Horns to Close Non-Conference with St. Mary's
by awiggo on Jan 4, 2008 10:12 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintThe #14 Texas Longhorns (12-2) face their final non-conference test of the season as the #24 St. Mary’s Gaels (12-1) visit Austin, and it will be a stiff one. Tip time is 5 p.m. and the game will be televised by Fox Sports Southwest in Texas only and on ESPN Full Court. After dropping two straight, the Horns rebounded with a home win over TCU on Wednesday afternoon in Gary Johnson’s debut. The Longhorns were without the services of AJ Abrams in that one and struggled on both offense and defense. AJ has been cleared to play and will hopefully give the Horns the kick start they will definitely need against a very solid St. Mary’s team.
Tough Schedule Continues
The Horns have already played at least four teams who are favored to win their leagues (Tennessee--SEC; UCLA--Pac-10; Oral Roberts--Summit; Michigan State--Big 10) and face another in St. Mary’s who will certainly challenge Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference crown this season. The Gaels won their first seven games of the year, the most impressive being a 99-87 home victory over then-#11 Oregon. Their only loss of the season came at Southern Illinois on December 11th. St. Mary’s dropped that one by 15 points but has responded by winning their last five contests and will enter the Erwin Center on a roll.
Good News?
Two good pieces of news for Horns fans. One, St. Mary’s hasn’t played since December 29th. So, I will not be surprised to see a rusty start for the Gaels. Second, St. Mary’s has lost their only true road of the season so far, and even with the students still on semester break, the Erwin Center should be close to capacity. With football season over, basketball is the only game in town.
St. Mary’s Starters
St. Mary’s is led by three double digit scorers and one exceptional point guard in 6-0 Patrick Mills. Mills is an Aborigine freshman from Australia who announced himself to the world of American college basketball with a 37 point performance in the upset win over Oregon. He leads the team with 16 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, 33.2 minutes per game, and in total three-pointers made. Mills has also excelled with a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Last, Mills shoots 83% from the free throw line, which could be important in a close game.
The second Gael to be concerned with is the reigning West Coast Conference player of the month, 6-7 junior forward Diamon Simpson. He is nearly averaging a double-double at 12.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Simpson is shooting a solid 56% from the floor and prefers to do most of his damage on the low blocks. Gary Johnson will be given a big challenge on the defensive end in just his second career start.
The third starter scoring in double figures for St. Mary’s is also the largest. Omar Samham is a solid 6-11, 265 lbs and is scoring 12.2 points and grabbing 7.2 boards per game. Samham has taken and made more field goals than any other Gael. Connor Atchley will probably draw the defensive assignment here. I also expect Dexter Pittman and Alexis Wangmene to be given opportunities to body up with Samham. It will be extremely important for whoever is guarding Samham to not fall for pump fakes and get into unnecessary foul trouble.
The other two starters for St. Mary’s are 6-2 senior guard Todd Golden and 6-7 junior forward Ian O’Leary. Golden is a steady shooting guard who is struggling some from the floor (36%) but not from the line (92%). He is also outstanding at protecting the ball with a 4.1 assist-to-turnover ratio. O’Leary is scoring 8.2 points and grabbing 4.0 rebounds per game from the three spot. He is also a threat from three-point range and has knocked down 37% from long range on the season.
Ken Pomeroy
The advanced metric statistics on St. Mary’s reveal a very good basketball team on both ends of the floor. The Gaels are #32 overall, #55 in adjusted offensive efficiency and #36 in adjusted defensive efficiency according to Pomeroy. On offense, the Gaels are particularly efficient scorers from inside the three-point arc with Samham and Simpson. St. Mary’s has also done a solid job protecting the basketball and getting to the free throw line.
On defense, the Gaels are even more impressive. Opponents shoot just 44.7% from inside the arc and just 27.1% from three-point range. It is clear that St. Mary’s uses its quickness to disrupt their opponents backcourts and their size to disrupt their opponents inside game. The Texas offense has not been clicking in their last four games and will really be challenged to score against St. Mary’s.
Keys to the Game:
(1) No Foul Trouble for DJ Augustin: Against Michigan State, DJ picked up a second foul shortly before the end of the first half, the Spartans went on a run and never looked back. Against TCU on Wednesday, DJ picked up a second foul with ten minutes left in the first and sat the rest of the way. With Justin Mason at the point and AJ in street clothes, the Horns struggled to put the ball in the basket and led by just two points at the break. With Johnson on the floor, the Texas offense will begin to get more dynamic, but right now, the Horns must have DJ on the floor to be effective.
