When the calendar turned to 2010, the once-invincible Texas Longhorns unraveled in a fashion rarely seen in sports. After starting 17-0, last year’s team sputtered down the homestretch, winning just 7 of their last 17 games. This year’s batch of Longhorns have clearly learned from their past mistakes. Instead of wilting down the stretch, they are visibly improving as the season goes along. While Texas was a dominant defensive team during a very tough non-conference run, they have turned it up another notch in conference play.

Last night was more of the same, as the Longhorn defense forced 17 turnovers and held Texas Tech to 38.2% shooting from the field en route to a 76-60 win over the Red Raiders in Austin. The victory moved Texas to 8-0 in Big 12 play, one game ahead of Kansas, and 3.5 games ahead of third-place Baylor.

It looked like yet another blowout in the early going, as Texas held the Red Raiders to just 11 points in their first 20 possessions. At the same time, the Horns were finding open shots everywhere they looked. They built a lead as large as 21 points in the waning minutes of the first half, powered by 6-of-11 shooting from behind the arc.

The second half was a different story, and it resulted in a much closer game than anyone could have expected. The Longhorns took six minutes and 46 seconds to make their first field goal in the second half, letting the Red Raiders slice the lead to just six points with 11:20 to go. But J’Covan Brown sandwiched a pair of threes around a mid-range jumper from Gary Johnson, and the Horns cruised to victory.

What looked good

In the first half, everything looked good for Texas. Jordan Hamilton knocked down his first four attempts from three-point range, while the Longhorn defense held Tech to just 0.55 points per possession over the first 12 minutes. Tristan Thompson was getting great position on the blocks and taking perfect angles to score once his teammates fed him the ball.

One of the main men dishing out assists was J’Covan Brown, who had another solid game off the bench. His two three-pointers stopped the bleeding in the second half, and he finished with 10 points and three assists in 26 minutes on the court.

The two-headed monster of Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill also chipped in from the bench, taking advantage of their smaller Tech opponents. Wangmene earned three points at the line, while Hill had a pair of putbacks and an easy layup off an assist from Jai Lucas. Hill also grabbed six rebounds against an undersized Tech squad.

What needed work

While Hill grabbed six rebounds, the Longhorns did a poor job rebounding against a Tech team that is routinely abused on the glass. In Lubbock, Texas won the rebounding battle by 19. In Austin, they only outrebounded Tech by three. The Longhorns allowed the Red Raiders to grab 37.3% of their missed shots, after allowing them to win just 19.2% of the offensive rebounds in Lubbock. The 37.3% mark was the sixth-highest OR% for the Red Raiders in their 24 games this season.

A big cause of the rebounding woes was Gary Johnson’s absence on the glass. While GJ scored 16 points, largely on the strength of his smooth long-range jumper, he was a ghost on the boards. The team obviously benefits from his 17-footer, as he typically sinks that shot, while pulling bigger defenders out of the lane. But the failure to grab even a single board on the defensive end could prove to be critical against a better ballclub than Tech.

On defense, the Horns gave up far too many easy looks during the last three-quarters of the game. It may seem ridiculous to harp on the defense when they allowed just 0.873 points per possession. But a big reason why Texas was able to post good point-per-possession numbers is because they forced a lot of Tech turnovers.

The Red Raiders coughed it up on 24.7% of their possessions, meaning that they were making a very high percentage of their shots when they managed to hang on to the basketball. The reason? Easy layups and jumpers coming off of curls when the Longhorn defenders completely lost their men. That smacks of lazy defense with too much ball-watching and not enough rotation.

Perhaps the Horns played down to their competition, knowing they could give partial effort on defense and still win. A fair argument, but still a troubling one. If they have a similar lack of effort in Colorado, against a team that hardly ever turns the ball over, Texas will leave Boulder with a loss.

Finally, it must be noted that the sloppy effort wasn’t limited just to the defense over the last thirty minutes. The Longhorns also had just as much trouble hanging on to the basketball, piling up more turnovers (16) than assists (15), many of them on boneheaded errors. Cory Joseph had a pair of double-dribble calls, while the Longhorns fumbled numerous passes just feet from the basket.

