40 Acres Sports

LSU is the complete opposite of the West Virginia team Texas faced Friday night. [tag]LSU[/tag] isn’t a great three-point shooting team and the Mountaineers made their first two with less than ten seconds to go Friday. The Tigers win with their big men inside on offense and outstanding defense. Texas can’t let their shot blockers intimidate them and needs to feed inside early and often to get Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas into foul trouble.

First Half

• Why isn’t the game in HD? They just announced that it had a sponsor for high def yet the picture clearly isn’t. Is it the local CBS affilliate’s fault?
• Okay now it’s fixed. Woohoo!
• Turnover by LSU leads to LaMarcus Aldridge nailing a jumper. Big guy starting out smooth again today.

LSU 0, Texas 3

• Another LSU turnover leads to easy layup for Kenton Paulino.
• Daniel Gibson misses two wide open threes but Brad Buckman nailed one of his own.
• Crap. PJ Tucker is hurt. Looks like it’s his left thumb. Mad scramble for the ball after a Texas turnover, then they steal it back while Tucker gets tangled up, and then Aldridge turns it over again. Wild play that ends up with Tucker holding his thumb sitting on the bench.

LSU 4, Texas 9

• Five minutes into the game and Gibson passes up an open shot. I know he’s not feeling it right now but he’s not off by much and needs to keep firing.
• LSU in a little bit of foul trouble. They seem to be a little out of control early, Texas needs to get up a littl e before they settle in.
• Texas offense is clunking them right now and looks awful on offense. LSU is on a ten point run.

LSU 12, Texas 9

• AJ Abrams nails the 3. He’s definitely been Texas’ most consistent the last few games.
• More terrible officiating. Tyrus Thomas first comes flying in over several guys backs trying to get the rebound. Then after Buckman grabs the board, Thomas literally winds up and hammers Buckman on the head right in the middle of open court while the ref is staring right at them. On what planet is that not a foul? The poor officiating this weekend has been almost as big of a story as the games.

LSU 14, Texas 15

• Aldridge is a little off, need to get him some easy shots and get him going again.
• Nice easy three from Gibson. I’m telling you, he hasn’t been hitting them but he’s been just barely off and seems ready to explode at any moment. Hopefully that shot gets him heated up.

LSU 19, Texas 22

• Four minutes left in the first half and Aldridge misses another. He’s been excellent of defense and the glass though.

LSU 19, Texas 22

• Dear POWERade. Please stop comparing your low-calorie water drink (POWERade Option) to Gatorade’s regular stuff. They have Propel Fitness Water and it has just ten calories as well. That’s like Diet Coke trying to show that they had fewer calories than regular Pepsi. Morons.
• Tie game with 78 seconds left in the half.
• I think they need to watch Thomas’ goal tending. Sure looked like he grabbed one of Buckman shots early earlier in the game and just now the ball appeared to still be sitting on the rim when he pulled down the rebound.

LSU 24, Texas 26

• Seems like every fastbreak we get a guard hurt for no apparent reason. Paulino tweaks his knee a little.
• Horns had a couple good possessions in a row on both ends to end the half and had a chance to go into halftime up by two or more but Abrams turns the ball over. LSU gets two easy points to tie the game.

LSU 26, Texas 26

About what I expected for the first half except for LaMarcus Aldridge’s struggles. His jumper and his little baby hook weren’t really affected by LSU’s shotblockers (though Tucker and Buckman were), he just looks a little off. If he can get his shot to fall in the second half (or pump and get fouled) then Texas wil be in good shape.

Texas hit some threes, played good defense for the most part and forced LSU’s guards to take outside shots they’re not overly comfortable with. The Horns have to play stronger on offense and force Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas to foul them. On defense the guys inside can’t get lost. LSU has several buckets when Thomas and Davis all of a sudden have the ball in their hands right underneath the basket. It’s tough when you’re playing zone, but you’ve got to keep a body on those guys.

The Longhorns need to keep doing what they’re doing and not half their customary second half funk if they want to move on to the Final Four. Come out feeding Tucker and Aldridge the basketball and let them put it up or dish out for the open three.

Second Half

• After what seemed like a very quick first half we’re under way again. Buckman hits his third 3 of the game to start the second half scoring.
• Just good tough basketball on both sides right now. No easy baskets as the inside guys are having to work for their shots and nothing is going up uncontested.
• There’s a solid shot from Aldridge. He needs to go up quicker when he gets the ball down low, his hesitation is giving LSU’s defenders time to get over and disrupt his shot.

LSU 32, Texas 33

• Someone needs to tell the LSU dance team that more makeup does not equal better. (Though I’m sure the Texas girls aren’t much better.)
• Memo to officials: When Thomas runs over Gibson 10 feet from the basket is a foul on somebody.
• Seems like Abrams hasn’t gotten a ton of minutes today.
• Texas down three with 13:30 remaining in the game.
• Gibson hits a long three to tie the game.
• “Voogd” is not a word.

LSU 40, Texas 36

• Good drive from Gibson. Need more of that from our guards.
• Mike Williams with a solid jumper. He doesn’t put much arc on that, but the rim must look pretty big for him right now.
• Refs seem to be allowing more contact inside in this half. They’re calling an even game though so far.

