Texas Does Little Right, Falls in College Station, Again
by awiggo on Feb 27, 2010 5:00 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintThe Texas Longhorns extended their losing streak in College Station to six games with a 74-58 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M. The home team has now won 13 straight outings in the series.
The loss is disturbing and embarrassing, but the Longhorns took another blow to their depth as well. J'Covan Brown suffered a neck injury on a drive to the basket late in game. BJ Holmes took the "charge," and both players suffered hard falls to the court. Brown's neck appeared to react violently as his head collided with the floor. J'Covan was taken from the court in a neck brace and on a stretcher, and ESPN is now reporting that Texas officials report that Brown's neck injury is likely a stinger. It is too early to speculate what this means for the J'Covan and for the Longhorn over the final week of the regular season and beyond.
Quickly a few notes on the game.
I worked this morning and early afternoon and stayed in media blackout until I returned to my house. I flipped on the DVR hoping to enjoy a few hours of basketball but realistically expecting a loss.
The Longhorns were beaten in just about every aspect of the game.
- Field Goal Shooting: Texas must have started something like 1-for-10 from the floor, and it didn't get much better from there. The Longhorns finished at just 37% from the floor and 33% from behind the arc. The weaker shooting Aggies started slowly as well, but heated up over the last part of the first half and were never really in danger of relinquishing their eight point halftime lead. A&M shot 43% from the floor and 58% from three. Advantage Texas A&M.
- Free Throw Shooting: While Texas finally sank some free throws (12-of-15), the Aggies get the nod here too. Even before the few intentional late-game fouls by Texas, A&M was visiting the free throw stripe at a higher rate. A&M made more free throws (21-of-31) than Texas even attempted. Advantage Texas A&M.
- Transition Defense: The official box score doesn't include fast break points but A&M won this part of the game too. It seemed each time Texas cut the lead to five or six, A&M would score a bucket or two in transition, and Texas was quickly behind again by double digits. Advantage Texas A&M.
- Rebounding: When Damion James snags just a single rebound, we're screwed. The official numbers show Aggie domination on the glass, 40-29. A&M also grabbed 16 offensive rebounds. Clearly advantage Texas A&M.
- Damion James: DaMo played hard but not well. I don't mean to pin this loss on him either, cause this was a team failure 100%. However, for Texas to win on the road, James has to be the man. His 12 points may have led the team but 4-of-10 from the floor and only the single rebound is not enough. In the battle of stars, James, vs. Donald Sloan (19 points, 4 assists), it wasn't even close. Advantage Texas A&M.
I could keep going but you get the point. Texas didn't do any of the things you have to do to win on the road. Texas shot the ball poorly, failed to play defense without fouling, had trouble getting back in transition, coughed up the ball at terrible moments, and didn't get enough from James or Dexter Pittman.
This quick review would be inadequate if it didn't give two quick nods to Gary Johnson and Jordan Hamilton, who were clearly the two best Longhorns on the floor this afternoon. The stats don't really show it but I thought Gary really battled today against the taller A&M frontline. Johnson finished with just seven points and five boards but the effort was there.
And if there is anything exciting to come out of this loss, it is definitely the play of Hamilton. Jordan has now strung together consecutive games of excellent basketball for the first time all season. He is taking better shots, attacking the rim off the dribble, and really competing on the defensive end. Again the stats don't illustrate the tremendous jump he has made in recent games. Hamilton is playing team basketball instead of just trying to get his. At this point in the season, Texas is a better team when Jordan Hamilton is on the floor.
Texas falls to just 8-6 in conference play with two games remaining. Senior Night will be Monday at the Drum followed by a trip to Waco on Saturday afternoon. Obviously the home against the struggling Sooners is a must win. Stealing a road win and ending the regular season moving in the right direction would be huge. I'm not counting on upsetting Baylor a week from today, just hoping.
