Postgame React: Texas Falls To MSU
by Peter Bean on Dec 22, 2007 10:53 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintGame Recap: Texas dropped its first game of the season in a 78-72 loss to a deep, talented, and well-coached Michigan State team. Texas falls to 11-1 on the year and will rest for a week before taking the floor against another Big 10 team next Saturday as Wisconsin visits the Drum.
After starting reasonably well, Texas got into trouble when Michigan State went on a 13-0 run, coupled with DJ Augustin picking up his second foul with seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Longhorns trailed by 8 points at half and by as many as 13 in the second before a late rally pulled them back within striking distance with less than a minute to play. But trailing by 5 points with 22 seconds remaining, DJ Augustin drove around his man for what would looked like a wide open layup only to have his shot blocked by Raymar Morgan. Michigan State secured the loose ball, ending the Texas rally.
The outcome was: Not the end of the world. Texas' weaknesses were exposed tonight, but the outcome itself isn't anything for Texas fans to be upset about. For one thing, Michigan State played very well tonight. The Spartans operated with impressive efficiency on the offensive end, never seeming to force a shot. Defensively, they absolutely smothered the perimeter, forcing Texas to play a style it wasn't comfortable with. You don't win national championships in college hoops fortuitously: Tom Izzo knows what he's doing. And he knew how to beat Texas tonight.
The Offensive MVP was: N/A Abrams finished with 24. DJ finished with 22. Damion had a solid offensive night and picked up 15 important points. But none are deserving of any honors tonight. Abrams was a non-factor on offense until he hit a flurry of three pointers with less than two minutes remaining. DJ Augustin faced a defense that decided it would dictate what he could do, rather than reacting to his outstanding game. Damion had a mostly impressive night, but clanked four free throws and missed two put-back dunks. Those misses are why I can't single him out as an MVP tonight...
The Defensive MVP was: N/A Michigan State scored at will. They scored on jumpers; they scored on layups. They scored in transition; they scored in the half court. AJ Abrams played one of those games where he lunged about the perimeter, coming nowhere near a steal, then flailed helplessly at the man he was late to cover. It was a vintage AJ 2006 performance. Though he was the most visible culprit, the Longhorns collectively had no answer for Michigan State. Our zone was soft on the inside, and slow to rotate on the outside. To make matters worse, we forced something like 2 turnovers for the game. Even if we'd played well on offense, I doubt we'd have won. Late rally (and missed Spartan free throws) aside, Michigan State controlled this game from the 10 minute mark in the first half on in. And mostly, it was our inability to get a stop when we needed one. Credit to MSU - their offense looked very, very good tonight.
The Freshman Evaluation tonight was: Miserable. Chappy played 20 seconds, gave up a layup, and came right out. WingMan was in a big-time college game and didn't seem ready for it. Neither player had any effect on the game on a night in which we needed some big bodies to help out with a big, physical frontcourt.
Dexter Pittman Watch: 4 minutes, 0 points (0-0), 0 rebound, 2 fouls. Not a good night for Dexy, who Rick turned to in the first half to try and mix things up. One thing Pittman's done better this year is to learn to pass the ball out when his shot isn't there. I remember last year laughing because every time Dexy got the ball, you knew he was gonna shoot. I'm sure the coaches beat that lesson into his head, but it appears to have been taken to the opposite extreme. Tonight he caught the ball in perfect position to take a shot, but he hesitated, then kicked the ball out. Obviously, he's still got much more to learn. Defensively, Dexter was exposed on several possessions and was more liability than help for the 'Horns tonight.
Three Things: (1) All eyes on Rick. Texas' worst loss last season came at the Drum in February when Bob Huggins figured out a nice way to disrupt the Longhorns' offense, using his big, athletic guards to muscle Texas on the perimeter. It was the same strategy that Tim Floyd used to knock us out of the NCAA Tournament. Tonight, Tom Izzo took his turn. Bottom line: smart coaches (with the right personnel) are all going to do the same thing to Texas - muscle us on the outside and make us earn points in ways we're not used to. Rick must focus on ways around this, as there's absolutely no way to make a deep NCAA Tournament run if we can't get past a team with that profile. This Texas team can beat any number of different kinds of teams, but this Texas team is fatally vulnerable to the defensive strategy we saw tonight. It's on Rick to get us over that hump.
