In late October, the Big 12 and Pac-10 announced the end of a four-year series pitting teams from the two conferences in an annual basketball grudge match. With all of the shuffling and re-alignment going on this summer, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the two leagues parted ways. Colorado was bolting the Big 12 for the greener pastures of the soon-to-be Pac-12 Conference, while last-minute deals kept the remains of the Big 12 intact and ended Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott’s dream of a 16-team league stretching from Seattle to College Station.

During the first three years of the conference alliance, the Texas Longhorns have tallied three wins. That perfect mark includes a momentous upset, when the Longhorns secured the first-ever road victory over a No. 1 team in school history with a last-minute win at UCLA. Three years after that upset, Texas finally returns to Los Angeles, this time to face off with a struggling USC squad.

Tonight’s game at the Galen Center will be the first true road game for the Longhorns, although their two neutral-site games at Madison Square Garden had crowds that were certainly skewed in favor of the Texas opponents. USC’s home arena isn’t a loud, intimidating place to play, but one can imagine that the prospect of another USC-Texas battle — even if it isn’t on the gridiron — could fill a few more seats.

The game will also be a homecoming for sophomore Jordan Hamilton, who played his high-school ball in Los Angeles. Jordan will be looking for a breakout game, as he struggled in the last two Texas wins. Of course, for a scorer like Hamilton, “struggle” is a relative term — he still chipped in 29 points in the two games despite only hitting 32% from the field.

By the numbers

Head coach Kevin O’Neill inherited a difficult situation when he arrived at USC, with the team mired in an investigation surrounding former Trojan O.J. Mayo. The Trojans have gone through a litany of roster changes over the past two years, but have emerged with a small, tight-knit group of players who hang their hat on in-your-shirt defense. Last year, USC was tops in the Pac-10 in scoring defense, and 2nd nationally in defensive efficiency. Trojan opponents managed just 0.849 points per possession on the year.

This season, defense is still a strength for USC. While this year’s numbers aren’t quite as impressive, the Trojans are still holding opponents to just 0.920 points in each trip down the court. A big part of their defensive success comes from limiting opponents to just one shot, as the Trojans are giving up just one offensive board in every four opportunities.

USC is also very disciplined on defense, committing very few fouls for such a solid D. The team averages just 15.5 fouls per game, which is an important number for a team that has just six players accounting for 92% of the team’s minutes.

Meet the Trojans

The USC team that takes the court tonight will be a very different one from the team that tackles the Pac-10 conference slate. That’s good news for Texas, because the Trojans will welcome Fordham transfer Jio Fontan on December 18th when the team faces Kansas. Fontan offers experience and leadership at the point, something USC is lacking at the moment.

Right now, the leadership comes from the frontcourt, where Nikola Vucevic and Alex Stephenson anchor the team. Vucevic is averaging a double-double so far, with 16 points and 10.9 boards per game. He’s a good midrange shooter and can knock down the three, so he spreads the defense out and opens up the lane for the team’s tiny, slashing guards.

Stephenson, meanwhile, is making a big impact after transferring from North Carolina. Last season, Stephenson often found himself in foul trouble, which limited his production. This year, he’s posting 8.3 points and 7.6 rebounds a night, despite playing the entire season with a fractured bone in his left hand. The injury is limiting his offensive game to putbacks and easy lay-ins, but even that doesn’t stop him from contributing down low.

In the backcourt, freshman Maurice Jones is filling the void at point until the arrival of Fontan. At just 5’7″, Jones isn’t a guy who typically creates his own shot. However, the Trojans work hard setting high ball screens with Stephenson and Vucevic, so Jones is often able to speed to the rack for easy buckets.

Although Jones is only a freshman, he’s proven to be a heady point guard so far. He doesn’t press the issue when the shot isn’t there, which saves him from a lot of embarrassing blocked shots. If he’s driving the lane and the defense shuts things down, Jones has no problem backing it out and resetting the offense.

Another freshman in the starting five is Bryce Jones, a 6’5″ off guard who is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Although he’s only made 36.6% of his threes so far this season, his three-point prowess was well-documented in high school, and he could certainly give Texas fans a headache if he gets hot from long range tonight.

