’t be surprised if, at one point this afternoon, the big man steps out and tickles the twine from long range.

Marcus Hammond is the only other Islander who plays significant minutes. At 6’5″, 200 pounds, he backs up superstar Palmer and provides steady minutes down low. He won’t make a huge impact on the game today, unless Palmer finds himself in foul trouble.

Keys to the game

As is usually the case in games like this, the only true key for the Longhorns is to show up on time for the game. But for Texas fans, there are a handful of things we’ll be keeping our eye on as we look ahead to conference play….

Can Texas keep up the solid free-throw shooting? — It’s been an Achilles heel all season long, but Tuesday night provided a glimmer of hope for Longhorn fans. Was the 76.2% mark against Gardner-Webb a sign of things to come, or just an aberration?

How will J’Covan Brown bounce back? — The freshman guard had a really tough night shooting the ball on Tuesday. He’s certainly never been one to shy away from an open look, so we have no doubt he’ll keep firing it up this afternoon. What is a question is how he’ll respond if he has a second-straight cold game. For the sake of the Longhorns, we hope he lights it up against A&M-CC and no one ever has to find out.

Can Jai Lucas keep it up? — He has a funky shot and a severe height disadvantage. But Jai Lucas proved just how dangerous he is from long range when he went 5-of-7 on Tuesday night. If he keeps shooting that way, the Longhorn offense becomes even more dangerous, and Texas can truly become an inside-out kind of team. If Lucas lights it up again tonight, it will officially become time to feel giddy.

Seats still remain

This sub-head shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a 16,000-seat arena in the middle of a football state in early January, and the opponent is a directional school that most have never heard of. But fortunately for Austin-area basketball fans, UT’s marketing department is committed to filling those seats. All mezzanine tickets to this afternoon’s game are just $3, so you have no reason not to grab the family and head down to the Drum for the cheapest afternoon of family time you can find. Plus, the lower bowl will likely be half-full, so you can move the kiddos down closer to the action whenever you want.

For those staying at home, you can catch the game on Fox Sports Southwest in the state of Texas. Elsewhere in the country, you’ll have to be subscribed to ESPN Full Court, or use ESPN360.com if your internet provider doesn’t suck. We’ll see you Sunday evening with the breakdown.

Another non-conference opponent, another double-digit win for the Longhorns. But while the scoreboard boldly trumpeted a 32-point Texas win on Tuesday night, the play on the court was anything but dominating. The Longhorns had arguably their ugliest game of the season, yet still cruised past a horribly overmatched Gardner-Webb team. It was as if Texas knew they simply had to show up to win, and their effort certainly reflected that sentiment.

What looked good

The high point of the night was freshman Jai Lucas breaking out with a 5-of-7 performance behind the arc. Although his shot is a funky little line drive, the Florida transfer was nearly unstoppable from long range. Gardner-Webb was focused on the post man all night when Texas used the pick-and-roll, and as the Bulldogs doubled down on the rolling big man, Lucas quickly fired up the threes.

If Jai can be that accurate all season, teams are going to have to pick their poison when Texas sets high ball screens. Of course, for the rest of the season Texas will be facing many teams with taller guards than those of Gardner-Webb. On those nights, it might feel a bit like A.J. Abrams is on the court, as the Longhorns work to free up their long-range gunner.

The other big storyline of the game was the improved free throw shooting for the Longhorns. Texas shot 76.2% from the line, a full twelve percentage points better than their season average. Gary Johnson was 7-of-8 from the line after starting the season 15-for-20, but most surprising was Damion James‘ perfect 8-for-8 night. Coming into the game, DaMo was just 47-of-72 at the charity stripe, giving him just a 65% success rate. Hopefully this steady shooting night is a sign of things to come.

The Texas defense forced a season-high 27 turnovers, 19 of those coming on steals. They did it with a variety of traps that completely befuddled the Bulldogs and led to lazy passes that hung over midcourt for the waiting Longhorn defenders. Texas has shown a ton of trapping looks early this season, and as a result are turning their opponents over on nearly a quarter of their possessions. When you consider that the Horns weren’t really forcing a ton of turnovers early in the year, it makes the season-long numbers even more impressive.