(2) Connor Atchley is better than I thought. In my first game review of the season, I praised Atchley's development. In subsequent posts, I've praised Atchley's improvement. I still have managed to sell him short. In many ways, he played the best of any Longhorn tonight, though he wasn't nearly as involved in the offense as he has been of late. He's to the point now where I trust him with the ball, I like what he can do near the rim, and Rick would be wise to start running the offense through him on the blocks when we play a team that's trying to suffocate the perimeter. Having Atchley meander the perimeter setting picks is only so useful when Texas desperately needs someone who can give us something inside.
(3) How big a problem is the depth? It's too soon to say, but it was a problem tonight. Gary Johnson will help. Some improvement from Pittman and the freshmen will help. But we're definitely a team that's gonna sink or swim with the starters. Given who we are... point #1 becomes all the more important. We're not a deep team that can play any number of ways - Rick's got to work hard to get the current crew to improve where they're not comfortable.
NEXT GAME: Home vs. Wisconsin (Erwin Center) – Saturday 12/29 11:00 a.m. ESPN2
--PB--
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Odd man out
With Gary Johnson coming, whose place does he take -- if not in the starting lineup then at critical points of the game? Coming in, I'd have had to say Atchley, but he has proven that wrong. We gotta have him in there. Same for James, who carries the rebounding load. So that leaves the guards and it's sure not gonna be DJ, so the question comes down to AJ and Mason.
Again, my first inclination is to bring Mason in off the bench to spell both DJ and AJ, but that leaves AJ matched up against the opposing 2 guard, which is not a pleasant prospect. On the other hand, Mason's offense has dwindled and he is missing lots of easy shots. So what to do?
Could be the best thing is to adopt a substitution pattern that uses AJ for 'instant offense' when the others are lagging and to try to get him matchups he can handle on the other end. Feature him when he is in, and use him in must-score situations like tonight. Get him some minutes early, and if he is hitting leave him in. If not, try him again later. Clearly leaving him in hoping he will find his shot is a disaster. Unless he is open, he misses it.
As to the MSU game, I was very impressed with our team's rebounding and hustle for loose balls. Both teams handled the ball well. On the other hand, as good as their defense was, we hurt ourselves with missed layups, freethrows, and open shots. Sometimes I wonder if in practice we run our own offense against our own defense and not what we expect the opponent to do. In any case, this was not going to be an undefeated season and there was no shame in losing to MSU. Psychologically it may even be better to be a bit lower in the polls and not feel the pressure to live up to a top ranking.
Finally, gawd weren't the announcers bad? They had nothing to say that was not in the press package and had obviously not seen any recent games with either team. Never thought I'd say this, but Bill Haller, I miss you.
no one is the odd man out
I think tonight we saw that Texas has a weakness in the depth department. All of our starters played over 34 minutes, and aside from the late three point barage, it looked as if Texas was tired out there. With that being said i think gary johnson takes those minutes...if all are starters just played 30 today and Gary johnson was on the floor for those others he would have played 32, now i dont think that he will play that much especailly to begin but like you said with AJ, i think you have to look at whoever is cold, mason cant hit a lick and he is constantly getting beat on the defensive put gary in for him, if aj is not hitting, put him in for aj, damion is missing, put him in,i think you get the picture.
But is it just me or does texas stop trying to push the ball in the second half, we built an early lead because of our ability to run the floor and in the second half it just seemed like everytime we walked it up the floor. That has a lot to do with the offensive rebounds mich st was getting. It seemed like that in the UCLA game too. Mich st really impressed me tonight, any team that can play defense like that and can knock down shots has a great chance of a run in the tourney, it wouldnt suprise me to see them in the elite 8 or the final 4 again...i dont think it would suprise many people though.
AS the for the announcers, they were horrible, i dont know what was more fustrating, MSU's suficating d or the commentary
Physical Play
That game is completely different if played below the Mason-Dixon Line (sorry, but it's 1:00 AM, my parents are in my house, and I'm drinking and watching "The Last Waltz," so there are going to be some Civil War references). That crew let the physical play go in a way you won't see in Big XII play (or, for that matter, in the tournament). I remain convinced Texas is a Final Four team when put on a truly neutral court. Fear not, BON.
From what I saw...
Well, it sucks that I work at a sports bar, which means only brief glances at the game, but I agree with hawkeye. We are missing possibly our third, possibly second best player and still hanging with (if not beating) some of the best teams in the country. Of course Gary's health is first and foremost, but if he is indeed thrown into the mix with enough time to build chemistry? But I do have to note, I fear Memphis....
by BurnOut on Dec 23, 2007 1:30 AM CST up reply actions
Though I appreciate the sentiment,,,
...I actually think the opposite is true. Big 12 conference play is brutally physical, and though it'll be good for this team as it preps for March, I can't say that it's going to get any easier.