Thankfully, this weak effort came against one of the worst teams in the conference. It’s a true luxury to play one of your worst games of the year and still come away with a 16-point win. The trajectory this team has taken so far this year leads us to believe that this effort will only lead to improvement in the near future. Expect the Longhorns to once again be firing on all cylinders by tip-off on Wednesday night.

Next up: at Oklahoma (12-10 overall, 4-4 Big 12); Wednesday, 8 P.M. CT

After surviving a brutal five-game stretch that included three road games and four games against teams ranked in the Top 25, the Texas Longhorns return to the Frank Erwin Center with a perfect 7-0 league mark. Fortunately, the team gets a breather tonight, hosting a Texas Tech team that they destroyed by 31 points in Lubbock in their conference opener.

This game should be incredibly lopsided. So lopsided, in fact, that Vegas is giving the Red Raiders an extra 20.5 points. Stat guru Ken Pomeroy and his supercomputer have the Horns as 99% to win the game, with a predicted 26-point margin of victory. Perhaps the biggest question heading into this game will be just how many minutes Andrew Dick, Dean Melchionni, and Trent Morgan see in the blowout.

The first meeting

When these two teams first met in Lubbock, the Longhorns abused Texas Tech inside. Texas posted a +19 rebounding margin and scored 50 points in the paint. The Red Raiders were limited to grabbing just 19.2% of their misses, and the string of one-and-done possessions doomed them to failure.

The dominating performance wasn’t limited just to the Texas frontcourt. Dogus Balbay scored nine points and secured five rebounds, while J’Covan Brown and Jai Lucas combined for 11 points off the bench.

The Red Raiders, meanwhile, had a hard time finding anyone to score. Big man Robert Lewandowski knocked down quite a few tough shots against the tight Longhorn defense, but his 13 points were the most on the team. Guard Javarez Willis also managed to provide a spark off the bench, scoring 10 points on 56% shooting from the field.

Since then…

That loss was the second of four that Tech suffered to open conference play. During that stretch, the Red Raiders lost by an average of 21.5 points per game.

But Tech rebounded nicely, compiling three wins to get back into the muddled mess in the middle of the conference standings. The Red Raiders edged out Nebraska at home before stealing a road win against Iowa State in Ames. They followed that up with an overtime win against OSU in Lubbock, but the momentum was stopped when they were thrashed by Kansas at home earlier this week.

The key to Tech’s resurgance was better performance on the offensive glass. After getting destroyed by the Longhorn rebounders, they had a pathetic 12.9% offensive rebounding percentage in a 34-point drubbing at K-State. In each of the three wins that followed, Tech had an OR% of at least 37.5%.

Mike Singletary and John Roberson were also instrumental in the brief winning streak for Texas Tech. After the pair combined for just 7 points in the loss to Texas, they combined to average 40.3 points per game in the team’s three wins.

Meet the Red Raiders

The Red Raiders are an experienced bunch, and as a result, four of their five leading scorers are seniors. To get a detailed breakdown on all of the retuning Tech players, check out our first preview from last season.

Coach Pat Knight is also getting contributions from three newcomers, who you can read about in our preview of the first game in Lubbock.

Keys to the game

As it was in Lubbock, this game should be one-sided from the start. That means that while this section is titled “Keys to the game,” it could easily be re-named “Ways to win by more points.”

The most important thing that the Longhorns did in Lubbock was dominate the inside game. Texas has a much bigger and more skilled frontcourt, and it led to 50 points in the paint in Lubbock. The Longhorns should have no problem doing more of the same tonight.

Texas will also enjoy a blowout victory if they win the rebounding battle. Tech is not going to grab a lot of offensive rebounds, but if Texas holds them to as few as they did in Lubbock, this thing could get ugly in a hurry. Tech is not a great shooting team — they find their greatest success against defenses that allow them a ton of backdoor cuts — so they will likely miss a ton of shots against a good Texas D tonight. If they aren’t getting many second chances, we could have a poleaxing on our hands at the Erwin Center.

Finally, Texas needs to stay in front of the basketball. The Red Raiders don’t break you down off the dribble, but they will beat you with quick cuts and crisp passing if you can’t see both the ball and your man. Fortunately, the Longhorns have had the most efficient D in college basketball this season, and held Tech to a pitiful 0.738 points per possession in Lubbock. It would be a major surprise to see the Red Raiders pick apart this Texas defense.