Senior Marcus Simmons is taking on a larger role this season, having started all eight games so far. He’s doubled his scoring output from last year’s three points per game to more than six this season, but more importantly he is grabbing 4.5 boards a night. On a team that only has two players taller than 6’7″ earning significant minutes, the 6’6″ Simmons has to be active on the glass.

The Trojans have another senior leader coming off the bench in Donte Smith. Just 5’11”, he’s another quick guard at Coach O’Neill’s disposal, and he’s another three-point threat to compliment Bryce Jones. It’s also worth nothing that Smith is 9-of-10 at the line this year, a very impressive number on a USC team that is shooting just 64% at the line.

Garrett Jackson is the only other Trojan who has played in every game this year, although he’s averaging just 13.5 minutes a night. He was Gatorade’s Player of the Year in Oregon as a high-school senior last season, and he seems to be adjusting quickly to the college game. He’s still very thin for a college player, but he’s athletic and knows how to score inside against bigger players. He also has a smooth midrange jumper, the threat of which allows him to pump fake opponents off the floor before he slashes to the rim.

Keys to the game

While we’ve talked about the lack of depth for Texas all season long, this Trojan team has it even worse. USC is well-known for its excellent half-court defense that pressures the ball well past the perimeter, so Texas would be well-served to push the tempo. This serves two purposes, as it wears out the Trojans’ core rotation, and gets Texas easier points in transition before the tough USC defense can get set.

In addition, Texas can exploit the lack of depth by attacking inside. Beyond Vucevic and Stephenson, there is very little experience or size on the Trojan bench. At 6’9″, freshman Curtis Washington is the only other forward with any size on Coach O’Neill’s bench, and he’s played a grand total of seven minutes in the team’s first eight games. Getting Vucevic and Stephenson in foul trouble will not only take a bite out of USC’s scoring threat, it will also give Texas an even bigger size advantage.

Finally, the Longhorns have to erase the mistakes tonight. Against Lamar, Texas played one of the sloppiest games we’ve seen in years, turning it over 23 times. The Longhorns also struggled early against Sam Houston State, coughing it up 11 times in the first half. USC’s defense is much, much better than what Texas saw against the Cardinals and Bearkats, so the Horns simply cannot afford to be that careless with the basketball tonight. Giving up possessions and easy, fast-break points is a recipe for disaster.

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it still was a win — the 300th win at Texas for Coach Rick Barnes, in fact. But in a game where the two teams combined for more turnovers than field goals, it sometimes felt more like an episode of Benny Hill than a Division I collegiate basketball game.

Texas (6-1) and Lamar (4-3) had a combined 44 turnovers on the night, but it was the Longhorns who finally found an offensive rhythm. While the Cardinals held a six-point lead over the Longhorns five minutes into the game, Texas turned up the defensive pressure and ran away with it. Over the ensuing 18 minutes of basketball, the Longhorns outscored the erratic Cardinals by a 43-16 margin and never looked back. Texas cruised the rest of the way, enjoying an easy 76-55 win in front of 5,473 burnt-orange faithful.

What looked good

The Texas defense was stellar for most of the night. The Longhorns held Lamar to just 25.7% shooting from the field, giving the Cardinals an offensive efficiency of just 0.661 points per possession. Texas denied the perimeter, shoring up what had been a glaring weakness against Rice just days before. As a result, Lamar was only 1-of-9 from behind the arc.

Often, the baskets that the Cardinals did get were a result of the Longhorns actually overplaying on defense. But in a game where Texas forced 21 turnovers and blocked nine shots, those few easy looks were a fair trade-off for the active, suffocating D.

Matt Hill had three of those blocks, as he performed admirably off the bench for 19 minutes. The second half was initially a whistle-fest, with the referees calling 15 fouls in less than eight minutes of action. As a result, Gary Johnson was saddled with foul trouble and Hill was needed to plug the gap. In addition to his three blocks, Matt added six boards and five points. While many teams remaining on the Texas schedule will have bigger frontcourts than the Cardinals, the performance from Hill was promising.

