Keys To The Game

1. Limit turnovers. Our offense thrives on limiting turnovers and pounding the offensive glass, and while both are important, the former will be especially key against Missouri's pressing defense and willingness/desire to run. I think an up tempo game can suit us very well, but it all falls apart if we're sloppy with turnovers.

2. Premium transition defense.  Premium transition defense perhaps comes at the expense of one of the two foundational blocks of our offensive success (offensive rebounding), but I think limiting Missouri buckets in transition is the more important of the two goals in this game. Of course, if we score ourselves, we can have the best of both worlds, but if we're not shooting well, I'm intently watching how well we play transition D. Both OU and Kansas just killed us in transition; neither was especially effective against our set defense.

3. Freshmen maturity.  If what we saw against Nebraska shows up tonight, I love Texas' chances. But one game does not a season save. J'Covan needs to be the on-court general a Barnes offense needs to succeed. Hamilton needs to be a complementary player. AB needs to feed off the success of the first two to be that second big scorer Damion James needs to avoid doing it all himself.