First Look: Box Score vs Texas State
by Peter Bean on Dec 15, 2007 9:40 PM CST
in Texas Longhorns Basketball
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PrintAW was at the Drum tonight and should have a postgame report here shortly, which I'll be very interested to see. Texas won by a comfortable 15 point margin, but Texas State certainly gave the 'Horns a solid run for most of the game. I'm very curious to hear AW's thoughts on how things played out.
In the meantime, it was an interesting box score for Texas:
The line of the night goes to Connor Atchley, obviously. 26 points, 10 boards, 3 steals, 1 block, 4-5 from downtown and a perfect 4-4 at the charity stripe. I'm not sure who deserves higher praise at this point - Connor for his growth into such a strong player or Rick Barnes for identifying him as a prospect and helping him develop. I'm sure both would try to credit the other.
One thing I'm interested to hear about from AW is how Texas State was defending Texas. On the night, 21 of our 64 shots were three pointers, which is roughly the same percentage of shots from downtown as we've attempted on the season. Still, tonight we only hit 33% of those attempts, including just 3 of 12 in the first half. It looks like Rick told his team to be more selective with outside shooting in the second half and to work the ball inside. The Longhorns attempted 30 free throws after intermission, after just 12 attempts in the first half.
Elsewhere, it looks like Chappy had a very solid game at the Drum tonight, giving Rick 12 very productive minutes - 7 points (5-6 FT), 5 boards, and 2 blocks. He did manage to foul out, though...
--PB--
Update [2007-12-16 0:47:43 by awiggo]: Just got home from date night: game, movie, and some trips around Austin to see the lights (including 37th St). I'll have a full recap up in the morning. In short, Texas played Texas State's hectic style in the first half and was absolutely terrible on defense throughout. Thanks to Connor Atchley and the significant talent differential, the Horns survived and moved to 10-0, but this was probably their least impressive win to date.
--AW--
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Defense
Texas State played tough "in your grill" defense on our guards, especially DJ. DJ did not have one of his better games. There were several layups where he was basically throwing up prayers and usually he finishes on those kinds of plays.
The real story was Texas' defense. No zone tonight as Barnes seemed to want to use the game as a practice for man-to-man; which will be renamed Brokeback Mountain defense if we continue to play it the same way.
I love Barnes
He's doing a great job with this team. You'd think that after two huge wins against top ten ranked teams that we might become a little cocky, but Barnes won't allow that attitude whatsoever. He's making it very clear that we still have a lot of work to do.
He's been benching guys for not rebounding and playing defense, and he heavily criticized the team today for it's inability to D up. Props to him for not going zone and giving the players a break.
by goingforthecorner on Dec 16, 2007 12:21 AM CST reply actions
biggest Achille's heel was inside game
On defense, y'all were getting abused inside, as SWT continually hammered you in the post.
I was very surprised; I know finals were this week, but texas didn't look anything like the team that played against UCLA. SWT took it to 'em, and they just stood there and took it.
More purpose besides winning
We could've easily blown the crap out of them if we forced them to shoot jumpers via zone defense, but Barnes decided to use this game to send a message. We were going to win the game regardless. That was not a doubt.
We went man-to-man the entire game, and obviously, that's not our strength. Barnes did it for a reason to show that we still have so much work to do on defense.
But don't think that we're only 15 points better than Texas State. We weren't completely focused on winning the game and accumulating the highest lead. If we were, we'd go zone, because that was obviously the "right move".
Not saying that you are, but I wouldn't take some moral victory that you guys beat Texas State by 36, while we only beat them by 15. We had other agendas besides the W.
by goingforthecorner on Dec 16, 2007 4:23 AM CST up reply actions
Barnes
Barnes is a brilliant coach. Man-to-man the whole game put pressure on our guys and showed Barnes knows exactly what to do. He may be the best coach in America.
My current school is not a basketball school
Our D looked horrible, I thought we were in zone a couple times, but maybe those were just on inbounds. State consistently drove to the middle of the lane and finished.
I guess Wangmene was playing terrible D or not rebounding b/c he hardly played at all.
Once again, Connor showed how we all underestimated what he could do. You should have also put a green box around his FG%, PB. 9-11 is pretty solid. He has such a pure stroke. My favorite shot of his last night was a step-in 18 footer. Pump faked the three, one dribble and popped it.
Our three point shooting was awful, as boxed. Mason looks terrible from three. I don't know what James' problem was from in or outside the arc, he was getting decent looks. He front rimmed a lot of them, maybe a little more arc on his shot wouldn't hurt.
On another note, the drum had quite a crowd. I hadn't looked at the turnstile, but maybe 9k (8,533, I checked.)? We didn't even attempt to stay in the usually abandoned season ticket holder seats in Section 36 b/c it was filling up quick. No complaints here, happy to see people showing up.
5pm?
You think having the game at 5 help getting people out? I wouldve thought it might hurt, but I guess people still have their Saturday nights once the game is over.
by the other Andrew on Dec 16, 2007 12:56 PM CST up reply actions
Combination
Early enought to bring the youngsters and/or still go out to dinner afterward, plus we have gotten a ton of hype after the UCLA win and the good press brings out more fans. A lot general admission folks.
A win is a win
Great idea by Barnes to play so much man to man because the horns need the practise. State guards scored 53 points (out of 81) against the horns.
I would not be surprised that playing man to man disrupted the horns (even when they were on offense). State had 18 assists to 14 assists for the horns. The number of assists is normally an indicator of how well the offense is being run (as opposed to scoring on put backs, foul shots, turnovers, or one on one moves).
Any time a team fouls that much (as State did), it is not going to be a pretty game (it is also a good reason why the horns assist number was relatively low).
The horns had to play their starters (except Damion James) serious minutes to win this one. Great game by Atchley. Not very good offensive game by James.
Better now
The first letdown game was inevitable and I'm glad it happened now rather than next week against MSU. Not saying another can't happen then, but hopefully Barnes can build on this one.
3 pointers
Partly this was a problem with shot selection. DJ and Mason in particular took bad shots and AJ did not get many clear looks, which are the kind he nails. He was well guarded, but we were not running plays to get him open. And partly this was one of those nights when the accuracy was off, even for the good shots. The exception, of course, was Atchley who continues to amaze as he gets his pet shot off the pick and roll play, where he takes a step in and then backs out for the open trey.
my 2 cents
the Horns played a mediocre game in the first half, but picked it up some in the 2nd. Atchley had a great game (his best?), and picked up the slack for some of the other guys... It seemed to me that James was getting decent looks, he just couldn't make any of his shots. He had an off night, what else can you say?
Barnes definitely needs to do some work on the D. OK crowd at the Erwin Center, but pretty sparse in the upper section (man does that "Rock the Drum" song suck).
Hopefully I can make it to the Oral Roberts game on Tuesday, assuming I can get off work early enough to make the 5:30 tipoff.
Oh yeah, Matt Hill shaved off the afro!! He probably lost about 4 inches of total height. I didn't even recognize him on the bench, but I figured the tall white guy must be him.
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