Alexis Wangmene was also bothered by fouls, including one offensive one that looked very much like a Zinedine Zidane-style flop by Lamar’s Devon Lamb from our vantage point. But in the seven minutes that Wangmene did manage to stay on the floor, his defense was much better than in weeks past. He established position, stayed tall, and managed to recover quickly when he was out of the play. Alexis was still outworked for rebounds by a smaller Lamar team, but it was encouraging to see the strides he had made defensively.

On offense, Cory Joseph continued his hot streak, posting a new career high for the second-straight game. He knocked down three of his six long-range attempts as he chalked up 16 points, and just missed a double-double by grabbing nine defensive boards. In the Rice and Lamar games, Joseph shot 58.3% from behind the arc and logged 30 total points.

Tying Joseph’s 16-point output was sophomore star Jordan Hamilton. Against Rice, Hamilton was one of the few Longhorns probing the Owl zone, but he often ran into resistance near the lane and missed the challenged shots he took.

On Wednesday night, Hamilton looked to pass when the shots weren’t there. Unfortunately, his teammates usually weren’t ready for the ball, and the Longhorns fumbled away a few passes that would’ve resulted in easy layups. In the post-game presser, Barnes also praised Hamilton’s defensive play, saying that it was all the sophomore wanted to work on in the previous two days of practice.

Tristan Thompson also quietly posted some good numbers, earning his second career double-double with an 11-point, 13-rebound performance. Perhaps more importantly, Thompson only had to play 31 minutes in the win. The freshman logged 80 minutes in back-to-back games in New York, and will likely be called on for a ton of minutes in tough games once conference play rolls around. These glorified exhibitions are a perfect opportunity to get Thompson some game-speed reps without overworking him.

What needs work

The most glaring issue for the Longhorns was once again an inability to hang on to the basketball. Texas turned it over 23 times, giving the team a turnover rate of 27.6%, or more than one miscue in every four possessions. Most frustrating was the fact that many of the Longhorn turnovers came from bobbling passes or throwing it directly past an oblivious teammate and into the stands. Joseph, Jai Lucas, and J’Covan Brown accounted for 14 of the Texas turnovers, while posting just eight assists between them.

In addition, the free throw rollercoaster continued against Lamer. The Longhorns started out wonderfully, knocking down 11 of 15 attempts in the first half. But yet again the charity-stripe demons resurfaced, as Texas posted a 12-for-22 mark in the final twenty. The main culprit was Thompson, who finished a disappointing 5-of-11 at the line. If the freshman continues to struggle with his free throws, opponents will simply not allow him any easy baskets inside. He’s going to have to find his stroke once again, because opposing frontcourts are going to make him earn those points.

Next up: vs. Southern Cal (4-4); Sunday, 9:30 P.M. CT

For fans who like high-scoring basketball, Saturday’s game against Rice might not have been that enjoyable. Throw in the fact that Texas escaped with only a three-point victory, and maybe some of those folks might have even described the afternoon as miserable. Tonight, things will be very, very different at the Frank Erwin Center when the Lamar Cardinals square off with Texas. The Cards are going to bring a ton of points to the Frank Erwin Center, and the Longhorns should cruise to an easy win.

By the numbers

The aforementioned slow game against Rice was actually a full 20 possessions slower than four of Texas’ first five games, clocking in at just 54 possessions. The Lamar Cardinals, meanwhile, average more than 72 possessions per game and are putting up 98 points a night. Their actual efficiency numbers are atrocious, however. The Cardinals score just .974 points per possession — by contrast, the Longhorns earn 1.125 per trip — while their defense gives up points like a middle school debate team squaring off against Columbia Law. Opponents are scoring 1.099 per possession, so look for the Longhorn offense to run wild in this one.

The rest of the defensive numbers make it painfully clear just how bad the defense really is. Lamar opponents are making nearly 50% of their three-pointers and almost 53% of their shots inside the arc. When the Cardinals aren’t letting people hit shots like it’s NBA Jam, they send folks to the free-throw line with regularity. Lamar opponents shoot more than a free throw per two field goal attempts, a free-throw rate that is among the 25 worst in the nation.