What needed work

While the trapping was excellent, the perimeter defense was absolutely atrocious for Texas. The Longhorns allowed Gardner-Webb to hit 8-of-14 from beyond the arc in the second half, and allowed a disgusting 50% success rate for the game. Defenders simply did not close out quickly enough and often failed to get a hand up to even challenge the shooter. Whether it was a result of the week-long layoff after the Michigan State game or just a lack of effort due to a pitiful opponent, it was an embarrassing display, and something that surely had Rick Barnes fired up at practice yesterday.

On the offensive end, Texas looked completely careless with the basketball. The Horns turned it over 19 times, much worse than their previous season average of fourteen per game. Most of the turnovers came on lazy passes or overly-fancy, streetball-style dime attempts. Even the typically steady Dogus Balbay was bit by the turnover bug, recording four miscues to just two assists. Before the game, he was boasting a 3.67 assist-to-turnover ratio.

A mixed bag

Against the Bulldogs, J’Covan Brown was absolutely cold from outside. But Gardner-Webb kept giving him looks, and he kept firing away. For as good of a shooter as J’Covan is, that seems like the correct course of action. On most nights, he would eventually hit a shot, get some confidence, and help out the team. Fortunately for the Longhorns, his 1-of-8 night from long range happened to come against one of the worst opponents on their schedule. To Brown’s credit, however, it should be noted that even though the three-balls weren’t falling, he did still occasionally slash to the basket and earned nine points on the night.

Jordan Hamilton was limited to just eleven minutes thanks to an ankle injury, but played within the flow of the offense. In perhaps the most shocking statistic of the night, Hamilton did not attempt a single shot, and actually had three assists. He made a conscious effort to work the ball into the paint in the hopes of exploiting Texas’ massive size advantage. While Longhorn fans won’t want a healthy Jordan Hamilton taking zero shots in a game, his commitment to fitting into the offensive gameplan was a welcome sight.

Looking forward

The Longhorns have another home game before they travel to Fayetteville next week, where they should likely reach the 14-0 mark for just the first time in 28 years. That Saturday home game will be against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, and the Texas Box Office has a slew of promotions available to get fans into the arena. All upper level tickets are just $3, and fans can show their tickets at the box office to also score a free general admission seat to the women’s game that tips at 11 A.M.

After a pair of games against top-ten opponents, the Longhorns take it down a notch tonight in a home contest against the vastly overmatched Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs. Much like the UT-Pan American game, this one will be out of hand very, very early. As a result, this game preview will be short and sweet, focusing more on the big picture than on the specific players facing off against the Horns.

First and foremost, you can ignore every single person who points out that the Bulldogs defeated Kentucky on the road two years ago. This is a completely different Gardner-Webb team, and those Wildcats were also a completely different team. This year’s Runnin’ Bulldogs have managed just three wins, and not a single one of them came against Division I competition. While Gardner-Webb has a very tough, challenging schedule, the results have been embarrassing. Excluding a two-point loss in their conference opener against UNC-Asheville, the Runnin’ Bulldogs have lost their games by an average of 31.5 points and have not kept it closer than a 16-point loss to Western Carolina.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs love to push the tempo, proving that their mascot is anything but a misnomer. The Longhorns play the 8th-fastest style of basketball in the country, while Gardner-Webb is the 20th-fastest, so expect a ton of possessions and a lot of points. And because the visiting team does so many things horribly, expect a vast majority of those points to be scored by Texas.

You may be asking your computer screen, “Just how horribly can a Division I team play?” We’ll let stat guru Ken Pomeroy’s numbers do the talking. In the simplest of terms, red is bad. The darker the red, the worse your team is at that aspect of the game. Gardner-Webb’s numbers have more red than a Soviet flag.

You can also take a look at the numbers framed in brackets next to each stat. That represents where Gardner-Webb ranks in relation to the rest of Division I basketball teams for that statistic. For ten different factors out of the twenty listed, the Runnin’ Bulldogs are 310th or worse. It should be noted that there are only 347 teams that play men’s basketball at the NCAA Division I level.

Texas also has a massive size advantage over Gardner-Webb and should have its way in the paint tonight. The tallest Bulldog who sees significant minutes is Auryn McMillan, a 6’8″ senior from Australia who averages 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. His backup is another Australian, the 6’11” Matt Maden. While he averages less than four minutes a game, Maden will likely be called upon for some extra playing time against the much bigger Texas frontcourt.

Having said all that, it should already be apparent that tonight the only real key is to see how Texas plays after the holiday break. How will Dexter Pittman respond after missing most of the Michigan State game with foul trouble? Will Jai Lucas have a breakout performance in only his third game as a Longhorn? Can Dogus Balbay set a new career high with three dunks in one game?

