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Longhorns lean more on Dexter Pittman for defense. Facing a much more athletic lineup than Stanford, might be a game where we need Gary Johnson to shine.

They really need to space these doubleheader games out better, it seems no channel does it well with either basketball or football. I guess they’d rather have games overlap and piss off fans than have to fill time between games. Either way, we’re once again missing the start of the Texas game and if it goes to overtime it could mean we miss most of the first half. We’ll have live opinions on the game as soon as CBS switches to the Texas versus Texas Tech game in Lubbock.

First Half

• Texas is up 4 to 3 early. Five minutes gone by but not much scoring so far.
• Watching ESPN’s game tracker Alexis Wangmene already has two rebounds. Getting more early playing time for the youngster.
• I really hope this Georgetown player chokes on this third free throw. I don’t care about his trauma, I just want to watch the Texas game. Crap… maybe at least CBS will be smart enough to switch the Texas region to the game.

Texas 18, Texas Tech 16

• Good. With 11 minutes left in the first half CBS has switched over to our game.
• Texas Tech presses and it worked pretty well but after Damion James breaks the press and Tech forgets to cover AJ Abrams in the corner. After struggling a little at the beginning of Big 12 play Abrams has found his groove and will kill you if left alone.
• Nice to see freshman Clint Chapman handle a pass and take it to the hole. Not sure about his form from the free throw line but he is nice and smooth just made two easy ones.

Texas 23, Texas Tech 20

• Looks the Red Raiders are hanging around at least in part due to some lucky shots. They’ve had at least two or three shots go in on some crazy bounces just since I started watching.
• Great pass from Chapman to James. Threaded in there right under the basket giving James an easy hoop.
• Wow! What a block by Tech’s Martin Zeno. James was going in for a big dunk and Zeno does a great job swatting it away.
• I like the attitude of Justin Mason but he just picked up a technical foul with his mouth. Not sure what he had to say or who he was talking to.
• I haven’t seen Connor Atchley at all today, must have picked up early fouls again.

Texas 30, Texas Tech 26

• JD Lewis swishes a three and then I think runs down the court giving Tech’s Voskuhl grief. If Lewis had gone to Tech he’d have started/played as much as Voskuhl the last 3 years.
• Pretty bad officiating again as usual. Zeno just flattened DJ Augustin who was standing with his hands straight up but they called it on Augustin. That call is missed pretty bad both ways though.
• Big Dexter Pittman still leaves his feet too much after the pump fake. He has to better job being under control on defense.
• Not sure what the announcer is watching. Abrams took the ball to the top of the key, pump faked, and calmly shot a wide open three. I’m not sure how that makes Texas rattled on offense to have the conference’s best shooter take an open shot.
• One of Tech’s many ugly white gguys apparently didn’t like the fact that he undercut a Texas player and then fell down. He had to be held back but no Texas players even noticed him.
• Rebounding on both ends killed the Horns the last few minutes of the half. Gave Tech too many second chances and didn’t help themselves out at all on the other end.

Halftime: Texas 37, Texas Tech 41

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We’ll be posting live thoughts on tonight’s Big Monday game versus Kansas on ESPN. The Villanova-Georgetown game is running long. No idea if the Texas game’s start will be delayed or if we’ll just miss some of the game, maybe both.

Pregame

• Vince Young at the game. Hopefully he was around this weekend to say hello to a few recruits. Should be perfectly legal since he’s in classes this semester.
• They’ve delayed the start of the game. As long as Nova-Georgetown doesn’t go to overtime it looks like we’ll see our game in it’s entirety.
• I like that they showed us Rutgers versus Tennessee women’s highlights as if anyone watching either of these two games cared.
• Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds is a former Sooner commit. They’d be pretty tough with him Damion James. Kelvin Sampson really screwed OU over, but I guess they deserved it.
• That’s a BS call with less than a second on the clock. Awful. I don’t think any of the players or refs knew how much time was left. I like it though because it means Texas-Kansas can get started.

First Half

• Well they obviously didn’t delay the start of the game too much. ESPN just switched over and we missed three and a half minutes of the game. First three shots they show are two made threes by the Horns and one by Kansas. Based on the score there wasn’t much defense before we were watching either.

