The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas State
Men's Basketball tops Texas State, 96-70
12.16.2006 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas guard D.J. Augustin scored 24 points and Longhorns coach Rick Barnes got his 400th career victory Saturday with a 96-70 win over Texas State.
Barnes is the 25th active Division I coach to reach the 400-win milestone and did it in his 20th season, his ninth with Texas (7-2).
Justin Mason added 18 points for the Longhorns, who scored at least 90 for the fifth time this season.
Even so, this victory was a bit ragged as Texas' talented group of seven freshmen struggled to put away the overmatched Bobcats (4-6) until midway through the second half. Kevin Durant, the Longhorns' leading scorer this season finishing with 11 points, well below his 21.6 average.
Charles Dotson led Texas State with 14 points. The Bobcats hit nine 3-pointers.
After scoring 25 points in a 76-75 win over No. 12 Louisiana State the previous weekend, Augustin was 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and hit 12 of 13 free throws to go with five assists. Texas went 35-48 from the line as a team.
Durant had consecutive dunks early as Texas built the lead as high as 11 several times in the first half, only to watch the Bobcats hit a shot or force a turnover that kept the Longhorns from pulling away.
Augustin scored 15 points in the first half. The Longhorns led 48-41 going into the second.
Texas started opening things up early in the second half when Mason's layup made it 61-48. The Bobcats quickly hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut the lead back to seven just seconds later. It was the last time Texas State would make a run at an upset.
With Durant still struggling to find his rhythm, the Longhorns got consecutive 3-point plays from Connor Atchley and Augustin to push the lead back to 75-58 and seize control of the game with just under 11 minutes to play.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Rick Barnes became the 25th active Division I coach to record 400 career victories. Barnes now has 198 wins at Texas, ranking second on the school list. He is just 11 victories shy of becoming the winningest coach in UT history.
- This marks the fifth straight year Texas has opened the season with at least seven wins in its first nine games (7-2 in 2002-03; 7-2 in 2003-04; 7-2 in 2004-05; 8-1 in 2005-06; 7-2 in 2006-07).
- Texas started its home slate with a 5-0 record for the fifth consecutive season.
- Damion James recorded his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
- Connor Atchley logged a season-high with 10 points. His previous high was nine in UT's last game against LSU. He was two off his career high of 12 against Louisiana-Monroe last season.
- Justin Mason recorded career highs with 18 points and seven rebounds. His previous career-high point total was 17 vs. Gonzaga and he previously grabbed six caroms vs. Michigan State.
- Texas has had at least one player reach the 20-point plateau in all nine games on the season.
- The Horns have posted a 68-6 (.919) record against in-state foes during the Barnes era.
- UT has posted 18 consecutive wins over Texas State and owns an all-time record of 74-7 (.914) against current members of the Southland Conference.
- D.J. Augustin reached the 20-point plateau for the second consecutive game with 24. In his first seven games, Augustin averaged 9.3 points. In the last two games, he has averaged 24.5 points.
- D.J. Augustin's 12 free throws made and 13 free throws attempted were both career-highs and also marked season-highs for the Hawks. Kevin Durant previously held the highs, going 10-of-10 from the charity stripe against Gonzaga.
- Texas' 35 free throws made equaled the eighth highest total since 1960-61. The Longhorns had previously attempted 40 on two separate occasions and 36 five times
- Texas' 48 free throws attempted equaled the fourth highest total since 1960-61. The Longhorns had previously attempted 50 on three separate occasions and 48 four times.
- Kevin Durant has reached double figures in the scoring column in all nine games this season.
- The seven freshmen combined to log 75 of the 96 points (78.1%), 32 of the 46 rebounds (69.6%) and eight of the 12 assists (66.7%).
TEXAS STATE QUOTES
Doug Davalos, Head Coach
On the game: I am really proud of our team, our players effort and the way we approached the game against a very talented and very well coached team. I do think our players came out with confidence and had an attack mentality early on. It gave us a chance to stay in there and I think Texas established a pretty dominant second half.
On the game being close in the first half: We want to dictate the tone of the game. Sometimes it looks a little hectic, but there is a method to the madness. I felt like we did a good job of establishing that early. [D.J.] Augustin really did a good job and we couldn't keep him out of the paint. I was proud of the way we changed defenses and we communicated well.
TEXAS QUOTES
Rick Barnes, Head Coach
On 400th win: I mentioned earlier that I hadn't thought a lot about it until it was brought to my attention earlier this week. What it means is that there have been a lot of really good players, really good coaches with me and a lot of great bosses, but what it really means is that I am getting old.
On the game being close: I thought they [Texas State] played really hard. They forced turnovers, well they forced some and we turned the ball over ourselves. One thing they did was they never gave up. This was a tough week for both teams with the players having finals and having to prepare for a game. Both teams played hard.
D.J. Augustin, Freshman Guard
On his play in the last two games: I've just been trying to push the ball and not let my man contain me. When the other team is holding up on Kevin (Durant) and A.J. (Abrams), it just opens up the lane for guys like (Justin) Mason and me.
Justin Mason, Freshman Guard
On getting more experience: I feel a lot more comfortable now that I have had a few starts. Kevin (Durant) and I were talking about how the game has just slowed down for both of us. On the offensive side, we have just looked at our options more.
On the team communication: I think the communication has been good in the last two games. In practice the week before we played LSU, Coach (Barnes) had us do a few four-minute games where we had to coach ourselves, and I think that helped a lot. Communication is a really big key in whether you lose or win basketball games.