TEAM W L NEXT 3 Texas 7 0 Tech, at OU, Baylor Kansas 6 1 at Nebraska, Mizzou, ISU Texas A&M 4 3 Baylor, at Colorado, at Tech Oklahoma 4 3 at OSU, Texas, at Mizzou Baylor 4 4 at A&M, Nebraska, at Texas Colorado 4 4 at Mizzou, A&M, K-State Missouri 3 4 Colorado, at Kansas, Oklahoma Nebraska 3 4 Kansas, at Baylor, OSU Oklahoma State 3 5 Oklahoma, at Nebraska, at Texas Kansas State 3 5 at Iowa State, at Colorado, Kansas Texas Tech 3 5 at Texas, A&M, at Mizzou Iowa State 1 7 K-State, at Kansas, at A&M

It’s a fairly boring Saturday across the college landscape, with just one game — Kentucky at Florida — matching two teams currently ranked in the Top 25 by the nation’s coaches. The Big 12 isn’t exempt from Snoozer Saturday, thanks to the fact that after Kansas and Texas, the rest of the league is a muddled mess. Just 1.5 games separate Texas A&M, in 3rd, and Texas Tech, which is in 11th place. While that means there’s a lot to be sorted out in today’s conference battles, it also means that the competition will likely be lacking.

Kansas State at Iowa State, 12:45 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
Frank Martin and the ‘Cats endured even more turmoil this week when Wally Judge suddenly left the team. KSU bounced back with a home win over Nebraska to keep them within arm’s reach of a first-round bye. If the Wildcats and their NIT-averse “leader” Jacob Pullen have any designs on turning their season around, this is one of those games they must win. To do so, they’ll have to shut down the outside shooting of the ‘Clones and neutralize the great home-court advantage at Hilton.

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, 12:45 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
The Sooners have the youngest roster in the conference, and were picked to be fighting for last place with Iowa State by most preseason publications. Instead, Jeff Capel has his team overachieving, and the Sooners would actually have a tournament bye if the season were to end today. The Cowboys, meanwhile, have been rather disappointing. With a more formidable frontcourt and the addition of Jéan-Paul Olukemi, it looked like OSU could make some noise in the Big 12 this season. If the Sooners pull off the road win in the Bedlam rivalry this afternoon, it may be time to reverse our expectations for these two teams.

Baylor at Texas A&M, 1 P.M. CT (ESPN)
Remember when Baylor and A&M were a budding basketball rivalry on the Brazos? Things are very different this time around, as the Bears have scuttled through conference play and enter this one with a .500 mark in the Big 12. Baylor is incredibly talented, but their very lengthy zone has been frightfully porous so far this year. The Aggies have also looked iffy over the last two weeks, but can easily get their train back on-track with a pounding of Baylor at home this afternoon. And if A&M loses? More confusion and mediocrity in the middle of the standings.

Kansas at Nebraska, 3 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
Nebraska showed a lot of promise in pushing Kansas to the final possession at Allen Fieldhouse earlier this season. While the Devaney Center has been the site of a few major upsets in recent years, you have to think that Bill Self will have his team ready after their previous close call with the Huskers. Doc Sadler‘s stiff defense should frustrate the Jayhawks, but we expect the superior talent of KU to win out in the end. There aren’t many games left on the Jayhawk schedule that look even remotely risky, but this one does fit the bill. You might want to keep a finger on the remote if things are still close around 5 P.M.

Colorado at Missouri, 6:30 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
This game is bound to be an exciting, run-and-gun affair. Everyone knows about Missouri’s Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball, but Tad Boyle has a team full of athletes at Colorado that also love to push the tempo. The Buffs came up with a huge upset over Mizzou in their conference opener back on January 8th, a ridiculously fast game which had 74 possessions. Colorado came out with the victory thanks to excellent ball control — they posted a turnover rate of just 13.4% against the Mizzou pressure D — but teams have a much harder time when they face the Tigers in Columbia. Look for Mizzou to get revenge in an exciting one this evening.

Texas Tech at Texas, 8 P.M. CT (ESPNU)
A full look at the Longhorn/Red Raider tilt will come in our typical game preview later this afternoon.