I will agree that this game would have been tighter if the officials had been friendlier to disallowing guards from being bumped around on the perimeter. Though I don't think we're likely to see a softening of physical play/officiating in Big 12 play, this Texas team will always be at a big advantage in games where the refs don't allow one team to muscle the other.
Tonight, we lost, and got decidedly beat, but I'll note that Michigan State operated at near-100% capacity. They literally couldn't have played much better. If we're serious about making the Final Four, we'll have to be able to win when other teams are playing their best, but we didn't exactly lay an egg even with the Spartans playing their best game of the year.
Still, the key to winning four, five, six games in a row in March is being able to get through teams like this. We're not there yet. Rick's got this team on the cusp, but there's much more to be done.
Several post-game thoughts
I agree with PB about the officiating. The MSU bigs were slowing up Augustin as they showed on the pick and roll. I thought several times in the first half they should have called fouls; some games they call those bumps, but only once in the second half did they call it. Other teams have been pushing AJ off his line as cuts recently as well. He also seemed to have trouble getting pushed around by bigger guards on the perimeter.
Other than that, some thoughts on the game:
Defense-The defense, with the exception of Connor Atchley, was not good. On Neitzel's first three, AJ gambled on the perimeter and couldn't recover. You can't let the shooters for the other team get going early. JD Lewis' later foul on Neitzel was also unacceptable, although in his defense he hasn't even played in games against teams like Texas State. Augustin failed to help after Neitzel came off a screen in the second half and had an uncontested look. Just stood there flat-flooted. Unacceptable. Playing zone late in the game, Mason got sucked into the middle somehow and left open Morgan I think for an uncontested jumper. Inexcusable. The freshman? They were terrible. Pittman needs to work on his lateral quickness before he can really contribute defensively.
DJ-Looking at his stats, with 6 assists and 0 turnovers, it looks like he played a good game. But he killed us with that silly second foul 90 feet from the basket. He really let his team down with that mental lapse. Our offense just looked lost without him. That's a problem we're going to have to solve. The missed free throws late in the game hurt, too. We're going to have to find a solution to teams who show with their bigs on the pick and roll to keep him from turning the corner. Last night we didn't have an answer. I think the big has to slip the screen or pop out onto the perimter.
James-He's still floating too much, as I mentioned in my pre-game post. The missed dunks killed us, as did the missed free throws. I want to see him make his free throws before he continues to launch 18-20 footers.
Connor-Excellent defense from Connor today. I was really impressed with that aspect of his game, the only thing that realy impressed me about our team in this game. Aside from that, we have to get him involved in the offense earlier. We have to get him a couple looks from three in the first half. I felt like he was a little out of rhythm offensively in the second when he missed both of his threes. Neither one missed badly, both were close.
AJ-Horrible, horrible, horrible defense. We need more than that from him. Shot selection, AJ! He needs to stop settling for tough, contested threes. I can't stress that enough. PB covered the problem in his last basketball report as well as I can. Without being able to watch the game again, I can't say whether or not the MSU players were closing out on him under control, but I have to believe that some pump fakes would free him for easier looks.
Offense-Rick Barnes is not a good offensive coach. At all. Not even really a little bit. How many times yesterday did we come down the court and run the dribble handoff in the corner? For a good defensive team, it is extraordinarily easy to game plan for our offense. Kinda like coming into a game against Greg Davis. Rick Barnes will continue to hold his basketball teams back offensively until he figures out a way to solve the problem that we have of often stagnant offenses. We don't move the ball crisply, never have in the five years I've been watching Texas basketball. We don't force the defenses into the multiple rotations that would lead to open looks. We don't run the offense through the high post or low post. There's little cutting. I don't foresee these problems changing.
On a side note, as an Illinois basketball fan growing up, I watched the Illinois-Missouri game following the Longhorns' loss. I was incredibly impressed by their execution offensively and defensively. They play great help defense and are very rarely out of position. They don't bail out the offense by committing silly fouls. They run their offense crisply and effectively, even though most of their players can't shoot to save their lives. JD Lewis might play more than 15 minutes a game for them. Illinois is competitive against better teams because they do everything that their coach asks them to do. They have a smidgen of the talent that Texas has, but consistently more than maximize what they do have. Very impressive by Bruce Weber. Can anyone remember a Rick Barnes team that played better than the sum of its parts? I can't.
by ghostoftheplaymaker4 on Dec 23, 2007 1:53 PM CST up reply actions
Physical play
For sure the Big 12 is a very physical conference (and the big 10 is even more physical). Physical play is permitted in March, especially at the end of the game. My coaches taught me a variety of ways (that are almost completely legal) to physically torment the less physical players. It is a normal, accepted part of the game.
