Balanced Texas Attack Throttles Red Raiders, 80-51

by Peter Bean on Feb 21, 2007 1:34 AM CST in Basketball Comment 16 comments

So I got home from the game and immediately browsed the GameDay Open Thread, eager to see if the folks watching at home were as excited about tonight's performance as I was.

Turns out. . . no one saw it.

Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised - not with my twenty some-odd years living in Austin dealing with the local cable companies and the commonplace disasters. Apparently, tonight was one of those nights, as over half of the coments involved whoopspat threatening to hurl himself over the balcony of his apartment.

I sure hope he didn't, 'cause I went to the game, and I'm here to tell you all about it.

The Longhorns thoroughly dominated the Red Raiders tonight, but most impressively, they did it so damn easily. By the time folks at home realized they were having trouble finding the game, the very game they were searching for was over. The 'Horns led by five points after two minutes, 16 points after 9 minutes, and 22 points after 12 minutes.

Game, set, match.

The star of the show in the first half was Justin Mason, who erupted for 9 points in the first ten minutes of the half, while assisting on three other baskets. He was active on defense, on the glass, and in the half court and transition offense, effectively setting the tone for tonight's blowout.

Everything else sort of fell into place around Mason, with Texas enjoying another evening in which all five starters hit double figures in scoring:

The five starters played together as well as they have all season, taking the suspense right out of the game. I have one and only one criticism of tonight's performance, and that was that Rick let the starters play so many minutes. As young as this team is, there are a lot of guys out there playing more basketball than they ever have in their lives, and yet, with Texas completely and totally blowing out Texas Tech at home, three starters (Abrams, Durant, and Augustin) logged 37+ minutes of basketball.

I really thought Rick missed a golden opportunity to steal some rest for these guys, but really, that's the extent of the criticism tonight. Texas played like a very good team tonight, and if they can take that kind of focus and efficiency to Norman on Saturday, they'll win.

I'll conclude with a brief thought on the defense, which was excellent tonight, once again. Kudos to Rick Barnes for sticking AJ Abrams on Jarrius Jackson, effectively forcing Abrams to justify his minutes on the court. Abrams is plenty quick to be (at least) an adequate defender, and I really, really love Barnes' decision of late to make Abrams defend a high scoring guard. We've talked about what AJ brings to the table on offense, but by not hiding AJ on defense (by putting him on a weak scorer), Rick's really making sure that AJ understands that he'll have to contribute both ways to really be worth playing 35-40 minutes a game.

Sorry, Red Raider fans. Tonight's game summary will have no Bad Stuff section. Tonight we Longhorn fans will just enjoy one of the best overall performances of the year. Pack up the criticisms, boys and girls. No need for them tonight. Too much Good Stuff to enjoy.

--PB--

Player	Total Field Goals	Three Pointers	Total Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Turnovers
Justin Mason	5-7	2-4	13	3	4	2	1
AJ Abrams	6-11	4-9	18	3	2	0	1
Kevin Durant	6-16	3-5	17	8	0	4	0
Damion James	5-8	0-1	12	10	2	0	3
DJ Augustin	5-10	3-5	16	3	6	0	3

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Thank god

I went to bed here in Ireland last night full of fear and dread, to be honest. Given the history of this team this season, this seemed to me like the perfect trap game. And to wake up and go right to BON and read that we played a completely dominant - and dominantly complete - game just made my day.

My favorite stat line? The three pointers. This is the kind of performance I expected Tech to land on us, not the other way around. KD and AJ both appear to have come out of their recent slump from BTA. But what the heck was James doing shooting one? Was it a last second shot from mid-court before the half or something? Although, given that he had a double-double and two assists tonight, that's a very small bone to pick.

I agree with your questioning of Barnes' decision-making. With such a big lead, why didn't he rest KD and DJ, at least? He rewards Connor for having his best game ever with 9 minutes in the next game? Was he tired or something?

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Feb 21, 2007 4:11 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

James's trey attempt

it was a clock expiring desperation three, if i remember correctly.

by littlevisigoth on Feb 21, 2007 8:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

and by that i mean

shot clock expiring, not half court heave.

by littlevisigoth on Feb 21, 2007 8:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Connor's left ankle injury

... still causing him a problem last night? Was anyone sitting close enough to the bench to notice?