Kansas 12, Texas 15

• Erwin Center sounds nice and loud. Some of my best sports-related college experiences were Monday nights at the Drum.
• If Gary Johnson’s offensive game can keep developing he’ll be huge for us down the stretch and in March.
• After a play that looked like offensive goaltending by KU on the other end, rough call against Johnson for the offensive foul.
• If Justin Mason can continue to play great defense and now handle the ball handing on offense he’s suddenly a big asset for the Horns.
• Ugh. How do you call that foul on Mason? If anything the Kansas guard initiated the contact and Mason kept his hands to himself.
• Better ball movement on offense for the Horns. With DJ Augustin playing off the ball, he and AJ Abrams are all over the place trying to create offensive chances. Everybody looks more active.

Kansas 18, Texas 20

• Mason out, let’s see how much standing around there is on offense. No reason we can’t keep up the good off the ball movement.
• That’s the second time tonight Abrams has had a great steal. Kid has quick hands to go with his quick shot.
• Looks like the refs are allowing tons of contact against Augustin when he initiates it. Now that he’s back at the point he seems to be more out of control than earlier.

Kansas 28, Texas 29

• Kansas scores but ESPN still hasn’t given them the points. Or maybe they had 26 and not 28, I’m old and blind.
• Aaron Ross at the game as well sitting with Mack Brown. I think Ross is in school this semester as well.

Kansas 35, Texas 33

• Connor Atchley is nails from three again. He’s four of four on the night. After he and Abrams were nailing everything we suddenly went away from both of them in our offense.
• Damion James picked up two quick fouls. I was wondering why he hadn’t played at all since we picked up the game.
• Kansas seems to have five guys on the court at all times that can score and create for themselves.
• Ouch. Johnson looks like he’s in serious pain. Is he bleeding? I don’t care how uncomfortable those masks are the kid needs to wear one to protect the nose.

Kansas 41, Texas 38

• I don’t know how Rick Barnes doesn’t give himself a heart attack and a hernia every nigh yelling at the officials. I know it’s a tough job but hell it’s one of the most frustrating things to watch when refs are seemingly making things up as they go along.
• Sigh. Clint Chapman looks like he has my hands. Kid doesn’t look like he could catch a cold sometimes. He has to expect the ball at anytime.

Halftime: Kansas 42, Texas 38

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The Texas basketball team has struggled for four straight games, particularly shooting the ball, but on the bright side they’ve won three of those contests. Saturday afternoon the team came from behind again in the second half and then finished off the Iowa State Cyclones 71-65 in overtime (video highlights).

Neither team played well on the offensive end in the first half, but thanks to their big men controlling the paint the Cyclones held a four point lead going into the locker room. All-American point guard DJ Augustin putting the ball through the hoop all game long. On the few occasions in the first twenty minutes when a Texas big man had a scoring chance, they either fumbled the ball away (Clint Chapman) or they missed makeable shots (everyone).

The Horns got off to a horrid start in the second half, it took the guys nearly five minutes to make two buckets. The slow start allowed Iowa State to build up a double digit lead that they held going into the final ten minutes. At that point they handed over point duties again to Justin Mason, allowing Augustin a chance to create off the ball both for himself and AJ Abrams. Abrams’ shooting carried the team all game long, his seven threes were the only thing that kept the team in it. Texas was able to get some timely buckets from Gary Johnson, Abrams, and Augustin to eventually close the gap and send the game to overtime. They had a chance to win it in regulation but couldn’t get a decent shot off in the final seconds.

In overtime, Iowa State couldn’t buy a basket. Their only points from the floor came with 14 seconds left when the game was essentially over. Texas was able to get key buckets from Abrams and Augustin and hit their free throws to seal the win. The 12th ranked Longhorns are now 19-4 on the season and improve to 6-2 in Big 12 play.

Player of the Game: AJ Abrams, 25 points, 7/10 on 3-pointers

Next Game: 8pm Monday vs. #5 Kansas, Erwin Center, TV: ESPN

Rookie Clint Chapman exhausts himself for game’s sake. Good thing he’s a hard worker because he’s a skinny SOB.

With no more Kevin Durant, Horns expecting inside help. Will be fun to watch Chapman and Wangmene develop this season.