Despite a tightly officiated ball game that limited Dexter Pittman to the bench, Texas outlasted Michigan State 79-68 on Tuesday night to improve to 11-0 on the season. Game MVP was Damion James, whose 23 and 15 were huge on a night when Michigan State succeeded in keeping Texas out of offensive rhythm for much of the night.
Postgame analysis will be forthcoming from AW or txtwstr. This is your undefeated celebration thread.
0 recs | 52 comments
Woot!
feels good to be burnt orange.
horndude - December 22, 2009
Get that elephant off of your back Rick...
Or howver that saying goes. Damn it feels good to finally see the boys win one against MSU.
SuperBentley - December 22, 2009
close
It’s nice to finally get that monkey off his elephant.
Kool Hand - December 22, 2009
I think we've all been avoiding talking about the can of worms in the room
burntorangehorn - December 23, 2009
I thought the elephant threw the can of worms into the monkey's fan.
run Bevo run - December 23, 2009
It did, but it's spilt water under Pandora's box by now
burntorangehorn - December 23, 2009
Great time to be a Longhorn
Hook ’Em!
Infield Elephant - December 22, 2009
Not sure what to think about Kansas yet.
They jive well, clean plays, disciplined, but pretty sure that Horns team tonight could take them.
Infield Elephant - December 22, 2009
The way they played the second half, sure
The first half was a little spotty at times, but still, excellent game by the Horns tonight.
burntorangehorn - December 22, 2009
They don't scare me.
I know there are a lot of games to take care of, but I really can’t wait to face KU this season.
burrito - December 22, 2009
KU tied with Cal with 8 minutes left in the 1st half.
goingforthecorner - December 22, 2009
KU is a lot like us
Very deep, teams stick around until KU cruises behind superior depth
40AS - December 22, 2009
KU
Has had a soft schedule…not really their fault, but UCLA is down this year, same with Michigan and even Cal is unranked. I’ll reserve judgment until they play some powers like we just did…
And speaking of…a night where like Peter said, we were never able to get into an offensive rhythm and yet we still got up to 79 points! Last year when we were in offensive rhythm 79 was high. Love this team! Kept the defense, added the offense.
Jhal2315 - December 22, 2009
As the season progresses
I look forward to Hamilton maturing/calming down, AB only getting better, Lucas getting acquainted, and can Dex get in even better shape? Continually impressed with Brown and so glad we still have James. This team is truly special. Double digit streak holding strong w good reason. Let’s hope we don’t see any complacency going into the last few before conference play.
Infield Elephant - December 22, 2009
I cringe to think about how good we could have been last year if Brown had qualified. He has so much game.
The Uconn game scares me as that may be the toughest true road test of the year until tourney time.
Jhal2315 - December 22, 2009
All I want for christmas is
a purple Brent Mussburger sweater.
horndude - December 22, 2009
2 Balbay dunks tonight
that was pretty great
Infield Elephant - December 22, 2009
Fans
It is a little embarrassing how bad the fan support is during the game. People were only standing for a few possessions and then sitting right back down. To many fair weather fans for the number 2 team in country playing the number 9 team in the country.
Great win though. We are looking incredible. Kansas is in trouble.
Texastriplecrown - December 22, 2009
I'll withhold judgment until...
…it isn’t 2 days before Christmas. I’d be there on tippy-toe if I weren’t 600 miles away…
bbatsell - December 22, 2009
I'll take what I can get
The drum was loud as I’ve heard it tonight. We have the same problem with alumni during football games…it’s just more exaggerated at the Erwin because there are fewer people (and far fewer students).
The Mack Attack - December 22, 2009
wasn’t really that bad… we were loud when we went on a scoring streak, and when we were down and they had possession…. kinda all you can really ask for in a basketball game. it takes alot of effort to constantly yell/cheer in the face paced game of bball.
Displaced Longhorn - December 22, 2009
What's up with the AP recap?
Every incarnation has said that Texas has beaten MSU four straight years. Uh…?
bbatsell - December 22, 2009
What they meant was, MSU was unable to make it four in a row.
patienthornsfan - December 23, 2009
Damien coming back is looking real good.
Horntod - December 22, 2009
Damion, sorry.
Horntod - December 22, 2009
Also, twstr made us proud tonight
best performance i’ve seen out of him yet. i’ll be scouring the interwebs for pictures and video over the next few days.
The Mack Attack - December 22, 2009
Yes, it was a friggin amazing performance.
Probably better than any of the pom squad… even with the disability of not being a hottie.
Darklust - December 22, 2009
my cousin and i joked that he needed blood and mud down his face to complete his tebow impression….
Displaced Longhorn - December 22, 2009
Agreed
But if I may criticize a little, and I hope twstr reads this, the big screen had a close-up of his face and all I saw was gritty determination. No joy. Being fluid with the moves is important, but you also have to enjoy yourself. Just check out the Pom girls (and by that I mean their faces), or any Fred Astaire movie. They all have big, convincing smiles. When you dance happy, everyone watching is happy.
Meekrob - December 23, 2009
Believe it or not...
…but I definitely enjoyed myself. I was actually having to think about the routine, since I was facing a different direction and didnt want to get mixed up.
