The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oral Roberts
No. 4 Men's Basketball tops Oral Roberts, 66-56
12.18.2007 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas slugged its way through a tough battle on its home court. Now comes a Top Ten test for the unbeaten Longhorns.
D.J. Augustin scored 24 points and the fourth-ranked Longhorns beat Oral Roberts 66-56 on Tuesday night, a close game in a season full of blowouts.
Next up is No. 9 Michigan State at Auburn Hills, Mich., on Saturday
"We keep playing like we're playing, we'll be all right," Augustin said.
Texas (11-0) had won nine of its first 10 games by 15 or more points -- the close one was a 63-61 win over then-No. 2 UCLA -- but found itself in a tough one down the stretch against the Golden Eagles (6-4).
Augustin's dazzling drives and late free throw shooting to put the game away. He scored 10 of Texas' final 17 points. Connor Atchley added 16 points for the Longhorns.
"Coach just wanted us to be aggressive and attack their big men and attack their guards. Everybody stepped up tonight and played great," Augustin said.
Texas led 49-46 with just under nine minutes left when Augustin took the game over, blowing past defenders for baskets or drawing fouls for free throws. He was 6-of-20 from the field but made up for it with an 11-of-12 effort from the line and timely layups when Texas needed them.
Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton said the officials were calling a tight game, allowing Augustin to draw fouls by getting contact with defenders.
"It makes it almost impossible to guard D.J. because he is so good with the basketball and he is so quick," Sutton said.
The first half looked like Oral Roberts could pull an upset equal to its win at then-No. 3 Kansas last season.
The Golden Eagles brought the most athletic lineup the Longhorns have faced on their home court this season, with 6-foot-10 center Shawn King causing problems in the middle early.
King scored eight points, the Golden Eagles outrebounded Texas 20-18 and had 11 second-chance points as the teams went into halftime tied 33-33. Texas missed a chance to take the lead when Damion James missed a two-handed putback dunk with about 15 seconds left.
A.J. Abrams, one of the Big 12's top 3-point shooters, was held scoreless in the first half on 0-for-4 shooting and took only one attempt from behind the arc.
Things quickly changed in the second. King picked up his fourth foul and Abrams hit two quick baskets that built a 38-33 Texas lead.
Oral Roberts' offensive rebounding disappeared in the second half. The Golden Eagles were held to one shot on four straight possessions and Augustin hit a 3-pointer that pushed the Texas lead to eight.
The Longhorns couldn't put together the big run to turn it into another rout. Oral Roberts cut the lead to 49-46 when Marcus Lewis drove past two defenders for a tough layup and Kelvin Sango finished a fast break with an easy one.
Augustin's dazzling drives pushed Texas to the win.
His moves in the lane drew fouls that sent him to the line for four straight points. Another twisting, spinning burst left a defender tangled in his own feet as Augustin finished a layup for a 60-49 lead with just over five minutes left.
"One-on-one, nobody's going to stop him, nobody's going to stop his passing," Abrams said. "It's pick your poison. He can drive right by and if you sag back, he'll pass."
Oral Roberts had time to catch up but the shots wouldn't go in. Augustin, meanwhile, kept bleeding seconds off the clock with his dribble.
The Golden Eagles had one last chance when a mistake by Augustin led to a turnover. Adam Liberty hit a 3-pointer with 1:08 to play that cut the lead to 65-56 but Oral Roberts didn't score again.
Liberty scored 12 points and Marchello Vealy had 11 points and eight rebounds for Oral Roberts.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Barnes
On the rebounding: The first half, I thought defensively we were really solid other than the fact that we gave up 11-second chance points. I thought Justin Mason was terrific. He came a long way and came up with some great rebounds and those are the kind of plays we need. Defensively, we were pretty solid against a good basketball team.
On the first half versus the second: The first half we stood around a lot and we needed more movement. In the se cond half, we got back to a little more random ball screens and movement; that's how we were playing earlier on in the year.
On Justin Mason's play: Justin will score when the opportunity comes for him, but today he was really solid defensively. He didn't have the happy feet and he didn't take himself out of position. He was playing really smart basketball.
ORAL ROBERTS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH SCOTT SUTTON
On the difference between the first and second half: They are a very good basketball team and I think Coach Barnes does a great job. I think the biggest thing is that they got [A.J.] Abrams going early in the second half. In the first half, I thought we did a great job and smothered him with [Moses] Ehambe. I thought he did a great job on Abrams in the first half. We lost our composure a little bit, but overall I was proud of how we competed. We missed some shots that we normally would make. But you have to give Texas a lot of credit, they did a good job of defending us. I'm proud of the way our guys competed tonight.
On D.J. Augustin: With the officials calling the game tight tonight, it makes it almost impossible to guard D.J. because he is so good with the basketball and he is so quick. He does a great job of getting contact and drawing fouls. You have to give him credit, he did a nice job tonight and got to the line 12 times tonight. You look at the stat sheet, that's basically the difference in the game, they made 16 free throws and we made six. That's D.J. Augustin and that's the type of player he is and you have to give him a lot of credit for that.
On his team's improvement: We've come a long ways since we left College Station. We got beat by A&M and then we blew a 16-point lead to Corpus Christi. We went home and had some tough practices and I think we've come a long way. We've won five-out-of-six coming into tonight and our lone loss was at Arkansas where we blew a 10-point lead in the second half. If we continue to defend like the way we did tonight, this team is going to be awfully good. I think we will have a great opportunity to compete for a conference championship and getting to the NCAA Tournament. That's why we play the type of schedule we play, is to prepare us for conference play and to prepare us for March.
ADAM LIBERTY, SENIOR GUARD
On D.J. Augustin: He's a fantastic point guard and I have a lot of respect for him. He's very quick and good with dribbling the ball and getting to the hole. He knows how to use the pick-and-roll really well. I was supposed to be containing him and if he got past me, we were supposed to have a lot of help to stop him.
On Texas gaining a lead in the second half: I think it was all about effort and I think they came out and put forth more effort in the second half.