(2) Stay on the Floor On Defense: Barnes must be so tired of watching the Longhorns jump out of the gym every time an opposing player raises an eyebrow toward the basket. Not only are the Longhorns landing themselves in foul trouble and on the bench, but they are jumping completely out of position, which leads to dribble penetration or open looks from three. At halftime of the TCU game, four of the five starter had two fouls. St. Mary’s has eight players who average more than 14 minutes per game. They are deep, talented, and prefer to play at an up tempo pace. Texas is obviously more talented but cannot afford to go deep into its bench for extended minutes against quality teams.
(3) Make Free Throws: This is going to be a close game. In close games, easy points matter even more. Overall, Texas is a good free throw shooting team, 71% on the year, but has struggled recently: Michigan State 65%, Wisconsin 50%, and TCU 63%. Texas is not scoring the ball well enough right now to leave points at the line.
This is a very big game for the Longhorns. If Texas takes this one, they’ll finish 13-2 in non-conference games with two excellent resume wins and head into Big XII play with confidence. Lose this one and the Horns will have dropped three of their last four and face the daunting task of starting conference play on the road against a helter skelter Missouri team.
I know that it is only January and this team has just transformed itself with the addition of Johnson, but this afternoon’s outcome could have a significant effect on the psyche of this team. This is a very scary game: St. Mary’s has a talented point guard, the ability to score the ball inside at will, and plays solid defense. Texas is not playing up to its potential but they’ll somehow come out of this one victorious.
TexasSports.com Preview
Statesman.com on St. Mary's Australian Connection
--AW--
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I was wondering...
...on Wednesday if Rick Barnes was playing for Saturday in expectation of this match-up. By essentially emptying the bench (including the rare Harrison Smith sighting), we gave a share of minutes to the three players probably least expected to contribute this season (Smith/Mooney/Lewis). Granted, they fit better into the rhythm of the game and probably outplayed Chapman/Wangmene/Dexter, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was part of a larger strategy to keep everyone rested.
With Abrams back and Gary in the starting line-up, our six-man rotation should be pretty fresh for tomorrow, with Dexter and Wangmene potentially being thrown in there after only playing a handful of minutes on Wednesday...
Should be a lot of fun...
Rick's strategy...
... was to send a message to his bench: he ain't happy! So he played everyone BUT the guys you would expect to get playing time.
Texas snapped a two-game skid and yet Rick Barnes sounded like a coach still mad at his team.
Minutes after the Longhorns (12-2) pulled out a 67-59 win over TCU on Wednesday, Barnes lashed out at his bench, ripped his star point guard and questioned whether his team is learning from its mistakes.
Barnes specifically called out Pittman, Chapman and Wangmene, and even had some tough words for DJ:
"He hasn't played well in three games," Barnes said. "He's better than that. I don't know if there's a better player in the country when he brings it. But he's got to do more."
Let's hope Barnes has managed to light a San Diego-style bonfire under these boys's butts since Wednesday and they come out as fired up as our boys were for the Holiday Bowl. This is the last chance to get it right before conference play.
DJ's gone from having a lock on the Naismith to honorable mention with three less than stellar performances in a row. Tonight's the perfect time for him to prove he's the best player in the country.
by patienthornsfan on Jan 5, 2008 11:39 AM CST up reply actions
Motivation by attack
I was wondering if that was what Barnes was doing.
I am sure Barnes is frustrated none of the 3 big subs has emerged as the number one guy yet.
the team is in the middle of a big transition right now. Before the year, the expectation by everybody was that this would be a guard dominated team (as Abrams proclaimed) and, indeed, the team started 3 guards.
As the season has progressed, it has become apparent that Damion James is emerging as a big time star and connor Atchley has lots of offensive skills (that are probably under utilized). Gary Johnson just got added to the mix and he is probably going to be a potent offensive threat as well.
It is up to Barnes and Augustin to meld this new set of offensive threats into a cohesive offense. Augustin is the floor general so all this change affects him more than anybody else. the horns offense is going to change quite a bit in the next few games so it should be very interesting.
Agree about the transition time
It's not uncommon for teams to have a mid-season readjustment; they've shown most everything they have offensively and defensively (albeit w/o Johnson), and their opponents when they enter league play are quite familiar with much of their attack. So, it's the point where they make serious assessments of what their actual skills are on the court and refine what they're doing.