They stole the basketball 22 times against St. Gregory’s on Saturday, but haven’t found the same success against their three D-I opponents. They are stealing it just once in every twenty possessions — good for 340th out of 345 teams in this metric — so even though they are forcing turnovers, it hasn’t fueled their up-tempo attack. Knocking the ball out of bounds and forcing travels simply doesn’t kickstart a transition offense.

Meet the Cardinals

The Lamar roster is littered with newcomers, but most come to the table with JuCo experience. Fortunately, head coach Steve Roccaforte also has four starters returning for last year’s team, which has enabled the Cardinals to hit the ground running in 2010-11. The insane tempo at which Lamar plays dictates the need for a long bench, and the Cardinals have no shortage of players who can sprint and can score. Four different Lamar players are averaging more than 12 points a game so far this season, while eleven different players are seeing at least ten minutes a night.

Charlie Harper is a versatile forward who leads the starting five with 13 points a game. The 6’5″ junior forward is being counted on to grab the boards this season, and so far he’s responded with a team-leading 5.8 per game. Joining Harper in the frontcourt are a couple of young forwards in Stan Brown and Darius Harris. The 6’8″ freshman Harris made his first career start against St. Gregory’s on Saturday, but played just eight minutes. Brown, meanwhile, is averaging just about 10 minutes a night. At 6’9″, he’s one of just a few big men in the guard-oriented Lamar lineup.

The other big body on the Cardinals roster is 6’10” senior center Coy Custer, who has come off the bench in all six games this year. He’s playing just 11 minutes a game, but still contributing 4.5 points and 3.7 rebounds a night. If Texas chooses to go small and match Lamar’s style, Custer’s role should be minimal. If the Longhorns try to go big, however, Custer, Brown, and Harris will all need to step up to keep Lamar competitive.

It’s the backcourt where Lamar is loaded, and the Cardinal guards can score in bunches. Senior Kendrick Harris puts in about 12 points a night, but it’s his 43% success rate from behind the arc that is the scariest number. JuCo swingman Brandon Davis is also lethal from long range, knocking down 41% of his three-point attempts, while scoring 12.5 per game. There’s no dobut that Lamar is going to put points on the board tonight, so look for this pair to score quite a few of them.

Junior Anthony Miles is bouncing back after a late-season injury marred his 2009-10 campaign. He’s started all six games this year, and has put up almost 10 points a night. He’s benefiting from the addition of JuCo transfer Mike James, who missed the first four games of the season, but has scored 30 points in his two appearances.

James fits well into the up-tempo Lamar attack, and his presence allows Miles to shift from point to an off-guard role where he can score even more. The Horns will also need to watch James when he’s on the perimeter, as he’s 3-for-6 from behind the arc in his two games.

Lamar is also getting minutes from a trio of JuCo transfers in Vincenzo Nelson, Orlando Brazier, and Devon Lamb. Lamb averaged 28 points per game at Southwest Christian JC last season, and he’s been the most productive bench player for the Cardinals so far this year. He’s scoring more than nine points in just 16 minutes a night. Nelson and Brazier, meanwhile, are providing additional minutes inside, although they give up a few inches against a lot of opposing forwards.

The final Cardinal seeing significant playing time is sophomore Donley Minor. The 6’2″ guard is known for being a sharpshooter, but is only hitting 36% of his three-point attempts at this point. He’s due for a breakout game from long range, so don’t be surprised if he starts sinking them tonight.

Keys to the game

With the efficiency numbers so one-sided, there’s very little that Texas could do to lose this game. Essentially, if Texas can simply protect the basketball to limit the fast break points for the Cardinals, things shouldn’t be close. If the Longhorns are unable to make their free throws, as they were in the final minutes against Rice, it would only serve to keep Lamar in the basketball game.

With the outcome hardly in doubt, tonight is more about looking at problem areas for the Longhorns to see if they’ve improved. After a tough first half against Rice, Jordan Hamilton lit up the stat sheet with a ton of threes in the second half. Tonight, we’ll be looking to see if he’s still attacking the basket and if his shot selection improves from inside the arc.

