The No. 2 Texas Longhorns improved to 12-0 on the season with another blowout victory. The win, 95-63 over Gardner-Webb, was the Longhorns twelfth straight double digit win and sixth of 30 or more points. That said, this was the most forgettable win of the season.
The Bulldogs were overmatched from the opening tip and this game was never close. However, I doubt Rick Barnes is very happy with his team's overall performance. The Longhorns committed a season-high 19 turnovers, didn't execute well in the half-court, and allowed Gardner-Webb to shoot 50% (12-of-24) from behind the arc. Texas looked like a team that knew victory was theirs before the game began and executed more like what you see in a pick-up game than in a major college basketball game.
I am not going to read too much into this one, though. With school out, the holidays, and a week off between games, a little sloppiness was to be expected. And, there were a bunch of good aspects as well. Texas created 27 turnovers with an incredibly disruptive full-court trapping defense. Those turnovers included an eye-popping 19 steals.
Next, Texas was outstanding from the free throw stripe, 76% (16-of-21). Especially impressive were Damion James (8-of-8) and Gary Johnson (7-of-8). Johnson has been solid all year, but DaMo's perfect night is something to point toward.
Last, as BZ mentioned, Jai Lucas found his rhythm this afternoon with his best performance of his short season. Lucas scored a team-high 15 points, on 5-of-7 from three, in just 15 minutes of action. He showed a keen ability to read the defense in high pick-and-roll sets. As the Gardner-Webb defenders went underneath the screen, he set his feet and knocked down the jumper. While I still have doubts about his abilities on the other end of the court, tonight's performance was solid.
A few other minor points after the jump:
Dogus Balbay is playing basketball like a shutdown corner plays football. He is single handedly taking away a part of each opponent's offense. In the prior two games, Larry Drew of North Carolina and Kalin Lucas of Michigan State probably wished they hadn't suited up against Balbay and the ‘Horns. He was that dominant again tonight against much less skilled opponents.
Avery Bradley played like a freshman tonight. His head appeared to be getting in the way of his natural abilities. He was forcing passes that weren't there, shooting flat jumpers, and not finishing easy ones around the rim. No worries, though. He is immensely talented and will bounce back quickly.
If you liked what you saw from Justin Mason tonight, credit Rick Barnes. If you don't like what you saw from Justin Mason tonight, blame Rick Barnes. It sounded like BZ was in the credit camp with his quick thoughts below. I'm leaning more to the other side. First off, I'm not sure why Mason is still in the starting lineup. Second, I have no idea why Mason and Balbay are ever allowed to be on the floor at the same time. Barnes is apparently trying to get Mason to be more aggressive on offense and worked hard on this in practice. I guess this is fine if that is the end goal. My method is much easier, though-sit Mason and start one of the other two freshmen. Both J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton have higher ceilings as players than Mason and both need the minutes to get there. Don't get me wrong; I love Mase. He is a four year starter, a tremendous leader, a loyal Longhorn, and a gutty defender. However, given the individual talent on this team, to me, Justin is an 8-10 minute defensive specialist and an off the court role model for the freshmen. Why are we asking him to find his jumper now?
Damion James is a double-double machine. Tonight, 14 points and 13 boards in just 23 minutes earned him is 43rd career double-double. With play like this, he should be the favorite for Big XII Player of the Year and in consideration for first team All America.
Something wasn't right with Jordan Hamilton. I thought Barnes mentioned that he was suffering from an ankle injury. If anyone else heard that too in his post-game comments, please chime in. Jordan only played 11 minutes with just a couple coming in the second half.
NEXT GAME: Saturday, 1/2 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3:30 pm Fox Sports Southwest
0 recs | 17 comments
To clarify my position on Mason:
I agree with most of this. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal that Mason is “starting” because his minutes reflect that of a specialist regardless of when he comes in the game. But the way Mason is currently playing, I agree that he should not be on the floor at the same time as Balbay and since Balbay’s starting, Mase probbaly shouldn’t be starting alongside him. But Mason has the capability to be more than a defensive stopper and he showed it his first two years. I see this as a last-ditch plea by Rick to Justin: “Step up your game to the point where you’re making meaningful contributions, as I know you can, or you’re going to sit.” According to bballgrl in the comments of my earlier mini-recap, Rick said as much in his post-game comments.
And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Perhaps you think that Mason at his absolute peak provides nothing that we couldn’t get from other players. But I don’t think that’s entirely true. And if Mason starts scoring enough that it’s not a complete liability for him and Balbay to play at the same time, then that opens up many more matchup opportunities on defense.