For Texas this is amplified by the addition of Johnson, which changes the dynamic on both ends of the court. It's an interesting problem. Rick absolutely needs one of the three - Wang, Dexy or Clint - to step up because he no longer has the luxury of giving them much more playing time to develop. Either they can play - or they won't except for extreme situations.
What the Mooney lesson in the last game showed was that their role was not such a function of skills but of simply fulfilling their floor responsibility, hustling and being alert, and seeing the game on the floor. That is, not thinking of the dance steps but actually dancing and being in the flow of the music of the game.
I think it will take a couple more games for GJ to find what he can do on the floor and a couple more to consolidate that. But I would bet that he probably has a fast learning curve; he seems to trust his body knowledge and is an intuitive player.
And I think it's Damion that is really going to take advantage of his knowledge and that will help open up the attack. Augustin is going to have more options on the court than he's ever had at Texas and that's his adjustment.
May you live in interesting times
is an ancient Chinese curse. It is interesting for fans to watch but I guess it can be frustrating and confusing for the coaches and players at times.
Gary Johnson looks like he has been well coached. Most probably his main contribution to the horns' offense will be low post offense and put back points after offensive rebounds. Maybe some pick and roll, too. I hope the horns feed him in the low post quite a bit. If Gary can draw a double team down low, that should leave connor open for the 3.
It is a good point about Dex, wingman, and Chapman still thinking about what they have to do instead of just instinctively doing it. Maybe the answer is to simplify as much as possible what they have to do.
Augustin and Barnes have the biggest adjustment because the whole offense is going to have to change
Reply
Lewis and Smith (both guards) probably played because Abrams was not available. I'm not as sure about about Mooney but he did provide excellent leadership while he was in there. I hope that Barnes gets to the equivalent of at least a 7 man rotation pretty soon. A 6 man rotation is not enough guys to play very good D and is also vulnerable to injuries and/or foul troubles.
Good game coming
I'm already smelling foul trouble down low. I think we should rotate Atchley frequently with Wingman and Dexy so that Connor doesn't pick up a couple of quick ones. Also I am worried about foul trouble for Gary while guarding Simpson. If he plays too easy on D, Simpson will get easy buckets. If he tries to be physical, he could rack up some fouls. And we don't exactly have quality depth in the paint.
I'm hoping the refs let the guys play down low without many stoppages.
Good game coming reply
Gary Johnson played absolutely outstanding low post defense in his 1st start (really making it tough to get the ball into the low post) so there is a pretty good chance that he will make life difficult for Simpson (especially if you get your wish and the refs let the guys play down low without a lot of fouls called). It will be very interesting to see just how well Gary defends in this game.
Connor is at a huge weight disadvantage so it is going to be hard for him to deny position to the big Samham. Dexter and Wingman at least have 5 fouls each to give.
St. Mary's
The most interesting things to me in today's game are the following:
Gary Johnson's performance: it would be great to see Gary knock off the ring rust and start to contribute the way we all know he can. Gary will probably improve quite a bit in this game (from last game) on offense.
Horns' offense: it will be interesting to see if the horns' offensive strategy evolves to properly utilize the offensive capabilities of the front line. Previously it did not matter if the ball never made it past the guards' hands because they were most of the horns' offense anyway. With the huge offensive improvement in the horns' front line, the horns are going to need to run an offense that gets the ball to the big guys for a lot more shots. That is a big change because it will not be a fun thing for the guards to give up those shots and requires that the horns' offensive sets jump up a level in sophistication.
Horns' D: if Connor has to guard the big man, he may need some help since he is as such a weight disadvantage. I hope Wingman starts impressing Barnes so that he can settle into the role of 1st big man sub. He is the only horns big man sub who has the athletic ability to play really good D (once he learns how). His lack of offensive skills is not that important given that the horns' starters all have good offensive skills.
I look forward to Gary Johnson impressing on low post D.
Horns substitution patterns: it will be interesting to see how many guys get into the rotation and how the minutes are distributed. If the horns are going to play intense D (including pressing), Barnes is going to have to play his bench some.
Kudos To Barnes
It is great to have a coach with the "cajones" to craft just a perfect non-conference schedule. First of all, it has to be among the toughest in the country. Second, the make up of the teams features top run and gun point guards, and bruising big 10 teams.
My hunch is that the Horns wind up with a number 2 seed, and go much further than the Durant led Horns of 2007.
While it is doubtful they can beat the Jayhawks - one thing is for sure - Barnes will get everything out of this team.
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