In addition, if the Longhorns stick with a traditional lineup, we’ll be watching to see how Matt Hill and Alexis Wangmene do against undersized competition. It’s no secret that Hill and Wangmene will be overmatched against many of the starting bigs in conference play, but they’ll have to be able to perform against players like these. If not, their minutes off the bench in the spring won’t be very effective.

Cheap tickets abound

Once again, there’s a web coupon available for cheap seats to tonight’s game. Click here and print out the coupon for $6 end-zone mezzanine tickets, and then join us in the lower arena for the game. It’s your last chance to see the Horns play at the FEC until December 11th, so bring out the family for what is sure to be a high-scoring, entertaining night.

Last season, the Rice Owls gave Texas all they could handle when the two teams met at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston. The Owls were within seven points with 6:23 to go before the Longhorns pulled away on the strength of Dexter Pittman‘s inside play. Pittman is gone now, but the majority of that Rice team has returned. Four of last year’s starters will be on the court for the Owls this afternoon when the teams rekindle the old Southwest Conference rivalry.

Year Two of the Ben Braun era was one where the program simply treaded water. Although the Owls had won four early season games before their matchup with Texas, Rice won just four more games the rest of the year. This season, the Owls have padded their résumé with a pair of wins over NAIA schools and added a blowout victory against Grambling. The returning experience has clearly made a difference, though, as Rice hung close in tough road losses to Santa Clara and North Texas.

By the numbers

This afternoon will be a clash in styles, as the Owls come into this one averaging just 67.4 possessions per game. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are pushing the tempo to the tune of 71.3 possessions per contest. While a four-possession differential may not seem like much, in the world of tempo stats, it is a massive gap. The Owls will likely play a calm, deliberate style of half-court hoops, but look for the Horns to pressure the basketball and push the tempo on offense.

In their two NCAA contests, Rice’s free-throw rate is absolutely abysmal. A measure of how often a team gets to the line, the Owls’ FTR puts them 322nd out of 345 Division I teams. This means that Rice is settling for far too many jumpers, and isn’t attacking the paint.

On defense, Rice also has a terrible FTR. They are sending opponents to the line 57% of the time, which puts them 326th nationally. If Texas attacks inside, the Longhorns could attempt roughly 3,283 free throws in this game. You may want to add an extra 90 minutes to your DVR recording.

The other statistical concern for Rice is a very high turnover rate. More than once in every five trips down the court, the Owls are coughing up the basketball. Fortunately for Coach Braun, his team is hitting 42% of their shots, so when they actually hang on to the ball long enough to shoot it, the Owls are making it count.

Rice also seems to be a bit bi-polar behind the arc. In their three NCAA contests, the Owls are hitting 40% of their three-point attempts. But against the NAIA schools, Rice struggled mightily. The Owls fired up three-pointers indiscriminately in those two games, making just 6 of their 39 attempts. Although Rice was just 1-of-10 behind the arc against Texas last season, the Horns still need to keep an eye on the perimeter. Unless, of course, Texas changes its classification to NAIA sometime in the next two hours.

Meet the Owls

Last season, Arsalan Kazemi nearly had a double-double off the bench against Texas. He logged eight points and nine boards in only his sixth collegiate game. Now a sophomore, Kazemi has developed into the team leader. He’s tops on the team in both points and boards, logging 14.4 and 12 a game. He’s still a one-trick pony, as he does all his work inside. At 6’7″, that could lead to some frustrating nights for the Iranian-born Kazemi when the Owls square off against bigger frontcourts.

Another sophomore making an impact is guard Tamir Jackson. He’s hitting more than 36% of his three-point attempts, and is second on the team with 13.2 points a night. He’s also the most-used player, seeing more than 30 minutes a game. The main concern with the sophomore guard is ball control, as Jackson is averaging more turnovers than assists. Last year, he coughed it up four times against Texas.

Joining Jackson in the backcourt is junior Connor Frizelle. He had a standout freshman campaign in Conference USA, but struggled as a sophomore. Those struggles were never more apparent than in last year’s game with Texas, where Frizelle missed all ten of his shots. He’ll certainly score points this afternoon, so the Horns must work to limit this aggressive guard to jump shots.