For those not in Austin or not willing to brave the cold for this inevitable beatdown, the game will be aired in Texas on Fox Sports Net. Longhorn fans spread across the nation can check it out on ESPN Full Court, or at ESPN360.com, if your ISP allows it. For now, enjoy the lopsided affair, and we’ll be back tomorrow for the post-mortem.

It’s been a few days since the Longhorns secured their second-straight win over a top-ten opponent, and unfortunately the post-game review slipped through the cracks as we frantically finished up holiday shopping at the eleventh hour and then enjoyed a few days with the family. But before college basketball gets back in full swing tomorrow, we’d like to take a quick look back at the highlights and lowlights from Tuesday night’s victory.

What looked good

The most impressive part of the Longhorns’ 79-68 win was that it came mostly without Dexter Pittman. Plagued by fouls and referee Rick Hartzell‘s obsession with blowing the whistle, the Texas inside game was quickly hampered. Add in the fact that Damion James seemed a bit too anchored to the perimeter early in the first half, and there was reason for Longhorn fans to be concerned.

It was James’ gutty play that ended up being the difference, though. With his jersey bloodstained and his lip swollen, Damion looked every bit the warrior as he clawed his way to a 23-point, 13-rebound night. It was truly a star performance for the senior, who became the all-time leading rebounder for the University of Texas. And not only did the win underscore James’ ability to carry the team, but it also highlighted how the depth of this Longhorn squad will make it incredibly difficult for opponents to completely shut them down.

Gary Johnson touched on that very fact in the post-game presser. “We can give it to you any way you want it,” the forward said, pointing out that the versatile Longhorns were able to play very different styles of basketball in defeating North Carolina and Michigan State. In addition to making astute observations and providing quality quotes for writers, Johnson also quietly put in a solid effort on the court. The typically shot-happy junior had nearly as many assists (two) as field goals (three), and was a steady 50% from the field.

Johnson’s defense was also a big part of the reason the Longhorns were able to pull away in the waning moments. He stripped the ball from a Spartan guard in the open court not once, but twice in the final minutes, leading to fast break buckets as Texas iced the game. That oft-mentioned depth of the Longhorn bench seemed to play a huge role in the final result, as Texas was able to continue hustling in crunch time, while Michigan State made just one field goal in the final 9:57 of the game.

In addition to that finishing kick, Longhorn fans can also be impressed with the poise their team showed under fire. With Pittman riding the bench in foul trouble, Texas fell as far behind as eight points late in the first half. The Horns closed the gap to three by the time they hit the locker room, where they made adjustments to shore up their perimeter defense. After allowing Michigan State enough time and space to hit 71% of their threes in the first half, the Longhorns locked down the three-point line and allowed just a 12.5% success rate in the second half.

The Texas defense also pressured the Spartans and forced mistakes, earning 22 turnovers in the process. That gave the Spartans a 29.5% turnover rate in the game, their worst performance with the basketball since they coughed it up 33.4% of the time against Florida in a 77-74 loss.

What needed work

For the rest of the season, the first paragraph in this portion of every single game report will likely read the exact same way. The Longhorns simply have no answers from the free throw line. In fact, the Texas free-throw nightmare is so bad that Spartan Coach Tom Izzo instructed his team to foul Dogus Balbay with nearly three minutes left on the clock. Texas quickly responded by giving ballhandling duties to J’Covan Brown, while Izzo changed course and had his team concede the defeat.

While the Longhorns have yet to win a game by less eleven points and they have an average margin of victory of more than 28 points, they will undoubtedly face tougher tests in the future. Games will be closer, and it’s highly likely that whatever losses the team incurs the rest of the way, they will be a result of missed free throws. For a team that is averaging 17 made free throws and 11 missed ones per game, those points left at the line will eventually loom large.

What also needed work was Michigan State’s attempts at distracting the Texas free throw shooters. In the first half, a woman seated in the Michigan State guest pass section decided to blow an air horn before two of James’ free throw attempts. As Murphy would have predicted, the Longhorn big man then made both. (It should be noted that James was just 1-of-5 from the line without air-horn accompaniment.) While it’s embarrassing enough that someone who was allowed into the Erwin Center for free as a guest of the visiting team would break NCAA rules by using an illegal noisemaker, it’s even more embarrassing that she couldn’t even successfully impact the game.