NEXT GAME: vs. Oklahoma (13-15, 4-10) - Monday, March 1st 8 pm ESPN
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DaMo went for 26 points and 12 boards in Austin. The Aggies didn’t have an answer for Damion then and still don’t today.
Looks like we found the answer; think he had only 3 points in the first half?
Hamilton was the guy on your team who worried me; he is going to be scary good.
Aren't you going to come over here and say Brown should have manned up and kept playing?
Given your well-documented expertise with determining, from the comfort of your mommy’s basement, the true seriousness of injuries to Texas athletes.
"Texas played without its best player for nearly 56 minutes. There's an asterisk." -- Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com
by Hopkins Horn on Feb 27, 2010 5:49 PM CST up reply actions
Don't know what happened to James today
The defense was really good, but he was still way off his game. And I gotta say, the Aggies have really improved this year. I think they may be a sleeper in March.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
James does that in some games
He just disappears in the first half though I’m sure you defense had something to do with that. Hamilton’s going to be good for one year…then gone.
"If worms carried pistols, birds wouldn't eat 'em"- Darrell Royal
by SpiritOfTheFedora on Feb 27, 2010 8:16 PM CST up reply actions
Power failure
When Avery Bradley gets as many boards as Pittman and James combined, you know something is seriously wrong. Other than that, they shot a little better, went to the line a lot, and didn’t foul out like they usually do. We just got out-manned.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
To be honest
The amount of minutes Avery gets, he should consistently be near 5-7 rebounds a night. He is averaging near 30 minutes a night, a rebound every 4-5 game minutes.
"I live in the tower with Coach Brown." -Bevo
by run Bevo run on Feb 27, 2010 11:10 PM CST up reply actions
Need Some Help Understanding
Alright, I never played beyond the high school level. So I’m appealing to the masses of those that did, because I’m trying to figure this out.
Is this collapse that Texas is experiencing, falling from #1 to possibly out of the rankings altogether in 6 weeks time, the fault of the coaching staff for not finding a way to stop the bleeding?
Or is this because we’ve got guys that won’t listen to Barnes?
Or is it that our talent level isn’t what we thought it was in the earlier part of the season?
I just can’t figure out how you get to #1 in the country and be undefeated; then end up possibly falling out of the rankings altogether, show no real signs of improvement or development from the young talent (except for Hamilton the past two games), not get a bye in our own conference tourney, and look like a team that might not get out of the 2nd round of the NCAA’s. How does that happen?
And what was going so well for us early, that isn’t right now? It seems like we screw up something different every game now. Help.
I'm not an expert either but....
I think there are maybe 2 factors.
1.) Defenses in the Big 12 seem to be much tougher than what I have seen from some other conferences around the country. Texas had a real problem with A&M pressure today, much as they had with Mizzou, Kansas, etc. You could say bad offense was the problem but tough defense helps create bad offense. So once Big12 play started, things got more difficult for UT on offense.
2.) 17-0 was a little bit of an anomaly. It is never easy to win 17 games in a row and credit should be given for that accomplishment but, in looking back at those 17 games, only 6 of those 17 opponents currently have winning records. They are-
Western Carolina – They play in a weak conf which helps explain their winning record.
Pitt – They were missing a couple of their starters for the UT game.
USC – Beginning of the season, they were trying to regroup with a totally new roster.
North Carolina – They are terrible this year but still have a 15-14 record.
Michigan State – Good team and good win.
Texas A&M – Good team and good win.
Bottom line is that while 17-0 is very good, the caliber of competition was not that great until they hit Big12 play (in my opinion). So maybe they were never a “great” team to begin with as the record might indicate. So if they were sort of average in the 1st half of the season against inferior competition and sort of average in the 2nd half against much better competition, maybe there wasn’t a huge falloff as the record indicates. Anyhow, just my opinion, maybe I’m wrong.
by gcinthewoods on Feb 27, 2010 8:14 PM CST up reply actions
I hate to say it
But you are most likely right. We just don’t seem to match up well with many of the Big12 teams. To be positive, I suppose that could be a good thing since we won’t face a Big12 team until the Sweet 16 at the earliest. However, we don’t know for sure if it’s the Big12 that has our number, or that we just aren’t very good in general.