Mason isn’t Harrison Smith or Craig Winder, who we knew could only do one thing (shoot and provide energy, respectively). Mason’s only thing right now is defense (and even at this point, he’s more like the 2nd or 3rd best on-ball defender in the backcourt), but he’s shown that he has the ability to be a complete (albeit limited) player. I don’t think it hurts to give him an ultimatum during the late December patsy-season to use it or lose it.
billyzane - December 29, 2009
Well Stated - Barnes is wrong BZ is right
The way I see it – this Horn’s team has 2 chinks in the armor to fix:
1. Outside shooting that spills over onto the charity stripe.
2. Rick is an elite recruiter – but not an elite game coach – the point you are making is a “pebble in the sneaker” right now – but if roles, minutes, and combinations are not perfected – may be difficult to get through a regional.
Anyway, the physical talent and athleticism is the deepest and best that I have seen at Texas. This is an exciting team and the potential if the pups grow up is staggering. Hook Em
realmccoy - December 30, 2009
Mase
I’m with on starting not meaning much. In most games, Justin plays the appropriate number of minutes in most games.
However, last night was something different. I just hope that it was Barnes’ attempt to get Mason a little more confident and not trying to make Justin something that he will never be on this team—a scorer.
I have no problem with this from Barnes or Mason against Gardner-Webb; I will have a problem if Mason takes minutes from better players or shots from better scorers in conference play.
awiggo - December 30, 2009
Hamilton had an ankle
An ankle injury. Because everyone has an ankle. Generally two. But yeah, Barnes said after the game that he had an “ankle situation” and didn’t want to go back in.
That really should have been a win by 60 or more. In his post-game talk, Barnes hit on the two things I was thinking after the game: 1) the three-point field goal defense was not good, as guys weren’t closing out with their hands up, something they have apparently been working on in practice and probably the weakest overall aspect of an excellent defensive team, and 2) the fast breaks were not run particularly well, with a lot of guys making late passes or trying to throw lobs up at the rim (J’Covan Brown had one particularly ill-advised attempt where he tried to lob the ball to James over the rim, which doesn’t work well), basically running them poorly. Making the difficult passes instead of the easy ones, and 3) the team knows what they are supposed to be doing, but they aren’t quite translating what they are working on in practice into the games.
For instance, Barnes mentioned that Bradley is looking for the correct things, but then trying to force it when it’s not there, mostly in reference to bad passes, I believe. Bradley has gotten mostly a free pass for his inconsistent offense and that’s to be expected of someone with his demeanor and it’s generally endearing — part of the reason the criticism of Hamilton has been much stronger (that and the terrible shots Hamilton has taken at times). The decision-making will come for Bradley, what is inexcusable right now is not finishing with authority around the rim. For a guy who is a great leaper, he takes too many weak layups instead of dunking the ball or taking it strong to the rim. Just an area for growth.
Barnes also said he wanted Mason and Balbay shooting and that they spent a lot of practice time forcing them to shoot. Confidence is a factor for both players, but the fact is that they just aren’t good shooters and it’s getting tiresome to see them playing together because it’s obvious that they aren’t a good fit. No idea what Barnes is thinking because this has gone past the tinkering with lineups phase. Makes me want to bang my head against the wall, which seems like what Barnes is doing.
BZ was questioning the shot selection in the mini-wrap and I thought I would respond to that here. I missed most of the first half, so I won’t really comment too much on his shot selection from my own perspective, but Lucas said after the game that he was taking the shots in the screen and roll game because they were going under the screens and talked about his role of hunting his shot more when he’s off the ball. Point being, I guess, that he seemed like he understood his role and I have confidence in his basketball IQ as one of the strengths in his game, for what that’s worth.
I think it says a lot about this team that they a 30+ point win is disappointing and sloppy. Once again, just showing how much growth there is left for this team and how incredibly good they have the chance to become. At this point, even with the deep rotation, it doesn’t seem like there are any selfish players or anyone disappointed with their role. Hamilton is perfectly willing to pass a lot of times, he just doesn’t understand the difference between a shot he can make and a good shot — I don’t think that is selfish really. Other than that, James’ leadership has been impressive, Brown’s attitude has been great, and while the focus wanes at times, it’s nothing serious or representative of deep-seated problems.
I like where this team is at right now and I love where they could be at in March. In that sense, Gardner-Webb doesn’t really represent a step backwards, just not as much of a step forward as it could have been.
Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - December 30, 2009
more on Mason and Balbay
I left this part out last night when I posted but remembered it later. Barnes is also trying to get Balbay to find his shot. So while Barnes focused on Mason, they also ran some sets with Dogus shooting more. That’s why we saw Dogus try to shoot a 3 pointer last night (that really happened, right?).
Remember last year when they pulled Mason out of the starting lineup and then they lost some games? That’s when Barnes really figured out the value of Mason. I know it doesn’t show on any stat line but it’s there and it’s a part of this team.
