Texas' Defense Stifles Oklahoma State 69-59
I couldn't be a whole lot happier with this win. The Longhorns (22-6, 8-5) were hardly perfect, but they were consistently very good, they were poised, and best of all, they appeared both prepared and focused. We haven't had much positive to talk about the past six weeks; tonight, there's reason to applaud this team, and Rick Barnes. Quick-react bullets:
- My game ball goes to Gary Johnson. His team defense set the tone and was a huge reason James Anderson was stuffed, start to finish. You can't stop Anderson with one guy; you need a team effort, and no one played that role better than Johnson. Add in his effort as a rebounder, and solid, opportunistic offense, and he's my MVP for the night.
- I single out Gary, but his approach was one we saw from player to player, just about across the board. This was the most cohesive we've looked as a team in months. Literally.
- Jordan Hamilton's not a rookie anymore. What a fantastic game he played. He looks relaxed and poised, and with it we're seeing that he does, in fact, have all-around game. I know it was hard to see for the first half of the season, but he's been building towards this for weeks. If you're still a Jordan pessimist, now's the time to let it go.
- His stat line won't be anything glorious, but Justin Mason gave us great minutes tonight. He did enough little things on offense to be the player I talked about on Monday, and he was just superb on defense -- his best effort in years, probably. Huge.
- All three of the seniors were huge, really. Damion was a force on offense in the first half, and a brilliant defender throughout the game. The job he and Johnson did slowing down Muonelo after the fast start was something to behold. As for Dexter Pittman, that second half was just... (oh man it's been too long) SEXY...
- J'Covan Brown's thinking out there, instead of playing, and it's hurting him. He was pretty bad for most of the night, and you could see that he was thinking about not being bad instead of just playing basketball. He's a good shooter lost in the wilderness right now. If I'm Rick Barnes, I give J'Covan one of Brown's patented ass-slaps, tell him it's all good, and to keep at it. He might have wanted to be good a little too much tonight.
- As poorly as I've thought Rick Barnes has handled much of this season, this was the most encouraging game we've seen since December. Texas didn't just win because it had the superior talent; it won because it played Oklahoma State the right way. We were clearly prepared well for this game, and we executed -- especially defensively -- a strong plan of attack. The team looked hungry for a win, but never frantic and out of control. If there's a glaring "need to improve" takeaway, it'd be our zone offense, but hey, you can only do so much at once, and we clearly worked hard on our team defense and our offensive approach against man sets.
- I've got a big day at the Combine tomorrow, so that's it from me. Wiggo or txtwstr may jump in with a game review later, but for now, this is your celebration thread.
NEXT GAME: at Texas A&M (19-8, 8-5) -- Saturday, February 27th 1 pm ESPN
Hook 'em
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Thing that made me the happiest
was how J. Ham played tonight. He took a couple of shots that weren’t great, but you expect scorers to do that. But he played smarter than he has played all year in this game, even on the defensive side. I know he had that one game where he went off, but this game was better to me because it wasn’t lucky.
Pitt looked great in the second half, but he was playing against their third string.
Damo was a beast as usual, and everyone else played so well together we barely needed him in the second half.
Bradley was BRILLIANT, especially on D. And (I think) he didn’t have a foul until the last 5:00 when he got 2 fouls (both of which I thought were questionable calls)
J. Brown was great running the show.
Our offensive sets also looked less stagnant than they have in a while.
2 small complaints – Lucas still looks weak, like I could just scare the ball away from him. We still need work adjusting to press and zone defense.
"A lot of people look for the easy way to do anything, in swimming there is no easy way." - Eddie Reese
Solid, solid win
PB hit the main points. I’ll add a few others.
Dexter was effective when he touched the ball. Our guards still have trouble recognizing pasing angles or creating better angles with a single bounce, though. It’s late February so don’t expect any big changes in that arena. However, I was encouraged that Pittman continued to battle on the low blocks and took advantage of his limited opportunities. He didn’t get in foul trouble either—another plus.
J’Covan didn’t play well. The early carrying and traveling violations seemed to throw him. I don’t know how many minutes he played either but it wasn’t as many as I expected.
The decrease in minutes was also because of the solid play from Hamilton. This was Jordan’s best game as a Horn. He didn’t go nuts from the field like the last time we tangled with OSU. Instead, Jordan competed on the defensive end like he rarely has this season. He also rebounded like a 6-7 wing player should, helped handle the ball and break the press, and attacked the basket off the dribble. Great, great stuff from him.
This was a team win. Our team and help defense was really, really good, especially in the second half. Texas won the entire game—rebounding, turnovers, bench points, at the foul line, etc.
