AW 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--