After six years of frustration in College Station, the Longhorns finally left Reed Arena with a victory. Texas led from wire to wire against the Aggies on Monday night, building a lead as large as 27 points before cruising to a dominating 69-49 win over their in-state rivals.

The victory moved the Longhorns to 7-0 in Big 12 play, while the Aggies fell into a third-place tie with Baylor at 4-3. With Texas now holding the tiebreaker over Texas A&M by virtue of sweeping the season series, the Aggies are essentially eliminated from any discussion of a conference title.

To claim the Big 12 crown, Texas A&M would need to run the table — which includes a road trip to Kansas — while the Longhorns would have to lose four of their final nine games, and the Jayhawks would have to lose to another opponent in addition to the Aggies. Not even Lloyd Christmas would like those odds.

What looked good

The story all season has been the superhuman numbers being posted by the Longhorn defense, and against the Aggies it was no different. Texas held A&M to just 0.559 points per possession in the first half, and allowed 0.790 per possession for the game. In conference play alone, Texas is allowing just 0.835 points each time down the court, a number made even more impressive by the fact that it includes four games against the league’s three best teams.

For the third straight game, the Texas defense also completely shut down one of the top scoring threats for the opposition. Khris Middleton couldn’t even manage a point against the Texas defense, despite coming into the game averaging 15.5 a night. Against A&M, Missouri, and Oklahoma State, the Longhorns held Middleton, Marcus Denmon, and Keiton Page to a total of seven points. That trio had combined to average 45.5 points per game prior to facing the Horns.

An early catalyst for the Longhorns was the aggressive play of Dogus Balbay, who has attacked the basket much more in the last few games. Balbay seems to be more aware of when defenses aren’t prepared to stop the ball in transition, and he’s collecting a few easy layups in each game as a result. Against the Aggies, that led to six points for Dogus, who has scored 29 points in Texas’ last four games. In the nine games prior to his offensive outburst, Balbay chalked up a grand total of 28 points.

Jordan Hamilton posted yet another impressive stat line, scoring 20 points with ease. He recognized mismatches and sunk midrange jumpers over Dash Harris and B.J. Holmes, grabbed six rebounds, and added three assists. While Hamilton made only three-pointers against Oklahoma State last week, he was attacking off the dribble in this one and creating good looks for himself inside the arc.

The bench also provided a huge spark in the first half, as the four Longhorn reserves scored 17 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. That alone was nearly enough to eclipse Texas A&M’s 20 first-half points. Big men Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill finally both had a solid game on the same night, with the pair scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, while they combined to grab 12 rebounds. J’Covan Brown chipped in eight points with three assists, and actually did not attempt a three the entire night.

What needed work

As always, free throws were a major issue for the Longhorns. The team shot 59.1% from the line, which at the very least was a marked improvement from the abysmal 47% mark they posted against Missouri on Saturday. Tristan Thompson was once again the main offender, making just four of his 10 attempts at the line. The rest of the Longhorns actually shot 75% from the stripe, although Hill missed the front-end of a one-and-one in the first half.

The offense in the second half left a little to be desired, but it’s hard to fault a team for letting off the gas when they take a 25-point lead to the locker room. Texas managed just 24 points in the second half, but still shot 44% from the field over that stretch. All told, the Longhorns scored 1.087 points per possession, a number any fan would be pleased with in conference play. If the biggest complaint you can make about a team is that they didn’t win by 30 points, then it seems you don’t have that much to worry about.

Unfortunately, the one Longhorn who did had a rough night was reserve guard Jai Lucas. He had a nice early drive for a layup, but also picked up three fouls (one of which was 85 feet from the basket), bricked his only three-point attempt, and was abused defensively by B.J. Holmes. It’s great that Jai was able to play 12 minutes in this one, but it’s hard to believe this performance earned himself any extra minutes in the future.

Next up: vs. Texas Tech (11-11 overall, 3-4 Big 12); 8 P.M, Saturday

Tonight, the Texas Longhorns visit Reed Arena as one of the hottest teams in the country. This afternoon, they ascended to the 3rd spot in both national rankings, and have moved up to the 1- or 2-seed line in almost every bracket projection on the internet. The Longhorns are boasting their first 6-0 conference start since the school joined the Big 12 conference, and have a dominating defense that has allowed conference opponents just 0.842 points per possession.

