Alive and Kicking: AJ Abrams Shoots Horns Past #2 Sooners
by Peter Bean on Feb 21, 2009 10:22 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintWith Texas trailing late in a must-win home game against #2-ranked Oklahoma, the Longhorns looked to AJ Abrams for a final offensive burst. The senior delivered an unforgettable five-minute stretch of basketball, scoring 16 straight points to lead Texas to a 73-68 victory. Additional game balls to Dogus Balbay and Dexter Pittman, both instrumental in Texas' most important victory of the season. The Sooners, who played most of the game without star forward Blake Griffin (lost early to foul trouble, then the entire second half with a concussion), fell behind by double-digits early in the second half before roaring back to build a 5-point lead of their own. Prior to Abrams' heroics, Sooner freshman guard Willie Warren was the story of the night, scoring from seemingly every spot on the court, regularly intermingled with great set ups to teammates.
With the win, Texas moves to 7-5 in conference, keeping pace with Kansas State for the fourth spot in the Big 12. Perhaps more importantly, the win gives Texas the NCAA Tournament breathing room which had evaporated during the team's recent slide. At this point, Texas would have to suffer major upsets to miss the field. The bubble talk is over.
Plenty of time for recapping and analysis in the coming hours; for now, this is your postgame celebration thread.
Hook 'em
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Hook em Horns!
Big win for this team, even if Griffin was out! Now we can stop worrying about the bubble and hopefully conserve some energy over the next game or two. We are gonna need it bigtime for the tourney.
Abrams carried this team on his back for the last 4 min.. I am currently now drinking a Jack and coke in his honor.
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 10:27 PM CST reply actions
Jack and coke?
This is important, man. It needs something special. Straight Everclear perhaps?
by HornPossessed on Feb 21, 2009 10:30 PM CST up reply actions
i dont have any at the house tho...
Hideous liquor anyone?
Made in West Campus!
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 10:31 PM CST up reply actions
seriously, that was baller
i knew tho that he felt so hot and that he was gonna take that last shot
good thing Dexter Pittman AKA Mighty Joe Young (not racial, just based on his strength and size) was there for the put-back
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 10:33 PM CST up reply actions
What a battle tonight
It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle.
~Richard M. DeVos
-rBr-
If AJ plays like this the last 5 games
We would not have lost one of those games. Simple as that, I hope this is his turning point and he starts lighting it up like he was early in the season
Blazz
WATCH THE THUNDER RIGHT NOW!!!
KD is lighting it up with 18 points, 7-11 shooting, 4-4 from the line, and 6 rebounds, and theres still 2:37 left to play in the 2nd quarter…
hes damn near superman!
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 10:37 PM CST reply actions
Listen guys....
I apologize:
for everything ive said about this team in the last 2 months
for riding mason and ward (i still think they arent that good) too hard for not being able to shoot
for hating on rBr, the man is right, i am a pessimistic douche. Also sorry to blazzinken, AW, Horn Possessed, etc
for being irrational and crazy at times with the things I say about Longhorn Basketball in general
My apologies
Hook Em Horns!
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 10:41 PM CST reply actions
No worries man
for being irrational and crazy at times with the things I say about Longhorn Basketball in general
I have this exact same problem also. I sometimes have to watch a basketball/football game all by my self because I get so intense
Blazz
great game, great win
AJ was fantastic. Pittman and Balbay were solid and showed they have what it takes. James was a MAN tonite. Barnes pissed me off though with the man2man in the 2nd half. Sure no Griffin down low to worry about, but ou was running some great screen plays and we had no one under the basket to cover the easy 2. We mustve given up at least 4 easy buckets like that. Warren for ou was out his mind, you gotta give him credit for his play with griffin being out. Looking forward to good run for the ’Horns. The Eyes of Texas are upon You. Hook ’em.
"I hope they never find out who shot willie warren in the calf"
comment over at Barking Carnival… thought it was HILARIOUS!
hahahahahaha
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 11:15 PM CST reply actions
the funny thing is, i knew that piece of crap was goin in too... so gay
but at least we got the dub, thats all that matters
by greenspointexas on Feb 21, 2009 11:18 PM CST up reply actions
Just got home from the game
I’m so jacked up that I’m giving up on getting any sleep tonight. On the way home, I went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of candy.
Good things:
1) Not getting blown out. I went into the game thinking that I’d be satisfied if we could just stay in contact. But even with the long stretch in the third quarter where we basically quit playing, things never got out of hand like they did in the game in Norman.
2) Dogus Balbay. His early aggressiveness off the bounce gave us the cushion we needed to absorb the aforementioned stretch of lazy play. I do wish Barnes had committed to starting him at the point a month and a half ago, though.
3) AJ Abrams. I don’t think I need to say anything more than that. You all saw it.