Senior guard Cory Pflieger is in his sixth year of eligibility after missing all of last season due to an ankle injury. He’s playing about 23 minutes a game, and is a threat from long range. In 2008-09, his last full season, he made more than 36% of his long range attempts, but is off to a slower start this season with just 30% of his threes going down.

In the frontcourt, Lucas Kuipers is the only Owl besides Jackson who has started every game. At 6’8″, the junior is built more for the power forward role in the Rice offense, but generally plays more of a wing thanks to Kazemi’s preference to play down low. Despite starting every contest, Kuipers only plays about half of each game.

The real workhorse in the frontcourt is Trey Stanton. He’s the biggest guy on the Rice roster that gets any significant playing time, and he ate up a ton of minutes down low last season. This year, he’s the second-leading rebounder on the team with 6.4 boards a night and is averaging 7.2 points. He’s actually attempted two threes per game this season, but has only made 10% of them so far. He’s due to make quite a few, though, as the former Navy big man made 35% of his long-range attempts last season.

Off the bench, the Owls are getting a ton of production out of Nigerian-born senior forward Suleimon Braimoh. Although he’s playing just 15.8 minutes a night, he’s scoring a quick rate, chipping in 7.4 points in his limited action.

In addition to the three main guards in Ben Braun’s stable, the Owls also rely on minutes from freshman Trev Abraham and Nate Schwarze. Abraham has started two games, and Coach Braun expects big things from him in the near future. He’s a quick ballhandler and gets in your shirt on defense.

Schwarze, meanwhile, has seen his role increase dramatically. After playing less than seven minutes a night last season, he’s playing more than 15 a game this year. He’s currently leading the team with a 67% three-point percentage, but that number is skewed by the fact that he’s only taken three attempts all season.

Keys to the game

This afternoon, the Longhorns must attack the paint. The Owls foul often, and lately the Longhorns have actually made enough free throws to make trips to the charity stripe useful. If Texas can get the Rice bigs in foul trouble, as they did against Pittsburgh, Coach Braun will have to rely on his inexperienced frontcourt reserves. The Owls do have a 7’2″ Egypitan product in Omar Oraby, but he’s only played 10 minutes all season. If Rice gets to the point where he’s eating up a ton of minutes, the Longhorns will likely have an easy victory.

The second part of a commitment to attacking the paint is that it means the Longhorns won’t be settling for threes. That’s exactly what the Longhorns did against the Rice zone last year, and it let the Owls stay in the game for far too long. Until Texas made a commitment to getting the ball to Pittman, their putrid 23% mark from long range was scuttling the offense.

On defense, Texas needs to force Kazemi outside. The sophomore makes his living down low, so if the Longhorn defense can force Kazemi to take midrange jumpers, it will cripple the offense. It will also take him away from the glass, hampering Rice’s ability to rebound.

Texas would also benefit from putting a ton of pressure on the basketball. Jackson and Frizelle, the two guards who play the most for Rice, have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.62! That’s a number you’d expect from a stone-handed big man, not two of your primary ballhandlers.

As a team, Rice is losing possession nearly once in every four trips down the court. By pressuring the basketball, the Longhorns will not only limit the Owl offense, but will also fuel their own fast break game.

Cheap tickets remain

Sure, it’s cold outside, at least by Texas standards. But one of the many great things about college basketball is its climate-controlled arenas. Take thirty seconds to print out this web coupon and snag yourself $6 tickets to the game. The offer is only good for mezzanine tickets, but on a holiday weekend, you’ll easily be able to sit in the lower level.

The Texas program has long been known for its defense. Under head coach Rick Barnes, the philosophy shifted from the run-n-gun style of Tom Penders to a well-disciplined, defense-first approach. It seems only fitting the the Longhorns put up their best defensive performance of the year on a night where Coach Barnes earned his 500th career win.

Texas cruised to an 84-50 victory over the Sam Houston State Bearkats in a game where the outcome was never in doubt. Both teams played an extremely sloppy first half, with 23 combined turnovers between the two teams. The Longhorns held SHSU to just a 29.2% success rate from the field, while posting an impressive 55% field-goal percentage of their own.