All of that could be meaningless, however, as Reed Arena has been a house of horrors in recent years for the Texas Longhorns. A&M has won the last six meetings between the two schools, with the Aggies claiming a 74-58 victory last season. During that six-year stretch, Texas has sent two teams to the Elite Eight — those two teams lost by a combined 30 points in Reed Arena.

But if you had to pick a Texas team to break the curse, this year’s edition would be a safe bet. The Longhorns seem to thrive on hostile environments, grabbing road wins at Michigan State’s Breslin Center and in front of 21,000-plus clad in Carolina-blue at Greensboro Coliseum. And then, of course, there was the monumental comeback win against the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse that snapped Kansas’ 69-game home winning streak. These Longhorns have proven they can stand tall on the road, but a win at Reed Arena will still be a very tough task.

The first meeting

Tonight’s game is the second match-up for the Horns and Aggies, who squared off in Austin just two weeks ago. The Longhorns dominated from the start, jumping out to a 20-5 lead just seven minutes into the game. While A&M closed the gap to five points in less than five minutes, that was as close as the Aggies would ever get, and Texas cruised to an 81-60 win.

Texas A&M’s frontcourt was absolutely abused by the Longhorns in the first meeting. Texas posted a plus-eight rebounding margin, and grabbed more than 40% of their own misses. On the defensive end, the Horns held the Aggies to just a 33.3% offensive-rebounding mark, well off of their season average of 40.9%.

Texas A&M was frustrated all night, and it showed in the types of fouls they were whistled for. Ray Turner and Kourtney Roberson each were called for four fouls, forcing David Loubeau to play more minutes on a night where he was having difficulty containing Texas’ Tristan Thompson. The Canadian freshman finished with 18 points on the night, and added six rebounds in 30 minutes on the court.

Since then…

The Aggies have only played twice since that game in Austin, splitting the two contests. Texas A&M first knocked off Kansas State at home last Saturday, before dropping a game against Nebraska in Lincoln two days ago. The Aggies failed to score in the last 1:34 against Nebraska, allowing the Huskers to pull away for a 57-48 win.

During the two games, Dash Harris struggled at the point. Harris combined for five turnovers and just five assists in the two wins, while his typically-abysmal shooting continued. Against KSU and Nebraska, Dash was just 4-of-13 from the field.

Khris Middleton, meanwhile, continued to lead the way for Texas A&M, chipping in 30 points in the two games. Against the Wildcats, Middleton had a tough day from the field, but manufactured points for his team by getting to the line. Although he shot just 30% from the field, the sophomore knocked down 11 of 12 attempts at the line.

Meet the Aggies

Since this is the second meeting between the two teams this year, writing another in-depth look at the A&M roster would be a monumental waste of time. We suggest that you revisit the first game preview for more info on the Aggies than you probably ever wanted to know.

Keys to the game

As it was the first time these two teams met, controlling the glass will be key. The Aggies have found success this season by winning the rebounding battle, and Texas is one of the few teams that has managed to successfully keep A&M off the glass. If the Horns can once again limit second-chance points by clearing the defensive glass and can extend their own possessions by earning offensive rebounds, they have a much better chance to complete the season sweep.

All road environments are tough to fight through, but Reed Arena is one of the loudest places the Longhorns will play. Texas showed poise in coming back in front of a hostile Allen Fieldhouse crowd, so they need to draw on that experience when things get tough tonight. The Longhorns must fight through adversity if they are going to overcome the crowd and break the losing streak in College Station. When the Aggies go on a scoring run, the Texas offense must continue to be patient, and they cannot force shots in an effort to silence the crowd.

Finally, Texas would be wise to limit the perimeter scoring. The Horns did a great job shutting down the inside game of the Aggies in Austin — Loubeau, Nathan Walkup, and Turner combined for 19 points — but gave up a lot of three-pointers in the second half. Mark Turgeon does a great job slowing things down at home, and his stout defenses always make it very tough to put the ball in the basket. This adds up to a high likelihood for a very low-scoring affair tonight. The Horns can’t afford to let Texas A&M to sink many threes when their own points will likely be hard to come by.