The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Prairie View A&M
Men's Basketball defeats Prairie View A&M, 110-38
12.30.2005 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The return of Brad Buckman led to a huge win for Texas.
Buckman scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the 16th-ranked Longhorns continued to rebuild their confidence with a 110-38 thrashing of Prairie View AM.
Missing the past two games, including an embarrassing home loss to Tennessee, after injuring his ankle in the setback to top-ranked Duke on December 10, Buckman gave Texas (10-2) an early spark, scoring eight points in the opening 12-plus minutes as the squad raced to a 21-8 lead.
That advantage ballooned to 47-15 at the half, with the 6-8 senior scoring 13 points and P.J. Tucker adding 12 on 4-of-4 shooting.
Overall, Buckman went 7-of-12 from the field and Tucker finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Longhorns, who had a strong tuneup for a meeting against fourth-ranked Memphis on Monday before beginning Big 12 Conference play five days later against Colorado.
Sophomore center LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 points and 16 rebounds for Texas, which shot 53 percent (35-of-66) and held a 51-25 edge on the boards.
Phillip Scott was the lone player in double figures with 10 points for the Panthers (3-7), who went 28 percent (13-of-46) from the field.
Prairie View AM has lost its last eight meetings with ranked teams.
Texas Notes
- First time Texas has scored 100 or more points since scoring 100 against UT-San Antonio, Dec. 29, 2004.
- It is UT's 96th game scoring 100 or more points. Texas improves to 89-7 overall, 57-1 at home, when topping the century mark.
- The 33-point halftime lead (49-16) marked Texas' largest halftime lead of the season
- The 20 forced turnovers in the first half by Prairie View A&M were the most by a UT opponent since 21 turnovers committed by Texas State on Dec. 7, 1994.
- Texas finished with a season high 31 forced turnovers and season high 20 steals.
- Texas held an opponent for the second time this season to under 20 points in the first half (13 points by Samford on Nov. 16, 2005).
- In its last three outings, Texas has finished 51-of-66 from the free throw line for .773. (18-28 vs. Tennessee, 12-13 vs. Texas State and 21-25 vs. Prairie View A&M).
- It was Texas' largest home and overall margin of victory (72 points, 110-38) since defeating Northern Montana by 77 points (148-71) on Nov. 27, 1978.
- Texas finished shooting .548 (40-of-73) from the floor, finishing above 50 percent for the third time this season.
- UT held the Panthers to 26.9 percent from the floor, it's the third time this season UT has held an opponent below 30 percent.
Individual Notes
LaMarcus Aldridge
- Aldridge finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds, marking his ninth double-double in the first 12 games.
- Aldridge has recorded at least 13 points in all 12 games this season.
- His 16 rebounds in the game is a new career-high.
P.J. Tucker
- For the game, he finished 10-of-12 from the floor, hitting nylon on 83.3 percent of his shots.
- With 26 points and 11 rebounds he notched his fourth double-double of the season.
- He totaled a career high six assists in the game.
- Tucker finished the first half 4-of-4 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
- In his last two outings, he is 7-of-8 (.875) from the free throw line (1-1 vs. Texas State and 6-7 vs. Prairie View A&M).
Brad Buckman
- Buckman returned to the line-up after a two-game hiatus, scoring a season high 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
- The 20 points marked the fourth time in his career to record 20 or more points.
A.J. Abrams
- Abrams tied his career high with three steals in the first half, he finished the game with a career high four steals.
Kenton Paulino
- Paulino finished with 12 points off 4-of-9 shooting, including a season high 4-of-7 from beyond the arch.
- In the last two games, Paulino is 7-of-12, 58.3 percent, from long distance (3-5 vs. Texas State).
- He tied his career high with three steals.
Prairie View
Head Coach Darrell Hawkins
On Texas' pressure: Well they came in and knew about our point guard and doubled him up. I mean, talk about an outstanding team, well coached team. You have to give them all the credit in the world. They have a great inside game with LaMarcus [Aldridge] and bringing Brad [Buckman] back in the game. They are just a well coached, good basketball team.
On bringing Buckman back: You can tell that Aldridge has definitely worked on his outside shot and I think Buckman had an outstanding game. I really like that guy. He takes the pressure off of Daniel [Gibson] and P.J. [Tucker]. Having Buckman in the game makes it such a better team.
Texas
Junior forward P.J. Tucker
On what the team can take from this game: Well, coming off of Christmas break, it is just all about getting back in the gym and fine tuning things. It allows us to come in and get a chance to work on those things that need fine tuning to help us better prepare for our next game.
On defense: I think it was definitely good. We had a lot of good spurts of great defense. We have definitely improved all around. The only thing we need to work on is our turnovers. There were too many of those, just miscommunication and bad reads. Those are just little things we need to get together and get better with.
Senior forward Brad Buckman
On going down early in the game: I've had that typical ankle injury before and it really hurt pretty bad, but I didn't want to go out of the game, so I just shook it off. I have been out for 20 days already and I wasn't going to go out again. I miss these guys when I am not playing; I look forward to playing with them every time.
On the upcoming game: Well we are going to look at it like every other game. Basically we need to play better than we have before. It was definitely a learning experience to lose two games in a row. That puts you through a lot; it can be hard on you. We just need to focus on what is next. I know everyone will be fueled up and ready to go.