If you have a center who can shoot outside, one way to combat physical defenses is to have that center post up at the top of the circle and run give and go's with him. The D has to honor the guy with the ball (because he can hit the 3), so they can't jump switch easily (when a guard is cutting off the center).
The center can effectively set a moving pick (i.e. step in the path of the pursuing defender who is being screened by the center with the ball) because he has the ball (i.e. normal screening rules do not apply to him).
The horns should be running a lot more alley oop passes to James and Atchley (and maybe Gary Johnson).
I think the horns will solve their offensive problems, they have plenty of talent on O. D will be amuch tougher challenge.
Johnson
He's supposed to be back by New Year's day, correct?
by goingforthecorner on Dec 23, 2007 3:12 AM CST reply actions
Problems
MSU did a good job of exploiting UT's weaknesses. The MSU offense did not amaze me but I do agree with you that it was not a good UT effort on D. UT is very small with its current starting lineup. D requires size and athleticism and UT just is not a big, athletic team. When/if Gary Johnson starts playing, maybe everything is different. As long as both Abrams and Augustin are starting, UT will be challenged on D against a good team with a non-stupid coach.
compounding UT's built in problems on D, the starters are playing so many minutes that you can't really expect them to press much (either full court or half court) or even play intense D the whole game.
The game was a good learning experience (like the 2nd half of the UCLA game). The horns need to become more passing oriented. Way too much time is spent with Augustin dribbling the ball. I would like to see more pick and roll with Augustin/James. I would also like to see more give and go (i.e. give the ball to Atchley outside and let the other shooters cut off of Atchley who has the option to give them the ball, do something with it himself, or reset.
I would prefer to use Atchley on O more as a 3 point shooter than a post up player. Gary Johnson and Damion James need to be the post up players who can kick it out to the 3 point shooters (such as Atchley, Augustin, or Abrams) when double teamed.
If the horns are going to play better D (which I think is their biggest problem), they are going to have to play at least 7 guys serious minutes. Pittman is not in good enough shape to play much and Wingman and Chapman both have their problems. I lean toward Wingman because of his athleticism but he has to improve rapidly.
Izzo
"All eyes on Rick"
Jay Bilas nails it. Izzo has his team prepared for every game, and that was the difference in this one. MSU got DJ out of his rhythm, and none of the other guys stepped up enough to make up for it. Big XII coaches just got handed a blueprint for beating the Horns, so conference season could be rocky. And no one in the post-season is going to be surprised by our team speed, or by Augustin's masterful game management. So how high Texas finishes in conference standings, and how deep they go in March Madness (Sweet 16 anyone?) will depend on how well Rick prepares his team for their next opponent, and how creative he can get with a DJ-less offense.
Tom Izzo loves to say that players play, but tough players win. Well, coaches coach, but prepared coaches win, too. While so many coaches do a great job of preparing their teams, it is futile to try to suggest that one guy is the best. But it is impossible to refute that Izzo is one of the most prepared. If you watched the set plays and actions that Izzo ran against Texas' zone and box-and-one defenses, you saw a well-drilled and well-organized Spartans team. Some may just have seen the final lob look to Marquise Gray on one of Izzo's sets in the second half, but it was all set up by ball reversal, Drew Neitzel running off a baseline double screen and taking a defender with him, and the middle man being left to guard a flash and a slip. It was beautiful. Michigan State is the real thing this season. The Spartans can be beaten, but they have good talent, they score easier baskets and they defend the elbow and block well. Michigan State can beat anyone out there. And most of it is because of Izzo.
by patienthornsfan on Dec 25, 2007 3:35 AM CST reply actions
Texas Drops to #9 in Both Polls
I'm really really shocked the voters didn't put Duke ahead of Texas in the polls given the love Coach K normally gets. But in the end, Texas is just barely behind Georgetown for the 8th spot in both polls. Georgetown doesn't have another challenge until they play Pitt in mid-January, while Texas plays a couple of tough teams in Wisconsin and St. Mary's. Might be just enough to move us ahead of the Hoyas. But I'll be Texas stays right around this spot on the polls until our first conference loss.
by patienthornsfan on Dec 25, 2007 3:40 AM CST reply actions
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