The NCAA tournament is all about matchups and if we get teams we match up well with we can do some damage, but we really can’t afford any more regular seasons losses. We don’t want an 8/9 7/10 matchup to where even if we win round 1, we then face Kentucky. Nova, Syracuse, Duke, etc.
UConn Not Big 12
I’d buy the “Big 12 much tougher defenses” thing if the UConn debacle wasn’t out there. I mean, they lost 5 of their next 6 games, including 2 at home – Marquette & Cincinnati – after they beat us. Sorry, can’t blame it on Big 12-caliber competition, this is an overall team collapse.
Just another loss...
…I’m glad you took the review, since I really didnt even know what to say. Just a beatdown, and a frustrating one, to boot. It was a long drive back from College Station.
The early shooting woes dug a really deep hole, and we never fully recovered. It’s amazing that we even had a chance to comeback, since we scored 17 points in 17 minutes. That stat, more than anything from this game, still blows my mind. Throughout the game, anytime Texas got on the precipice of a comeback, A&M drilled a 3 to push the lead back up, usually by Holmes or Walkup. It felt this way at the game, but the box score shows that those two made all four of their three-point attempts. That was a killer.
Can someone please explain why Jordan Hamilton lost his mind screaming at someone on the court after he got pulled? He was furious, and I couldnt tell who he was yelling at?
Terrible coaching again...
Can there be a worse game-day coach than Barns? Clearly he didn’t get his team ready, motivated or put in a game plan to attack A&M. He continues to run his junior high offense and he a play is called, it is so juvenile that A&M was all over it. Pick on the players, but Barns is not part of the solution.
Hey Mike
Coaches don’t play. It’s kinda like preparing a kid to ace an algebra exam. You can lead him to water but If he can’t spell A-L-G-E-B-R-A, much less solve for x, how can you expect success? The kids have to execute a game plan. Coach Barnes indicated in pre-game the two guys we needed to close down and how important it was going to be to work hard on rebounding.
Bottom line, it was a bad day at the office for 2/3 of our front line. And AB had an off night. We also worked ourselves into foul trouble by not working hard enough.
But I think it is a big leap to put the loss all on the coach.
"Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable." - Tom Landry
apologize all you want for Barnes
The results speak for themselves. Other coaches get great freshmen players and lead their teams to greatness…other good coaches…leave it to Barnes to get one of the best freshman classes ever at Texas and crap his pants. A good coach would have this team as a #1 or 2 seed. A good coach knows how to coach good players. Barnes is a good recruiter…end of story.
Not apologizing for Barnes
Merely pointing out that if a kid is unable to motivate himself, to get up for a rival game, to go all out knowing the stakes, then how in the heck is it a coaches fault? This team has been inconsistent athletically. Up one game, down two. That is not a coaching problem That is a player problem. The situation is more complicated than playing the pointing finger game. And the story is not quite over.
"Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable." - Tom Landry
Is This Truly the State of Texas Hoops?
I’m not counting on upsetting Baylor a week from today, just hoping.
I’m just sayin’, I don’t think any of us could’ve seen that as ever being a truism as the season started. This is a bad, bad, state of affairs for our team.
I wrote a few weeks back that this season was essentially over, that the team had shown it was incapable of learning the lessons that it takes to be a good team. And that if the NCAA’s selection committee only saw what UT has done since January 1st that they wouldn’t be in the big dance.
Texas has at best shown they’re a very capable NIT-caliber team in 2010. Thankfully the 2009 pre-season performance will get them to the NCAA’s unless the Horns lose to both OU and Baylor, and lose in the 1st round of the conference tournament – that’s dangerously close to bubble territory.