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Feb 21, 2007 11:27 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

don't know about the injury

but james was playing lights out at the beginning so Rick left him in longer than usual and then when Connor came in he kept biting on shot fakes and getting up in the air and fouling the shooter. I think he got 2 quick fouls and that was that. It was mostly james playing a great game though.

by billyzane on Feb 21, 2007 11:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Fat Tuesday

Fortunately no cable issues here in New York, where ESPN+ came through on ch. 26. The game was a big fat indulgence - too bad the next three games are in Lent. I'm feeling good about Norman now that the bubble has burst on the Sooners. Feeling good about taking the Ags in Austin. KU in Lawrence? I won't get greedy.

by NYCHorn on Feb 21, 2007 6:53 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

If we play the Aggies like we played the Raiders, then we win 2 of 3 and tie for 2nd in the Big XII. I was hoping for sneaking into the top 4, so 2nd place is definetly over-achieving.

I'm also not holding out much hope for a win in Lawrence. I'm hoping for a good game. A close game. But hell, the Aggies did it, why can't we?

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Feb 21, 2007 7:19 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

More Good Stuff

Missouri 72, Land Thieves 68

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/recaps/20070220/oaembh

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Feb 21, 2007 7:09 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Congratulations.

by Red Blooded on Feb 21, 2007 8:45 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Defense

From my seat near the rafters, I had a great view from above of our half court defense. As efficient as we were in the half court on offense, I thought last night was maybe our best game all year as a team defensively.

Abrams was fantastic on both ends, especially on defense. He chased Jackson from sideline to sideline all night long. On plenty of possessions, Jackson didn't even touch the ball. Kudos to AJ for taking out the other team's top guard for the second home game in a row.

Barnes also used Durant as almost a one-man zone, when we played man-to-man. KD sat in the lane cutting off driving lanes and preventing almost all scoring near the paint. He guarded his man when he came into the post but left him drift around the perimeter almost unguarded. This was fine because he couldn't make the 15 foot jumper consistently.

The other Horns also played well defensively. We rotated as a team extremely well. Just when it looked like a Red Raider had an open look, there was a Longhorn getting a hand in his face. And when Texas did fall for a pump fake, a second Longhorn defender was right there to pickup the now open man.

Last night was exactly what team defense is supposed to look like. They communicated well, cut off dribble penetration, prevented the best Tech player from even handling the ball, and contested open perimeter shots. Overall, great effort by Texas on both ends but the improvement on defense was particularly encouraging.

--AW--

by awiggo on Feb 21, 2007 9:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

AJ's performance is even more remarkable

... when you consider that Jackson was Andy Katz's Player of the Week just last week.

"Bob Knight has had plenty of intelligent players in his time, but Jarrius Jackson needs to be put on any composite list. Jackson took the advice of the coaching staff -- to work on his shot fake and to get the ball up court quickly in a last-second shot scenario -- and used both to beat Texas A&M last week.

Jackson's winning jumper off an end-to-end rush against the Aggies couldn't have been drawn up any better. Jackson's instincts took over and he knew exactly where he needed to get to on the court, where he should take the shot, and how much time he had left before releasing. That shot may have saved the Red Raiders' NCAA hopes.

Jackson finished with 31 in that game, playing all 40 minutes and besting Aggies point guard Acie Law IV, who had just tied the game on the preceding possession. Jackson followed that up with 28 points in a home win over Colorado. The Red Raiders are 17-10 (6-6 Big 12), and are a classic bubble team. With Oklahoma State sliding, though, the Red Raiders are primed to take advantage."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2771458

Officially a Limey Longhorn

by patienthornsfan on Feb 21, 2007 11:02 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

So now where do we stand?

Lunardi's got us as an 8-seed. Obviously we don't move up if we don't win any more regular season games and only get one in the Big XII tourney, but what will it take to get up to a 6 or 7? Two of the next three and two in the tourney? A win in Norman and either one of the last two or two in the tourney?

Honestly, I feel pretty good about our next two. It's easy to feel good about things after a romp like last night, but with what we've seen from the boys against Tech and OSU these last two weeks, I'd be more than a little disappointed if we didn't pull out at least one of them and not too shocked if we went into Lawrence with a shot at a share of the regular season title. If that were to happen, regardless of what happens against Kansas and assuming we win at least one in the tourney, I'd think we would be in good shape to get into the 5-6 seed range.

by littlevisigoth on Feb 21, 2007 10:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Leaving in the starters...

...this was the hot topic in my section of the O-Zone last night during the majority of the second half.

I was pissed all of the starters were still in the game until the last few minutes, when we got to see Harrison Smith looking lost on defense and Ian Mooney taking the ball to the hole. But the more I thought about it, I started wondering if the team was playing SO well that Rick wanted to let them keep working the magic and try to see if they could maintain that level of excellence for an entire game. And they did, which perhaps is a more important building block than ten extra minutes of rest...

I can go either way on it...

by txtwstr7 on Feb 21, 2007 12:43 PM CST reply actions 0 recs