Everything else that Texas needed to improve upon was actually remedied within the game itself. James opened up his game after his early addiction to the perimeter, scoring more inside and getting better position for rebounds. The Longhorns improved their transition defense after letting Michigan State run right past them for easy buckets during most of the first half. And as previously mentioned, the perimeter defense was night-and-day different from one half to the next.

What lies ahead

Fresh off the heels of these two big wins, Longhorn fans are becoming understandably giddy with excitement. The last time Texas started a season 11-0 was in the fall of 2007, when that unblemished start was finally spoiled by Izzo and the Spartans in Auburn Hills. With Michigan State finally vanquished, fans have high hopes that the next two weeks will be smooth sailing for the Longhorns. After home games against Gardner-Webb and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a road test against the struggling Arkansas Razorbacks provides the only likely hurdle for Texas as it attempts to enter conference play with a perfect 14-0 mark.

The Longhorns return to the Erwin Center tonight, fresh off an impressive thirteen-point win over a top ten opponent in the North Carolina Tar Heels. But rather than getting a few days to unwind and enjoy the big victory, Texas will be immediately tested once again. This evening, their latest top-ten battle is with the Michigan State Spartans, a program that has been a thorn in the side of Coach Rick Barnes over the last three years. Each of those seasons, the Spartans narrowly won on a neutral court, with the three victories coming by just a combined twelve points.

Michigan State lost a lot of senior leadership and presence in the paint following last season’s Final Four run. Guard Travis Walton was the team’s steady leader in 2009, while big men Goran Sutan and Marquise Gray played important roles down low. Their departures leave the Spartans without a reliable center, and according to Coach Tom Izzo, also leave his team without a vocal leader.

By the numbers

Fans of college basketball know that Izzo is a disciple of defense. Every year, the Spartans are a frustrating match-up for opponents, as they pressure out past the perimeter and force countless turnovers. This season, however, Michigan State has added an impressive offense to match. In fact, the Spartan offense is actually ranked higher nationally (27th) than their defense (43rd) in adjusted efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy.

With the newfound offensive firepower, Michigan State is pushing the tempo a little bit more this season. As members of the Big 10 Conference, the Spartans have often played grind-it-out basketball games with their league opponents. This year, the Big 10 is going to have to hustle to keep up. Michigan State’s 70.9 possessions per game is 84th-quickest in the nation, and is a massive shift from Izzo’s previous style. During the last six seasons, MSU has averaged just 65.5 possessions per game and never finished higher than 126th nationally in tempo, while placing 240th or lower in three of those years.

The thing the Spartans do best, though, is rebound. They are ranked eighth in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, as they grab over 43% of their own misses. That dominance extends to the defensive glass, allowing Michigan State to enjoy a rebounding margin of +11.2, which is 6th-best in the country. Just behind the Spartans in the national rankings are the Longhorns, who have a margin of +11.1 boards per game. Tonight’s contest could very well be decided by which team imposes their will on the glass.

Meet the Spartans

Coach Izzo has been tinkering with his lineup all season long, looking for the right combination as he reloads his team and searches for that aforementioned missing leadership. Nine different Spartans have started during the team’s first eleven games, although only the core rotation of seven players are averaging more than 20 minutes per contest.

Junior guard Kalin Lucas is the one player that has started each game for Michigan State. Named the Big 10’s Player of the Year as just a sophomore, the speedy little guard has a deadly shot and seemingly omniscient court vision. Saturday’s victory over IPFW marked the 21st-consecutive game where Lucas scored in double digits, and he is leading the team with an average of 16.1 points per game. He added muscle over the offseason, so the 6-foot guard is also able to fight through contact when he attacks the rim this year.

Joining Lucas in the backcourt is Chris Allen, a 6’3″ junior who isn’t afraid to battle inside with bigger opponents. But what Allen is best known for is his jump shot, a skill that has unfortunately eluded him over the last season and a half. He broke his foot in the NCAA title game against North Carolina, and perhaps that is the reason why he has struggled from the floor this season. He’s shown flashes of his former brilliance at times, but has played inconsistently enough to log a 46% success rate from the field, including just 34% from behind the arc. Allen is certainly a dangerous man who is due to break out, so the Longhorns must keep an eye on him this evening.

Adding to the depth in the Spartan backcourt is Korie Lucious, a sophomore guard who, like Lucas, is not just a great facilitator, but also a dangerous shooter. While Korie has hit just 35% of his three-pointers this year and only 36% of all his shots, his jumper is far better than those numbers indicate. Like Allen, Lucious is liable to get hot at any moment, and Texas can’t afford to let him do so. Also just like Allen, Lucious is recovering from a broken foot, and that could be affecting his accuracy.