Fact is, when things were humming along to a #1 ranking everything seemed great, free throw shooting was our only weakness on public display up until then. But when adversity presented itself these kids just weren’t prepared for or made of the stuff to pick themselves back up. Before their first loss they had a swagger where they knew they’d win despite any obstacles they were presented with during a game.
Since that first loss they have wondered if they could win or not, they simply don’t know it anymore. That’s the biggest difference that championship-caliber teams have over simply good teams – they know they’re going to win and don’t accept losing, even after a loss. This squad accepts losing now, doesn’t mean they like it, but they accept it now. They have zero swagger.
All of our expectations of the season, fans, coaches and players alike have not been met. Compared to many other seasons in recent Longhorn history we’re still doing okay. This all has to do with our expectations. After the KU loss I communicated here that we needed to get past these expectations and move onto preparing the team for next year. They truly are playing out the string, they don’t have the right chemistry, maturity, experience and pieces in place to do anything memorable this year, in fact this will be quite a forgettable season soon enough.
IMHO Coach Barnes gets a pass for the year if he uses what’s left to teach our young kid phenoms (he so successfully recruited) lessons they can take into next year. If the lessons fall on deaf ears or not depends on the character of the athletes we all know they are. This entire season they’ve either not cared enough to handle the basics of free throw shooting, or they’ve cared too much, but they’ve not gotten themselves right. Since Big 12 play started they’ve either been too selfish or not selfish enough with the ball, too patient or not patient enough with play development, they’ve simply not figured it out on any kind of consistent basis. It’s not for a lack of talent, it’s for a lack of their minds and actions being on the same page.
EVERYTHING that the coaches should do with them from here on out, be it only four games or twelve must be focused on getting them to buy into a singular purpose where they become more comfortable with what each other will do and can do over the long haul, i.e, next season and beyond. This season is done for all intents and purposes.
PB, who I have all kinds of respect for his insights and analysis, called my comments out a few weeks ago as just my “schtick”. It really ain’t, I’m just a pragmatist who knows what he sees when he looks at a team that hasn’t come together as a team and has shown little to no capacity to do so in a given season.
In the future
When you refer to Dexter Pittman losing “NBA money,” don’t forget to add “D-League” after the “NBA”.
I'm actually not that disappointed with the loss
a few positive points you didn’t mention was the excellent defensive performance by Justin Mason, and quality minutes for Alexis Wangmene. Mason was even able to drive and get a few layups, keeping us in the game for most of the first half. There was one possession in particular where Bryan Davis was trying to post Wangmene up, but he wouldn’t back down an inch. IIRC, Davis was forced to pass the ball because he had no look at all with Wingman’s long arms covering him up.
Our last 4 games @ A&M ended in blowouts, but I was pleased with the early effort and defense. It was a close game for most of the 1st half until they pulled away.
In the 2nd half, A&M’s threes (some of them lucky, like when Sloan recovered a loose ball and drilled one), killed any momentum we had to mounting a run. A&M is not a good three point shooting team (even worse than us by almost 3%!), and yet they were 7-12 yesterday.
Another positive somewhat is Brown playing decently towards the end. Like you said, Hamilton was solid, and I wonder when or if Barnes will consider starting him.
I still feel like we can beat A&M on a neutral court, and there’s a chance we see them again in a 3 vs 6 matchup in the Big XII tourney.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 28, 2010 1:25 PM CST reply actions
You guys are the same team you were last year. You have no PG to run the show. Pittman has disappeared for some reason. Biggest difference between now and earlier in the year is that your defensive effort is night and day different from the first matchup. On the bright side, pittman may make anappearance again at the conference tourney and y’all could make a serious run in March. I am still convinced that Bradley is going to end up a great player for y’all. Sloan’s 3ptr was not lucky. He took his time and squared up. It was textbook.
by miketag on Feb 28, 2010 2:02 PM CST via mobile reply actions
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