LSU 41, Texas 40

• Daniel Gibson is really active all of a sudden. Several tough drives to the hoop and nailed a couple of big threes as well.
• Buckman can definitely hit an open three but probably shouldn’t be shooting too many with a man on him. He’s playing a pretty good game right now though.

LSU 45, Texas 43

• Does Enterprise Rent-A-Car pick you up and take you the dealer to do the paperwork? Or do they bring two cars to your house and you do all the paperwork there?
• Seven minutes left and the Horns down two. Tough shot by Aldridge, he’s got to get inside more.
• People are falling down all over the place for both sides. It looked like Davis could barely stand for a couple of possessions there.
• Stupid foul by Buckman but another example how touching a guys arms is more likely to draw the foul call than hammering them with your body.

LSU 50, Texas 45

• Four minutes to go.
• Aldridge hit on the arm on the shot and another no call. The lack of foul calls is favoring the more physical Tigers.
• Davis is finally called for a foul for going over Buckman’s back and then grabbing his arm.
• 1:40 left and one-point game.
• Wooo! What a sequence. Bodies and the ball bouncing all over the place and somehow Daniel Gibson ends up with an open look. He nails the three to tie it up with 32 seconds left.

LSU 52, Texas 52

• Odd sequence there. Davis throws up a wild three with 10 seconds still on the clock, Aldridge blocks Thomas but the ball ends up out of bounds.
• We’re going to overtime. LSU had a wide open three but it wasn’t even close. Garrett Temple probably had enough time to dribble for an easier shot but took the open three instead.

Overtime

• Texas starts off the OT sloppy. Two turnovers lead to a big LSU lead. Seven points down now because Davis nails an open three.

LSU 59, Texas 52

• Buckman hits two free throws and gets Texas within 5. Plenty of time left.
• Yeah the official didn’t see Gibson step out of bounds, but he also apparently missed the foul as well. He must be legally blind.

LSU 63, Texas 57

• Buckman has open look but can’t hit it. Would’ve pulled Texas within five.
• LSU’s free throw shooting is leaving the door barely open.
• Tucker hits an unlikely three. Texas within 6.
• Too many damn commercials.

LSU 66, Texas 60

• Horns take way too long to get their shot off. With only 20+ seconds left you can’t take ten seconds to try to get a perfect look.
• Not much reason to dislike LSU but it sure looked like Davis gave a forearm to Tucker’s back while he’s shooting with 3 seconds left and down big.

LSU 70, Texas 60

Final Thoughts

Tough way to end a season for the Longhorns. Back and forth game up until overtime but LSU’s Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas just ended up being too much for the Horns to handle. Those two had great games on offense and even more importantly just completely disrupted everything Texas tried to do from inside the three-point line.

The Horns had a couple chances to take over the game during the second half but just didn’t shoot well enough to put up the necessary points. There were a few plays that I thought would get Texas going but because of LSU’s physical defense could never really get any momentum at all. In the short 5-minute overtime, you can’t afford to come out slow and that’s just what Texas did.

LaMarcus Aldridge, after Friday’s flawless game, had a rough afternoon offensively. Instead of going up and getting fouled, he chose to fall away on just about every jumper and just never got it to fall all game long. LaMarcus is still probably a top 5 NBA draft pick if he comes out now, but he needs to get bigger and stronger both physically and with his attitude. He’s not overly thick, but he’s certainly got the size to become tougher on offense. He’s got the finesse moves, but needs to improve his power game before he’s a complete player.

Brad Buckman played well in his last game as a Longhorn. He’s had a little rough going the last several weeks but put up 13 points and brought down 14 rebounds today while also playing tough defense. Fellow senior Kenton Paulino also had a solid game but couldn’t get his outside shot to fall.

The team had bigger aspirations but this was still a very successful season. The most wins in Texas basketball history, a trip to the Elite 8, and a couple of classic NCAA Tournament games before falling to a very good LSU team. The guys are surely disappointed, but they played their hearts out and should be congratulated for their effort and their play all season long. Texas has an excellent recruiting class coming in and this is just another step towards becoming a basketball force year in and year out. At some point we have to get over that final hump, but we’re building towards it every year.

Thanks for the great season guys.

1. reply to  #1

   

   Charlie

   March 25th, 2006 at 3:58 pm

   And da big baby…..10-9 LSU

2. reply to  #2

   

   Charlie

   March 25th, 2006 at 3:59 pm

   Slam dunk LSU 12-9 LSU

3. reply to  #3

   

   Charlie

   March 25th, 2006 at 4:09 pm

   The only reason Texas is in the game is their 3 pointers right now. Thats an awful risky way to try and win a game at this point.

4. reply to  #4

   

   Charlie

   March 25th, 2006 at 5:16 pm

   LSU still dominating the paint, with Texas only hope is their 3 pointers.

5. reply to  #5

   

   Charlie

   March 25th, 2006 at 7:17 pm

   Well, that what it came down to. Texas tnability to score in the paint, and their 3 pointers got cold.

6. reply to  #6

   

   matt b

   March 25th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

   great analysis