At least, this time, I didnt throw “Hook ’Em” in a bear hug and lift him up off the ground like last year.
txtwstr7 - December 23, 2009
I know you did
I was just joking :)
Meekrob - December 23, 2009
Very impressive again
Watched the last ten minutes and saw the Horns do what all good teams do—tighten the defensive screws as the game wound down. Shooting comes and goes but Barnes is wise to stress defense which can be a constant with an athletic, well coached team.
MSU is a fine club—good win. Particularly impressive with Pittman limited by fouls.
hopefulhorn - December 22, 2009
I was at the game
And I wanted to be standing up the whole time but everyone around me sat down. Didn’t want to be the ahole blocking the view. Great win from a great team. I now feel like they should go undefeated. If the lose one game its gonna feel like a total let down
Javi - December 22, 2009 via mobile
At Uconn?
Jhal2315 - December 22, 2009
We still play
AT # 11 UConn
Not to mention Baylor, OK State, and Oklahoma that are all quality teams and always play us tough.
Also, we have yet to play a really tough ROAD Game (considering UNC game pretty much a home game for us). So UConn could be a great test.
I think the only game left that we are not heavy favorites in will be KU, but it would not be crazy to lose 1-2 of the above games through the season. Basketball is not football.
SwimTexas - December 22, 2009
Agree with most of that
But OU is pretty much in the basement of the conference right now. Unless they can fix themselves and do it soon then I think they could get killed in conference play.
seth78 - December 22, 2009
speaking as a Sooner fan
I think at this point it’s pretty much safe to say you can name your score in either game this year. OU has some major problems, namely Willie Warren and his attitude, and will get run off the court by you guys. As much as it hurts to admit, I don’t think there’s a better team in the country right now than the Longhorns.
Jordan Esco - December 23, 2009
I was the same deal.
Even with how hella high up I was in the mezz
I wouldn’t say a one loss team is a let down here. UT is genuinely great, but a single loss in the season won’t be a huge let down. As long as that loss doesn’t come before the NC game in the tourney, I’ll be fine with how the season turns out.
Darklust - December 22, 2009
Slow down
We will not go undefeated.
1. We can’t hit free throws.
2. We’re an up and down team over the course of the game. At some point, that will hurt us in crunch time.
3. Pittman in foul trouble against a team with high quality big men = 6’7" against 7’0" = not good.
These last two games have convinced me we could win the national championship, especially since we haven’t discovered our full potential yet, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If we fix these deficiencies and Hamilton finds a way to realize his potential and contribute without hurting the team by taking bad shots, we’ll be a favorite to win the crown.
longtimelonghorn - December 22, 2009
And when's the last time an NCAA basketball team has gone undefeated?
longtimelonghorn - December 22, 2009
1976?
Hopkins Horn - December 22, 2009
1976
Bob Knight and Indiana. Indiana was also undefeated in 1975 through the Elite 8 but lost to Kentucky (Indiana lost the Player of the year, Scott May, to an injury),
IUTex - December 22, 2009
Fine, fine...
…how about just 30 wins before the conference tournament, then?
burntorangehorn - December 23, 2009
Texas, fuck yea!
One of the ugliest games but when it mattered our boys clamped down on D (limited them to jumpers mostly) and stepped in up in the offense end. We did this with our “smaller” group without Sexy.
Killer night by James, Johnson and Balbay.
I’m excited we won by double digits by playiner their game (slow and grinding) and we beat UNC with an uptempo pace.
The consistent aspect in both games…our lockdown D. Really the D on the perimeter is fucktastic.
Kudos to El Jefe Barnes.
UT2001 - December 22, 2009
If Balbay could shoot
He might be on of the best guards in the country. He does everything else so well. Energy, speed, vision, defense, everything but shooting. They are just daring him to shoot and he won’t.
And the reason that sucks so bad is that guards can play so far back off of him in the half court, and help inside.
If he gets a 3 point shot or even a mid-range jump shot before he leaves the 40 acres…. he could be scary good.
Awesome wins this week. # 1 Ranking anyone?
SwimTexas - December 22, 2009
he can dunk like a champ tho
Displaced Longhorn - December 22, 2009
You know what else...
For us to do that tonight without Dex for a lot of the game is just special.
SwimTexas - December 22, 2009
It makes us look so much better
When we beat UNC it was mainly one big Sexy Dexy highlight reel. Teams probably thought “ok we take him out of the game then we’ll have a shot” and then Dex isn’t a big factor tonight and we still have a solid win.
seth78 - December 22, 2009
BYU destroying Oregon St.
KU pulling away from Cal
goingforthecorner - December 22, 2009
The question now is, when is our first loss coming?
Back to back away games at KSU and UConn might be intimidating, but I can’t say that either team scares me individually. Two games at the two Oklahoma schools at the beginning of February right before Kansas, but losing to either of them would be a pretty big upset. If we don’t lose before the KU game we will be 23-0, which is a pretty badass record.
circa1015 - December 22, 2009
Yea i know
Undefeated is a very long shot. I’m just so freakin’ happy that they beat both teams from last years NC. Now if they can work on their free throws and passing I think our NC chances increase by a large margin
Hook’em
Javi - December 22, 2009 via mobile
"tightly officiated"
Ahem
Caradoc - December 23, 2009
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