Last point, we’re down to seven guys, btw. Jai Lucas and Alexis Wangmene made cameo appearances and both were forgetable performances. Matt Hill and Clint Chapman didn’t even play. That means its five starters plus Hamilton and Johnson from the bench. That’s all we’ve got. I’m ok with it but Rick will need to use his timeouts even more now and not just to stop runs but for rest too.
--AW--
This would have really been a laughfer.........
if we could hit a few more FTS.Down the stretch DeX,James, Brown,Johnson and Hamilton all had misses.
The D and the effort were excellent.
Let’s see what Sat. brings before we get all het up again.
by TCB Orange Dino on Feb 24, 2010 11:29 PM CST reply actions
Superstitions
Tonight and the Nebraska game were the only games this season that I didn’t watch or follow. Just saying that I think I’m going to to sacrifice my viewing pleasure til the tourney for the sake of this team. Taking one for the team here. That is all.
Thanks for the recap PB.
by Infield Elephant on Feb 24, 2010 11:41 PM CST reply actions
I was working.. anyone fill me in on the game with one sentence please?
"We'll be baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
by greenspointexas on Feb 24, 2010 11:59 PM CST reply actions
Stripes
Didn’t the refs seem worse than usual tonight? In addition to a slew of bad calls, there was a 3 second call and that inbounds violation. Good thing the guys kept their shirts tucked in.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
yup
They were pretty bad both ways. But we seemed to get more going our way, just being honest.
"Will Rogers never met Barry Switzer."
Looks like the best defense to use on Brown
is Rick Barnes himself. Let the mind games continue.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 25, 2010 12:16 AM CST reply actions
Solid, Solid Win...
…put me in too good of a mood to really try to nitpick.
However, if you wanted to, you could very easily point to the games of Jai Lucas and J’Covan Brown. J’Covan had bad body language tonight and seemed really dispirited after he missed that godawful shot to end the first half.
Dexter’s 360’ish dunk was one of my favorite highlights from this season. It was his best game in a while, and a few people were wondering if that can be connected to Balbay’s injury. His 16-8-3 line was pretty sexy, and it was nice to see him dunk without traveling. It was entertaining to watch the OSU big men rack up foul after foul after foul in trying to guard him. Walker and Shaw racked up 8 fouls in only 11 minutes. We’ll see if this is a step in the right direction, as he gets another crack at Brian Davis and A&M on Saturday.
A great anecdote from tonight…right before he shot that horrendously awkward three-pointer, Justin Mason started waving for Jordan Hamilton to go rebound his upcoming miss. That was really, really funny.
I’m very interested to see if we see the same three-guard starting lineup on Saturday against A&M…would like to see Hamilton get a start, but I doubt we’ll see any changes.
Enjoyable game
It looked to me like the ‘Horns were looser and actually enjoying playing basketball for the first time in a while. I think this games presents strong evidence that most of the team’s woes in recent weeks were due to mental/psychological/attitude failures. I really liked seeing the light come back on in the players’ eyes. Hope to see it again on Saturday.
Right on! (Right on the bubble, that is.)
Gary Johnson - Most Underrated Horn
This guy has been a key spark all year and gets about zero credit. Nice job for giving him some recognition and a shout out.
Watching this game, it dawned on me.
We have been missing Dexter Pittman down low.
I think he has been a huge part of this slide, he has been non-existent in conference games. 3.9 points a game or something like that. Compared to his 15+ points a game the first 17 games.
That is something that is hard to replace, and he needs to be our run stopper as well. When other teams start going on a run, throw it down low. Dex can either dunk it or go to the line.
I was really glad to see him play a good game, great game by everyone else as well a side for J. Brown and J. Lucas this was one of the better games we have played all season.
Hook ’em!
"The best decision I ever made was coming to Texas," James said. "The second-best decision was coming back."
We all know this so I'm just really saying it again...
we’re an average-to-good team when Dexter underperforms, we’re good-to-elite when he’s at the top of his game.
"Football's so important in Texas. On the West Coast, it's a social. On the East Coast, it's a culture. Here, it's a religion."
-- Major Applewhite
Welcome Back Dex - Stay Awhile
Yes, Dex was facing a 2nd and 3rd string defender all game – but he finally made an appearance – and not just a cameo. It was nice to see that it was still in him – it will be interesting to see if this was a one game aberration or if he remembered how to play with intensity and smarts once again.
id keep dex on the bench
send a message that hes not gonna start due to last years performance. when he truly gets his mojo back(this could be just like hamiltons first game against okie lite: fools gold) then get him in the starting lineup.
by ibleedburntorange49-9 on Feb 25, 2010 6:44 PM CST reply actions

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