40 Acres Sports

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

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

The Longhorns got past the [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag] Cowboys on Friday afternoon by a score of 66-59. The Horns were up by a comfortable margin for almost the entire second half but could never quite put the Cowboys away and had to hold them off during one final run late. [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] and [tag]Damion James[/tag] led the team on offense, both shooting the ball very well from the outside. On the defensive side of things [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] was active as usual and big man [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] blocked four more shots.

Check out some video highlights below:

With the win Texas advances to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals. They’ll face off against the fourth-seeded Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday at 1pm. The game will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN+ in Big 12 markets.

Connor Atchley is one of CBS’s unknowns to watch in the NCAA Tourney. I didn’t realize Atchley lead the team in 3-point percentage.

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 [tag]Texas Tech[/tag] 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 [tag]Alexis Wangmene[/tag] 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 [tag]Damion James[/tag] breaks the press and Tech forgets to cover [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] 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 [tag]Clint Chapman[/tag] 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 [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] 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 [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] at all today, must have picked up early fouls again.

Texas 30, Texas Tech 26

• [tag]JD Lewis[/tag] 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 [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] who was standing with his hands straight up but they called it on Augustin. That call is missed pretty bad both ways though.
• Big [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] 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

(more …)

Connor Atchley lacks the ego but has the game. Young man has really stepped up and silenced his critics this season.

We’ll be posting live thoughts on tonight’s Big Monday game versus [tag]Kansas[/tag] 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 [tag]Damion James[/tag]. 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 [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag]’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 [tag]Justin Mason[/tag] 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 [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] playing off the ball, he and [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] 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

• [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag] 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 [tag]Rick Barnes[/tag] 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. [tag]Clint Chapman[/tag] 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

(more …)

The Horns won today against Oral Roberts and are now 11-0 on the season but again struggled with an inferior team at home. Tied at the half Texas was able to pull away thanks to 24 points from [tag]DJ Augustin[/tag] and 10 of the last 17.

No one for the Horns shot the ball particularly well, including Augustin who scored 11 of his points from the free throw line. [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] shot only 33% from the field including a horrid 1 of 6 from beyond the arc. That continues a disturbing stretch of mediocre 3-point shooting for Abrams, it’s been nearly a month since he shot better than 33% or made more than 3 in a game. [tag]Connor Atchley[/tag]’s strong play continued though, as the junior chipped in 16 points and was the only Longhorn who shot well from either side of the 3-point line.

Next up for Texas is a nationally televised game Saturday against Michigan State. The Horns and #9 Spartans will face off at 5:30pm on ESPN.

Connor Atchley’s growing confidence is helping him on the court. If he stays within himself he can definitely be huge for this year’s team.

Kevin Durant easily swept all the national awards, many by unanimous vote, but he had to share team MVP honors with fellow freshman D.J. Augustin Monday night. Both players were definitely deserving, you could see Augustin’s importance to the team when he hit a wall late in the season and the whole team struggled to get going.

University of Texas freshmen D.J. Augustin and [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] shared the team’s Most Valuable Player honor in a vote of their peers, highlighting the 2006-07 men’s basketball team banquet held Monday evening at the Frank Erwin Center. Freshman center Dexter Pittman claimed the Lowe’s Home Improvement Most Improved Player Award.

With rumors swirling that Durant will declare for the NBA Draft this week, it could have been his last public appearance as a (current) Longhorn. Durant was the only Longhorn not available to the media at the banquet. Can’t really blame him though, he didn’t want to all the focus to be on him and I’m sure he’s exhausted. There will be a press conference whenever he announces his decision and reporters will have plenty of time to ask him questions then.

I love that the “Most Improved Player” award has a sponsor. They should sell sponsorship for all the awards. We could have the “Blockbuster Online Blocked Shots Award” and the “Acme Brick Worst Field Goal Percentage Award” and rake in the cash.

Award Recipients

• Slater Martin Award Ryan Clark
• Mike Wacker Comeback Award Matt Hill
• Coca-Cola Solid Citizen Award Damion James
• Jack Gray Award Connor Atchley
• Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award Craig Winder
• Jay Arnette Award Justin Mason
• Earlene Fulmer 3-Point Attack Award A.J. Abrams, D.J. Augustin
• Assists Award D.J. Augustin
• Blocked Shots Award Kevin Durant
• Field Goal Percentage Award Damion James
• Free Throw Percentage Award A.J. Abrams
• Rebounding Award Kevin Durant
• Hustlin’ Horns Award Ian Mooney
• Spirit Award J.D. Lewis and Harrison Smith
• Outstanding Defensive Player Justin Mason
• Lowe’s Home Improvement Most Improved Player Dexter Pittman
• Team Captains Craig Winder, A.J. Abrams
• Most Valuable Players D.J. Augustin, Kevin Durant
• Senior Award Craig Winder