What looked good

The game was so one-sided on Tuesday night that it’s tough to extract any meaningful bits of information from the game. Was Texas really that good, or did the new-look Bearkats simply lay an egg in their first true test of the year?

The truth is likely found somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, but the raw numbers certainly look pretty. The Longhorns had an offensive efficiency of 1.14 points per possession, but the stats were even better on defense. Texas allowed the Bearkats just 0.68 points each trip down the floor, making it the team’s second-most efficient defensive performance since giving up 0.66 points per possession to Navy in the season opener.

On offense, the Longhorns were led by Jordan Hamilton, who matched his season average with 25 points despite only having to play 27 minutes in the blowout. He hit both of his three-point attempts on the night, was 5-of-6 at the stripe, and finished just a rebound shy of a double-double.

There is now no question that Hamilton will be the team’s leader this year, and it’s clear that he has matured during the offseason. After forcing up some bad shots in the pair of New York City games, Hamilton played smart, team basketball against Sam Houston State.

Surprisingly, the team’s second-leading scorer was senior point guard Dogus Balbay. The Turkish guard’s lack of a jump shot is an oft-noted deficiency, and he did miss the only short jumper he took against the Bearkats. But Balbay looked comfortable pushing the break, probing the interior D in half-court sets, and getting to the rim for easy layups.

His 14 points marked a new career-high, besting the 13 he posted against Texas Tech in January. Critics might point to the quality of those two opponents before giving Balbay credit, but the fact that he is once again looking to get to the rim will only serve to open up the rest of the offense.

Freshman Cory Joseph also had the best game of his young career, chipping in nine points on the night. Joseph led the team with four assists and managed to finish with just two turnovers in a game where it seemed like the Longhorns threw it away on every other possession. Cory has taken flak for the way the Pitt game finished, but he and Balbay are going to provide a dose of quality backcourt leadership this year. And we all know the adage about March and a team’s backcourt play…

The biggest subplot of the night, however, came at the free-throw line. The Longhorns finished 15-of-19 from the stripe, an improvement of a full 11 percentage points over the season average. Texas actually started their impressive free-throw streak during crunch time of the Pitt game, where they made eight out of 10 attempts over the final eight minutes of the game. Combining the numbers from those two games gives the Horns a 79.3% mark at the line over the last 48 minutes of basketball.

What needed work

For once, Tristan Thompson looked human. After making a huge splash in his first four games, including an absolutely incredible performance on back-to-back nights in New York, the freshman came back to Earth. Sam Houston State’s Antuan Bootle frustrated Thompson all night, limiting the Canadian to just three points and four boards in 28 minutes of play. He never seemed to get in the flow of the game, and with the outcome clearly in hand, Coach Barnes elected to give Matt Hill and Alexis Wangmene more minutes and experience.

The biggest flaw for Texas, though, was clearly the turnovers. While Texas turned things around at half and only coughed it up twice in the final 20 minutes, the first half was a disaster. The Longhorns had 12 miscues before halftime, and most of them were unforced errors. The team threw the ball into the crowd on multiple occasions, while J’Covan Brown and Gary Johnson combined to pick up five offensive fouls in the game. Considering the sloppy play was limited to just the first half, and that the team also had just ten turnovers in the entire game against Illinois, we figure it’s safe to chalk this one up as an aberration.

The other concern worth noting is the team’s continued struggles from three-point range. The Longhorns shot 30% from behind the arc last night, a sad number that is even more depressing if you were to remove Hamilton’s 2-for-2 performance. On the season, the team is 29.4% from long range. Take Hamilton and walk-on Dean Melchionni out of the equation — since Melchionni won’t see meaningful minutes this season — and the Longhorns are just 6-of-38 from three-point range, which is only a 15.8% success rate. Jai Lucas, who was the team’s best three-point shooter last season (46.2%) in his limited minutes, has yet to make one this year in his eight attempts.

Next up: vs. Rice Owls (3-2); Saturday, 3 P.M. CT