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.
All posts tagged with 'Dexter Pittman'
The Longhorns controlled the first half and dominated the last ten minutes in route to a 20 point win over Stanford Friday night. Texas used a 20-3 run to turn a 1-point game into a 82-62 victory.
DJ Augustin was the player of the game for the Horns, leading the team in scoring with 23 points and dishing out 7 assists. When he took over the game and the tempo in the middle of the second half is when Texas went on their run. But equal credit for reversing the momentum should go to Rick Barnes, Dexter Pittman, and the other bigs playing defense down inside. The switch to a 2-3 zone defense and Pittman’s big body frustrated Stanford star Brook Lopez, and without him the Cardinal had no offensive threat.
The team now advances to the Elite 8 where they will face the Memphis Tigers Sunday at 1:20pm on CBS.
Related Links
- Men’s Basketball advances with 82-62 win over Stanford
- D.J. Augustin’s the best I’ve seen
- Texas a win away from Final Four
- Texas takes its place among Elite Eight
- Augustin has UT pointed toward Final Four
- Rick Barnes credits Justin Mason
- Longhorns’ second-half spurt propels them into Elite company
- Instant Analysis: Second-half run dooms the Cardinal
- How Texas Took Down Stanford: An Inside Look
- Stanford calls its shot: Texas just plain better
- There’s more to UT than D.J. Augustin
- Where in the world are Robin and Brook? Definitely not Houston…
- Postgame notes
- Photo gallery
- Video highlights
After playing well in hostile territory in the first two rounds, the Longhorns come home to Texas for the Sweet 16. On Friday the Horns will take on Stanford in a 2 vs. 3 match-up in Houston. The Cardinal pose the biggest challenge in the tourney yet for Texas, particularly the giant Lopez twins down inside.
The 14 feet of Lopezes in the paint means the Longhorns need a big game defensively from the likes of Connor Atchley, Damion James, Gary Johnson, Alexis Wangmene, and big Dexter Pittman. On the offensive end Texas needs another hot shooting night out of junior guard AJ Abrams, but open looks won’t come as easily as they did in the previous two games.
Watch the SI.com video preview of Stanford below:
Dexter Pittman had his first double-double as a Longhorn against Austin Peay but that wasn’t the thing I was most impressed with on Friday. The one play of the day that made me jump up out of my seat was Big Dex’s one-handed recovery of a loose ball. The ball was bouncing near the free throw line and Pittman bent over, palmed the ball with his left hand, and then tossed an outlet pass to DJ Augustin to start the break.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one impressed with it, Austin-American Statesman write Kirk Bohls spent half of his Saturday article discussing Dexter’s hand size:
The first thing you notice about Dexter Pittman is his huge hands.
OK, the second thing.
It’s hard to overlook the fact that when Pittman walks into a room, there’s much less space for everyone else.
However, after his tremendous size, which is literally diminishing by the meal, the most conspicuous thing about the 6-foot-10-inch, 295-pound-and-falling sophomore center is his truly mammoth hands. The biggest hands you’ll ever see on a human.
In Texas’ practices, he shows them off by catching the basketball with a single hand. He especially loves to taunt diminutive teammate A.J. Abrams with his hands, because the flashy junior guard has been Pittman’s primary tormentor regarding that ongoing battle of the pounds. […]
But no one was kidding Pittman about his hands — hands so large they could double as catcher’s mitts.
They come in handy when he’s trying to secure rebounds or block shots. He gives Texas a physical presence down low, something it needs since its best reserve post player, Gary Johnson, continues to sit out with a severe ankle sprain. Johnson remains questionable for the Longhorns’ second-round NCAA tournament game Sunday against Miami.
“I think I have the biggest hands in the country,” Pittman said. “Sometimes I will palm A.J.’s head. Or I’ll cover his whole face with one of my hands.”
He also puts them to good use on the court.
In the Longhorns’ 74-54 rout of 15th-seeded Austin Peay in the first round, he had a career-best 10 rebounds to go with 11 points, in his first double-double at Texas. He grabbed seven rebounds in his first seven minutes Friday. The breakout performance came in his first NCAA tournament action; he never got on the court in Texas’ two 2007 postseason games.
Even more impressively Friday, he actually palmed a loose ball laying on the floor of Alltel Arena, and quickly flicked it to a teammate.
“Did you see him snatch that ball with one hand?” Texas assistant Ken McDonald gasped. “Like it was a tennis ball. Now that’s coaching.”
I’m not sure how much Pittman will be able to contribute through the rest of the tourney, it will depend on the match-up, but if he continues to improve I’m excited about what he’ll bring in the next two seasons. Big Dex at a stronger, lighter 280 pounds could be a force in the Big 12.
The opening round game of the 2008 Men’s Basketball Championship turned out about as well as the Texas Longhorns could have hoped for. A nice, comfortable 74-54 win against an overmatched Austin Peay team moves the Horns on to round two against Miami. AJ Abrams was the leading scorer for Texas, he definitely had his three-point stroke working on Friday.
Texas got out to a huge 19-3 lead early and never let up against the Governors. The defense was active and the big men inside gave the undersized scorers for Austin Peay no room to make anything happen. Connor Atchley, Damion James, and big Dexter Pittman controlled the paint and blocked six shots during the game. Texas kept their 15 to 25 point lead throughout the game, and while the starters didn’t get a ton of rest late the second half was relatively easy and everybody should be ready to go Sunday against the Hurricanes.
Related Links
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
Texas knocked off UT - Arlington tonight in Austin by 32 points in a game that was still close at halftime. It was an eight point game at the half, but the Horns offense kicked in and they were able to pull away and win by a final score of Texas 84, UTA 52.
Kevin Durant had another great night as he chipped in his usual 21 points and 15 rebounds. The kid is just amazingly solid and consistent, he’s averaging a double-double so far in his freshman season. If he continue this kind of production through Big 12 conference play he’ll be getting freshman POY honors and some All-American mentions as well. AJ Abrams knocked down three more 3-pointers and DJ Augustin continued his great work at the point. Those three players can lead this team a long way with just a little help on defense and the boards from the interior guys.
Great to see big Dexter Pittman’s line for the night: 10 minutes, 4 rebounds, and 9 points. The kid is only going to get better this season and could be a force next year.
The Longhorns begin conference play Saturday at 3pm against Colorado.
He had about 5 inches and 50 pounds on everyone, but he looked good. Big potential.
Loading ...