40 Acres Sports

The Longhorns controlled the first half and dominated the last ten minutes in route to a 20 point win over [tag]Stanford[/tag] Friday night. Texas used a 20-3 run to turn a 1-point game into a 82-62 victory.

[tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] 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 [tag]Rick Barnes[/tag], [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag], 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

The NCAA is trying a new set up for tournament games in football arenas and the games in Houston and Detroit this weekend will be fans’ first look at it. In order to get more fans in the stadiums, the courts will be set up at the fifty-yard line instead of tucked away to one side like the normal football stadium set up. When the Longhorns face off against the [tag]Stanford[/tag] Cardinal Friday evening at Reliant Stadium they’ll also do it from 27 inches off the ground.

The set up will allow them to sell more tickets and will look good on TV, but seems far from optimal for the players and coaches in the games. Both the location and elevation could actually affect the outcomes of these very important games. It could change things for shooters and on loose balls near the sideline.

The big drop just a few feet out of bounds is incredibly dangerous. Players are definitely worried about hustling after the basketball and falling off the edge, as evidenced by quotes like this one from Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds: “What if we go for the loose ball and dive off the court? I mean, that’s the thing I was scared about.” It seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

The large empty space behind each basket also may cause depth perception issues for shooters, something that would be a very bad for the guard-oriented Longhorns. There will be very few fans behind each basket, and each will be backdropped by large black curtains. On how the shooters would cope, our own [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] said, “There’s going to be an obvious depth perception [problem] just from the goals, but nothing you can’t handle. Just go out and get a couple shots up and get the feel of it and that’s what it’s all about.”

Hopefully AJ can get comfortable during warm-ups and comes out firing during showtime. And maybe that homecourt advantage means we’ll have Texas fans lining the court to catch any Longhorns that go flying off the ledge. The best outcome is that nobody will get hurt and the final score of the games won’t be affected. We’ll find out Friday evening.

Related Links

• NCAA tries new-look location, elevation of courts in Detroit, Houston
• UTeric32’s (Hornfans) photos from Thursday’s shootaround
• Stanford vs. Texas on the big stage, literally
• ‘Falling off’ edge of court a worry

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 [tag]Stanford[/tag] 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 [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag], [tag]Damion James[/tag], [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag], [tag]Alexis Wangmene[/tag], and big [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag]. On the offensive end Texas needs another hot shooting night out of junior guard [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag], 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:

How Texas remained durable after Kevin Durant. Every single other player is better the season, especially Connor Atchley.

16 to 1: Ranking the Sweet Sixteen. Drinking the Forty puts the remaining NCAA Tournament teams in order.

Men’s NCAA Tournament: Texas-Stanford preview. The Dallas Morning News gives a slight edge to the Horns.

DJ Augustin is a leading man of March and a mama’s boy. Texas’ All-American point guard calls home every night.

After taking care of business on Friday, the Longhorns take on [tag]Miami[/tag] today at 1:15 pm in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. To get past the Hurricanes Texas will have to keep shooting the ball well from outside and stop Jack McClinton from going off. McClinton is an excellent scorer and had 38 points in their first round win over Saint Mary’s. If he does that again the Hurricanes have a good chance of pulling off the upset today.

To learn more about McClinton and the rest of his teammates, watch the SI.com Film Room Preview below:

[tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] had his first double-double as a Longhorn against [tag]Austin Peay[/tag] 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 [tag]Austin Peay[/tag] team moves the Horns on to round two against Miami. [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] 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. [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag], [tag]Damion James[/tag], and big [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] 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

• Game recaps
• CBS video highlights
• CBS GameCenter