Down low, big man Raymar Morgan is the only senior on Michigan State who plays any significant minutes. He’s a big, strong forward who is a handful down low, but his accurate midrange jumper makes him even more dangerous. This season, he’s averaging nearly eleven points and six rebounds per game. His ability (or inability) to turn in that kind of performance against the Texas frontcourt will be key to Michigan State’s chances tonight.

The other big force in the paint is forward Draymond Green. Although he has started just three games, he’s second on the team in scoring and leads the team in rebounding. At 6’6″, he’s a bit undersized for the power forward role, but can do that when the Spartans want to run with a smaller lineup. When Michigan State wants to go bigger, Green’s surprising abilities with the basketball even allow Coach Izzo to use him as a point forward. If ballhandling, rebounding, scoring, and assists aren’t enough of a contribution from Green, he even chips in with his quick hands on defense, to the tune of a team-leading 16 steals. With tonight’s big game on national television, this could be a breakout game for the well-rounded sophomore.

Durrell Summers is another ‘tweener for Coach Izzo, who has the player listed as a 6’4″ guard. He’s quick and can take defenders off the dribble, and has bulked up prior to his junior season so that he’s able to body up more inside. He has a lot of length that will frustrate the Texas offense, and incredible hops that could lead to some impressive dunks and blocks in tonight’s game. Like Allen and Lucious, Summers is a solid shooter who has struggled so far this season. But as Texas fans can surely remember, Durrell can hit the clutch shots, like the three that knocked off the Longhorns in Houston last December.

The final member of the core rotation is power forward Delvon Roe, who has started nine games and is averaging 22 minutes per contest. The sophomore has high expectations this year, following a freshman season in which he was adjusting to a surgically-repaired knee. Once a top-ten recruit, Roe is quicker and more agile than most power forwards, allowing him to defend further from the paint and also draw out opponents when he has the ball.

While he’s averaging just eight points and eight boards per game, those numbers have been limited by an unfortunate problem with fouls. Roe picked up his fifth personal against both North Carolina and Gonzaga with seven minutes still left on the clock, and also fouled out against Florida Gulf Coast. Against the deep Texas frontcourt, Delvon will have to be careful not to pile up the personals once again.

Averaging only nine minutes per game, freshman center Garrick Sherman is a work-in-progress that Izzo hopes will anchor his frontcourt in years to come. As a high school senior in Ohio last year, Sherman was the Co-Player of the Year, and his fundamentals and footwork certainly seem to be sound. It appears, however, that Garrick gets overly nervous at times and rushes with the basketball. When he slows down, he’s actually been fairly impressive, and his eight point performance in just eight minutes on Saturday could be a sign that the light has finally come on for this youngster.

The other newcomer at center is freshman Derrick Nix, a 6’8″, 280-pound player that will remind fans of Dexter Pittman as a freshman. Nix was as heavy as 340 pounds in high school and is still adjusting to his new body and the speed of Michigan State basketball, but he is highly effective in short bursts. Nix swats a ton of shots down low, and has even had a few nice steals early in the season.

On offense, he still seems awkward at times, likely as a result of having to post up against college defenders instead of just barreling through them like he did in high school. If Nix and Pittman are on the floor at the same time tonight, it ought to be entertaining to watch.

Keys to the game

As we mentioned earlier, these two teams are both dominant on the glass. While it’s highly likely this will lead to a very close battle on the boards, if either team is able to hold a significant rebounding edge, it could be the difference. Texas can easily frustrate their opponents if they can manage to shut down the highly-effective Michigan State offensive rebounders and eliminate a ton of extra Spartan chances.

With so many skilled shooters who have struggled over the first month of the year, the Longhorns also have to be worried about a sudden flurry of offense from the outside. Texas needs to shut down the three-point shooters, especially after allowing North Carolina to hit 54% of their long-range attempts on Saturday afternoon.

While the Longhorns should be worried about the Michigan State backcourt, they are likely giddy over the advantage their frontcourt has in this match-up. Texas should attack the Spartans inside, drawing fouls on Roe and Green so that Sherman and Nix are forced to play a bigger role. The Longhorns should enjoy a nice edge on points scored in the paint, and getting the thin Michigan State frontcourt in foul trouble should only make that easier.