4) The remaining schedule. Three easily winnable games, followed by a trip to KU. Pat Knight shares nothing but his name with his daddy and his team isn’t even playing with pride anymore. Baylor is scrappy, extremely well-coached, and can do some surprising stuff, but they’re not the team anyone thought they were. Oklahoma State isn’t really very good, but Gallagher-Iba is always a nasty place to play. Kansas is, for some reason, flying under the national radar. They’re still a damn good team.
5) Erin Andrews. Even hotter in person. I was, however, very disappointed to see that she’s built like a trucker from the waist down. A trucker in black leather knee-boots with six-inch stiletto heels, but a trucker nonetheless.
Bad things:
1) Blake Griffin. Like it or not, the fact that we barely won even with the best player in the country only playing 11 minutes isn’t going to be lost on anyone who makes the important decisions. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great win and it certainly locks up a tournament bid for us, but it doesn’t magically make us a good team. We’re still the same 20-13 or 21-12 team we were last week.
2) Random seven minutes of brain-deadness. We’ve done it at least once in every single game we’ve played this season, usually just after building a 12-point lead. Unfortunately, that’s just who we are. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.
3) Willie Warren. Goddammit. It’s Hollis fucking Price all over again.
4) Clint Chapman. He actually looked OK for his first two plays on the court: a solid layup out of a short-corner post-up and a good defensive cut-off of (if I remember correctly) a Taylor Griffin drive off the wing. Overall, however, he was still very much value-negative.
A stupid system that works exactly like it's supposed to is still a stupid system.
Fantastic Team Win
I thought that Texas would play their best game of the year against the Sooners. I just wasn’t sure it was going to be enough. Well, it was.
I really hope this is a turning point, albeit a late one, in the season. A point where Texas regains our lost confidence on defense and continues to ride Balbay off the dribble, AJ from the perimieter, and James, Johnson, and PIttman in the post. On a given night, this team can beat anyone. Unfortunately, we’ve seen they can be beaten by just about anyone too.
Tonight, tough, is one to treasure. AJ played his best game ever as a Longhorn. He has never come up so big and so clutch in such a big game. I’ve defintely hated on AJ for shot selection and a sometimes selfish attitude but his performance tonight put a huge smile on my face. There is nothing better than seeing four years of dedication pay off in such a big way. Although definitely limted, Abrams will go down as one of the best Longhorns ever and maybe the best shooter in UT’s history.
I loved the energy from James on the glass. Balbay attacked the rim like he had too. Kudos to him for not letting the sagging D win. And Dexter Pittman was huge: both in the beginning against Griffin and late with the off rebound and the putback.
Great energy from the crowd too.
--AW--
Came home from work and found out the good news on ESPN. Griffin or no Griffin, this was UT’s game to lose. Where do you think this puts us in the rankings?
You don't see animals lifting weights and they are fucking strong... isometrics baby!
i just like the idea of being a top 25 team.
You don't see animals lifting weights and they are fucking strong... isometrics baby!
by EYESOFTEJAS on Feb 21, 2009 11:58 PM CST up reply actions
You never know what you have until it's gone.
It’ll feel damn good to have it back though.
I like it too
It may not mean much, but my girlfriend thinks that your team is horrible unless you are in the top 25. I can never explain to her it does not really mean anything.
Blazz
The anti-Hoosiers indeed
We won this game by focusing our whole offense on letting AJ jack up threes and long jumpers.
We had a chance to win this game, however, because Dogus attacked the rim relentlessly, and Blake Griffin is scared to death of Dexter Pittman. Capel (Caple? Crapple?) absolutely hates us in the O-zone, and so does one of his assistant coaches. I think I saw him mouth something to the tune of “You better realize who you’re pointing at” about me at one point.
As soon as we won, out came the middle fingers from the Sooner fans. You stay classy, people.
Also weird: Dexter Pittman only had like 2 fouls, and had enough gas in the tank at the end to put the nail in the coffin off of AJ’s miss. When was the last time this kid finished a game?
Absolutely best game I’ve seen at the Erwin Center yet. (I had to miss the Kansas game last year). We played like badasses.
Make that 6 straight home wins against Top 5 teams
I called this all the way. I also believed Pittman should’ve been starting, and I’m glad Barnes did the same. I don’t think we went zone much if at all either.
I don’t want to hear about Blake Griffin not playing costing OU the game. That is total BS. Dexter Pittman was doing a fantastic job on him like I expected him too. Warren wouldn’t have gone off to that magnitude if Griffin was still playing. As far as his actual concussion, I heard it was a result of an elbow Chapman threw during transition, rather than Pittman hitting him with a finger.
Warren is an absolute stud, and I hope he’s 1 and done. Griffin will get all the awards, but Warren is the most important player on that team. I sure hope he’s OK after getting shot in the leg during the game.
Please be OK Johnson. He was playing well, and James was fabulous on the boards. Connor had some good plays sporadically. A block there, a rebound there, a three there. His screen and roll with Abrams worked at the end.
