The #24 Texas Longhorns (19-8, 8-5) narrowly escaped Texas Tech's upset big on Tuesday night at the Erwin Center, 87-81. The Longhorns basketball team was as lackluster as the crowd on hand to witness the retirement of Kevin Durant's #35 jersey at halftime, inconsistent on offense with Gary Johnson in street clothes and multiple 'Horns in foul trouble, and consistently ineffective on defense.
The good news is Texas won and, thanks to Kansas State's loss at Missouri, is now is sole possession of fourth place in the conference. The inside track to a first round conference tournament bye, which was gained this evening, will be tested this Saturday in Stillwater. Oklahoma State pasted Colorado, 76-55, in Boulder and moved to 7-6 in the Big XII, along with Kansas State. The Cowboys have now won four straight, control their own destiny for fourth place in the conference, and are, shockingly, looking like an NCAA tournament team.
If Texas brings the same effort on Saturday that they brought tonight, they will get beat. Period. Texas was once again poor on defense, especially in finding perimeter jump shooters and limiting dribble penetration. They also had trouble controlling the scrappier Red Raiders on the boards.
Thankfully, the Longhorns showed better energy in the second half, were more efficient on offense, and sank just enough foul shots to come out victorious.
Box Score
Next Game: at Oklahoma State -- Saturday 2/28 5 pm ESPN
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0 recs | 4 comments
You hit it on the head
The two keys defensively are contesting shooters and limiting dribble penetration. For the ability that Texas possesses the play defense for 20-25 seconds, those last few are often a huge problem. Mason is limited right now because he keeps tweaking his ankle, hurting his lateral quickness and Balbay fouls on the perimeter and has lapses in awareness that are disconcerting.
To Tech’s credit, they have some effective players on their team. Voskuhl can knock down open looks — he got one off a curl that AJ took too round of a turn on and got another on a pull up after Abrams was too far behind again and had to close out too hard. Speaking of which, that’s a huge problem on the team right now and a lot of it falls into the recognition category. When a player like Okorie or Roberson get hot, you can’t let them stand still and shoot the ball. Yet Texas players allow that. After about three or four made threes, they start adjusting by closing out too hard, allowing dribble penetration.
The key is closing out hard to force them to dribble the ball, but not so hard that you fly by. It’s a delicate balance, but one that UT defenders have trouble with, particularly in regard to leaving their feet and giving up defensive positioning. When you are in position on an offensive player, why would you ever give that up? Yet Longhorn players do it consistently when someone raises their eyebrow at them. It’s not a coaching problem — it’s on the players to recognize.
The good news is that the light is starting to come on for Balbay and he is also finishing more with the right hand and off the glass, which will help him tremendously, as well as allowing the Longhorns easy opportunities early in the shot clock, crucial for a team that struggles in the half court. What I liked that I saw from Balbay tonight was the aggression, the knowledge that when you are in the open court and have a backpedaling defender in front of you, if you can turn that defender at all with a crossover or shoulder fake, then you will get a blow by and the defense won’t be in a position to stop it.
Balbay needs to work a little bit more on opening his hips because he gets into trouble when shadowing ball handlers down the court and getting that several degrees of turn that result in a lot of blown whistles. I think the fundamental realization that he needs to make is that he needs to beat the defender to the spot rather than shadow them with the ball, then turning the offensive player so they have to redirect.
All in all, a tougher win than should happen at home, but James Singletary, John Roberson, and Nick Okorie can ball. All three of those guys would figure prominently into a Texas rotation right now because of their ability to score, as would Voskuhl. That’s a high compliment to those team and any questions about Pat Knight being able to coach I think can be put to rest because that team plays hard. Kudos.
Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - February 26, 2009
“James Singletary, John Roberson, and Nick Okorie can ball. All three of those guys would figure prominently into a Texas rotation right now because of their ability to score, as would Voskuhl.”
Not on a Rick Barnes team. Tech has the 5th worst defense of the 73 BCS conference teams (according to Pomeroy) and that seemed accurate to me after last night. If they don’t cover you, they just seem to foul you. The offense isn’t all that either as it rates 9th in the conference (and is much worse than Texas, particularly since Balbay’s emergence the last 6 games or so). Let’s not make Tech out to be a team like Florida (very good offensively, very poor defensively). They’re 12-16 and now 2-11 in the Big XII.
This was a close win over a poor basketball team. Maybe it was a natural letdown after the big victory over OU. Maybe Tech just played over their heads because of the Knight situation. Maybe it was a combination of both.
DoubleB - February 26, 2009
We got a win - and that's what matters.
Tech runs a good offense and they were making shots last night, especially in the first half. They were definitely playing for Pat.
Damion James had a very impressive second half. DaMo started attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line, and then making free throws (aside from missing the front end of a one-and-one). I’ll take 12-15 at the line from James.
I think the game slows down more and more for Balbay each 40 minutes. He had one great looking fastbreak left-to-right crossover and finish where he single handedly beat Tech down the floor. The guy can fly with the ball and still remain in control. I love Eurotrash.
jimmer - February 26, 2009
4th place in conference will be decided on Saturday
We have to win in Stillwater. We have a good chance of defending the home court against Baylor after that. @KU is hopeless. So we need to go 2 of 3 down the stretch. KSU might still get the better of us; they have home games vs. Nebraska and Colorado, and play @OSU. But our only hope of a tourney bye is to win on Saturday. I wish I felt optimistic.
NYCHorn - February 26, 2009
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