Last night during warmups, I was watching Mason. He offered the ball to a bunch of different guys before he would take a shot. He probably takes less than half as many shots in warmup as the other guys. I don’t know why he defers so much but they are trying to break him out of that.
bballgrl - December 30, 2009
Since I did not see it, I refuse to believe that we shot 76% from the free throw line.
UT_BKC - December 30, 2009
Mason Balbay shooting
Balbay should be shooting and mason should be a non issue b/c his playing time should be cut. I personally think this is a loyalty issue for Barnes. He loves what Mase has brought to the program for four years (as do I) and he can’t bare to bench him. I’m ok with Mase playing 7 minutes per game but beyond that we have too much talent on the roster to justify Mason as an offensive weapon.
As for Balbay. I don’t think he has that bad a shot. It looks like it has good arc, but when you only take 1 shot per game that isn’t a layup you probably won’t feel super comfortable taking it. Balbay needs to shoot 1-2 wide open midrange jumpers in every game so he feels comfortable doing it against elite teams in March b/c it could be a difference maker.
jimmer - December 30, 2009 via mobile
Also
Encouraging mason to shoot takes shots away from the rest of the team. I know you could make the same argument for Balbay shooting, but let him take the shots Mase otherwise would.
jimmer - December 30, 2009 via mobile
Enigma
How does Balbay get this far without developing a jump shot? Or being able to shoot free throws. It starts to make you wonder what kind of ball they play in Turkey. As best I can tell, his form is decent but he is not getting set to shoot, about what you’d expect for a whirling dervish like Balbay. As I remember, he has been shooting off his own dribble and is not spotting up for a pass, so the solution may be as simple as running some plays for him.
What bears repeating is that he has made astonishing progress on his defense. Last year we looked at him as a speed guy and ball handler. Now people are talking defender of the year. My hope is that by next year he makes similar gains on offense. Then he’d be a lock for “12 Dev Adam” , if not the NFL.
Caradoc - December 30, 2009
European bigs
tend to be able to shoot and spread more time on the perimeter (perhaps partly because the international lane is slightly wider), so Doge probably never had to shoot much — he would penetrate and dish to set up his shooters or push the ball in transition. That’s my theory any way.
Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - December 30, 2009
I like Barnes starting Balbay and Mason.
Balbay and Mason start each half for 3-5 minutes. The reason I would guess is to have you most experienced defenders on the court who can work together well. At the start of the game in that first 3-5 minutes you see what the other team’s strategy is going to be. What ever it is, you have your most experienced defenders on the court. With that experience the Horns can make adjustments on the fly to defending the offensive strategy of the other team. Once the the other team has shown how it’s is going to play Balbay and Mason can then work together to breakup the offensive flow of the other team. Once the tone is set Barnes can then bring in the less experienced players who now just follow the lead of the more experienced players.
The same happens at the beginning of the second half. Balbay and mason start to see what adjustments the other team has made over the break. Balbay and Mason go to work breaking up the new changes. When horns get the defensive changes to the offensive adjustments of the opponent then Barnes can bring in the youngsters.
Barnes can do this knowing that Balbay and Mason might not score much but he has James and Pittman on the court at the same time so the offense can run through them. This also gives Barnes a chance to see how the other team plans on stopping the Horns inside game.
Xerxes - December 30, 2009
Pomeroy
The Pomeroy stats show that last night we raised our season average for free throw shooting by an entire percentage point, from 61.2% to 62.2%. If we can do that eight more times, we’ll be OK.
On the other hand, we have also improved our free throw defense to 59.5% for a #6 ranking. At first, I thought this was just some statistical quirk, as we led the nation in this category for much of last year. But I’m starting to think it is a reflection of the pace of our games, which leads to tired legs and missed shots.
Caradoc - December 30, 2009
Turnovers
I didn’t see the game. How did Dogus have 4 turnovers? He goes 6:0 then 2:4 against inferior competition. Odd.
jimmer - December 30, 2009 via mobile
The entire first half was a giant shitshow.
The Horns realized how bad GW was and they just tried to do too much, making fancy passes, etc. Balbay tried a no-look over the shoulder pass to Wangmene under the basket when he had Damion standing next to him and could have handed him the ball. The teams combined for like 30 turnovers in the first half, 13 from Texas.
billyzane - December 30, 2009
Thanks
jimmer - December 30, 2009 via mobile
Shawn Williams
Anyone know what the status of Shawn William’s injury is? When might he be back?
gcinthewoods - December 30, 2009
Left ankle
Not sure about a timetable, but this is an ankle that has almost chronically been injured for Williams and is probably the biggest issue that Todd Wright has to tackle with Williams physically. It could be something that bothers him all season until he has time to really work with Wright and strengthen it.
Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - December 30, 2009
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