You have to give credit to Abrams for stepping up huge at the end and matching Warren. All I’m going to say is I’m glad he made those shots, because most of those shots weren’t good ones. It worked today, but I don’t want to see this all AJ-offense at the end very often, because of how inconsistent he is. If we’re going to run every play for him at the end, and he’s not feeling it, we could lose in the 1st round. I would’ve rather gone inside, specifically to Pittman, because he was dominating. Luckily Dexy bailed out the team by rebounding AJ’s final shot, a miss on an off-balanced perimeter jumper.
Pittman had a big game, and it was a must if we wanted to beat OU. It started with his physical play on Griffin. He was a total beast on the boards, and obviously got the crucial offensive rebound at the end. Still, I’m pretty disappointed at how pathetically underutilized he is on offense. I just don’t understand why we can’t feed him the ball. Our post entry passes were god awful, but other times he had established position, and our guards would completely ignore him. Getting him the ball has to be a high priority. Good things happen when it does.
Balbay has basically turned into Mason with all the hustle, rebounds, and assists, except that he can actually play the point. I’m still waiting for him to dunk on the fast break. Blew another layup as a result. It’s painful though to see him completely wide open from midrange and knowing he can’t make the shot.
At least greenspointtexas appears to be owning up. Where’s RMHorn? I guess the blind homers were right this time.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 22, 2009 2:52 AM CST reply actions
but BG was out the whole game
great win, but its like the Grizzlies at home beating the Lakers without Kobe… awesome win, but Kobe was out! Happy but still wondering what could have been………
by greenspointexas on Feb 22, 2009 11:44 AM CST up reply actions
Griffin played the first half
And to be fair, Pittman did a great job on him. We’ll never know what would have happened if he stayed in, but it’s not like he was dominating us before he got injured.
by TheElusiveShadow on Feb 22, 2009 1:53 PM CST up reply actions
awful analogy
So many differences between the two games, but really, who gives a fuck about the Grizzlies or the Lakers or what would have happened if Kobe was there?
Dude come on
You’re keep on ignoring the fact that Griffin was going to be contained by Dexter Pittman. Perhaps that Warren explosion in the 2nd half doesn’t happen if WW is deferring to Blake. I thought we were going to win this game regardless of what happens.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 22, 2009 3:15 PM CST up reply actions
I'll disagree about Abrams
Abrams has taken many bad shots in his career, as we all know, but most of his shots were good looks. It may not look it since he’s so short, but that’s enough for his quick release. OU a few times made the mistake of going under screens or failing to anticipate his release, and he made them pay. A couple other times he pump faked and took a mid range jumper after a dribble or two. That’s why I’m proud of him; not only did he make his shots, they were generally at least decent looks. And when you’re on fire, a decent look is all you need.
by TheElusiveShadow on Feb 22, 2009 1:57 PM CST up reply actions
I'll agree with that
the looks were good enough for a player like Abrams that has made that shot his whole career. Still I’d rather play inside-out rather than hoping AJ bails out the team at the end. While it worked last night, it’s not going to work every game. Going inside-out though with Pittman and Johnson will work pretty much every game.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 22, 2009 3:16 PM CST up reply actions
Great Win
Great win all the way around. The Horns should enjoy it for 24 hours and not a second more, though.
Then they should get angry at themselves for not playing with that kind of intensity for too much of the season and make a vow to each other that they approach every single remaining game with the same kind of must-win intensity. And they’ve got to treat the remaining opponents with the exact same level of respect as they had for OU.
Texas needs an edge. I was nauseous at Blake Griffin’s season long “we don’t get any respect” mantra, even when they were ranked #2 in the country. Dick Vitale’s constant slobbering over Blake made me sick when he called him classy and a non-complainer when all he’s done this season is whine like a baby about being disrespected. I felt like I was watching FOX’s coverage of Tim Tebow. That being said, his season-long whining meant that the team had an edge in their locker room that they came to believe they had something to prove. If the Longhorns can harness a similar emotion and pull together on the strength of last night’s win, believing that they have something to prove then they stand a chance of making it an entertaining tournament.
Congratulations, Texas, enjoy the rest of the day, but when you put their heads down tonight you’d better be thinking about one thing: beating TTU. One game does not a trend make, even one big game. And Texas taking any opponent in the Big XII lightly (even a two-win conference team) means taking another loss this season.
I hope you guys in Austin fill the house Wednesday night and help keep the Horns fired up – show them some love!
If this is your attempt
at verbal fellatio then I hope for you wife’s sake that your better at the real thing
by Wells on Feb 22, 2009 2:01 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Chapman's facebook status
Clint Chapman is how bout them horns? Ps I have a crush on Erin Andrews.
Truer words have never been spoken, sir.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 22, 2009 3:20 PM CST reply actions
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