The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Austin Peay (First Round)
Men's Basketball powers past Austin Peay, 74-54
03.21.2008 | Men's Basketball
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- On a day when A.J. Abrams was scoring every which way, his little floater in the lane hardly seemed like anything special.
Except it gave him 15 points.
And Austin Peay had 14.
Abrams finished with 26 points for Texas, and the Longhorns put on a dazzling display of balance and power Friday as they overwhelmed Austin Peay 74-54 in the first round of the South Regional.
"When we play somebody of this caliber, as I told the guys, I sometimes lay awake at night worrying about how we're going to score against people that are that size," Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. "Those were the issues today. I do think that if we could have somehow made a couple of shots early, maybe we could have been a little more competitive."
Maybe not.
Four Longhorns finished in double figures--Abrams, Connor Atchley (12) and Dexter Pittman (11) almost outscored Austin Peay on their own. D.J. Augustin dished out eight assists and Justin Mason had a line coaches would love with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Oh, and Texas (29-6) moved within a win of matching the school record for victories.
The victory sets up a second-round game Sunday with former Longhorns assistant Frank Haith, now the coach at Miami. The seventh-seeded Hurricanes (23-10) beat 10th-seeded St. Mary's 78-64 in the early game Friday.
"It's my best friend and I love the guy," Haith said. "I really don't want to play against him."
After the bruising the Longhorns gave Austin Peay on Friday, not many teams would.
"That's the great thing about our team, we know somebody is going to step up every game," Abrams said. "We're not counting on one player to go out there and score 30 a game. We have a balanced attack, and we have that chemistry with each other."
This had the makings of a rout ever since the pairings were announced.
Austin Peay (24-10) was making just its sixth trip to the NCAA tournament, and first since 2003. It plays in the Ohio Valley Conference, which is about as mid-major as it gets and hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 1989. And the 15th-seeded Governors are, to put it nicely, on the small side, with no starter standing taller than 6-foot-5.
Texas is, well, Texas, stocked with so much talent that anything less than a deep run in the tournament will be a disappointment. No way the Longhorns were going to struggle like fellow No. 2 seed Duke did on Thursday.
"That's our coaching staff. They're not going to let us let down," Abrams said. "We know what tournament we're in. All the teams in the tournament are great teams, and you have to keep playing hard every possession."
But the Longhorns quickly dismissed any notion that this might be a game, racing out to a 9-0 lead. They pushed it to 34-14 on Abram's runner with 2:57 left, and led by as much as 30 in the second half.
"It's a tournament. Anybody can be beat on any given day," said Kyle Duncan, who had seven for the Govs. "But the way they moved the ball today-- they were knocking down shots--it's going to be really tough."
As impressive as they were offensively, the Longhorns play some pretty nasty defense, too. The Governors missed their first seven shots, not making a basket until Todd Babington's 3-pointer just over four minutes into the game, and they were flirting with Kent State-like futility with five points in the first 10 minutes.
They finished shooting less than 29 percent from the floor. Ernest Fields led Austin Peay with 14 points, and Babington added 11.
Not even the hostile crowd fazed the Longhorns. Though the fans certainly tried.
Bad blood still lingers in Arkansas and Texas from the days of the border battles in the old Southwest Conference, and Barnes got the locals even more riled up earlier this week. If the Longhorns weren't treated nicely this weekend, Barnes said, he'd back out of their trip to Fayetteville next season.
Barnes was joking, of course, and he apologized Thursday. But there was still a loud chorus of boos when the first burnt orange uniforms were spotted-- and that was just the Texas band.
The Longhorns got an even ruder welcome when they came out for pregame warmups, while Austin Peay got a thunderous cheer. The Governors further endeared themselves to the locals when the Austin Peay band led the crowd in a rousing rendition of the "PIG SOOIE" cheer during warmups.
Once the game started, though, Texas quieted Austin Peay and the crowd.
"I feel bad for these guys because I told them for so long ... that this is something that they'd remember the rest of their lives," Loos said. "I know right now they're thinking, `Gosh, I didn't know that's what he was talking about."'
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas is 14-4 (.778) in NCAA Tournament First Round games since the tournament expanded in 1985.
- Texas is 30-28 (.517) in its 26 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
- With 29 wins, Texas is just one shy of tying the school record for most victories in a single season (30, 2005-06).
- Texas 20-point margin of victory was its second largest in an NCAA Tournament game. The largest was a 21-point win twice.
- Texas' first eight field goals were scored by six different players
- Texas is shooting 40-of-91 (.440) on three-point FGs in the postseason.
- In four postseason games, Texas has a 2.1 (64-31) assist-to-turnover ratio
- Texas held Austin Peay to 25.0 percent FG shooting in the first half and 28.8 percent for the game. It marked the fourth time this season Texas has held an opponent to under 30 percent (4-0). Texas improved to 19-0 when holding its opponent under 40 percent FG shooting.
- Texas has posted more assists than turnovers in 29 of its 35 games.
- Texas had four players score in double figures for the 12th time this season (11-1).
- Texas has blocked 61 shots in the past 10 games (6.1 bpg).
- Augustin and Mason combined to post 15 assists to four turnovers (3.8-to-1 ratio).
A.J. Abrams
- Moved into second on the UT single-season three-pointers list with 105, passing Daniel Gibson (101, 2005-06). Abrams owns the record with 120 in 2006-07.
- Tied the UT single-game record for threes in an NCAA Tournament game with six (B.J. Tyler, vs. Western Kentucky, 3-17-94)
- Set his career postseason high with 26 points (previous: 24 vs. Oklahoma, 3-15-08)
- Moved to 16th on the UT career scoring list with 1,334 points, passing Lance Blanks (1,322, 1989-90)
- Reached the 20-point mark for the 13th time this season and the 22nd time in 106 career games
- Scored in double figures for the 27th time this season and the 65th time in his career
- Made at least four three-pointers for the 11th time this season
- In his last three games, has averaged 21.7 ppg on 24-of-50 (.480) field goal shooting, including 16-of-33 (.485) on threes
Connor Atchley
- Set his career postseason high with 12 points
- Scored in double figures for the 13th time this season and the 16th time in his career
- Has blocked at least one shot in 15 of the last 16 games and 30 of 35 games this season
- Blocked at least three shots for the 14th time this season
- Collected at least seven rebounds for the 11th time this season
- Finished 5-of-5 from the free throw line
D.J. Augustin
- In four postseason games, has posted 24 assists to six turnovers (4-to-1 ratio)
- Has made at least two three-pointers in seven of the last eight games
- Led Texas in assists for the 30th time this season
- Dished out eight or more assists for the 10th time this season
Damion James
- Moved to third on UT's single-season rebounds list with 368, passing LaSalle Thompson (365, 1981-82) and James Thomas (363, 2002-03)
- Scored in double figures for the 24th time this season and the 36th time in 70 career games
- Registered his 16th double-double of the season and the 20th of his career
- Reached double figures in rebounding for the 19th time this season and the 29th in his career
- Led Texas in rebounding for the 32nd time this season
- Recorded at least seven rebounds for the 29th time in the last 30 games, and did so by halftime
- Has blocked at least one shot in 12 of the last 13 games
Justin Mason
- Finished one point, one rebound and three assists shy of a triple-double
- Has an assist-to-turnover ratio of (4.0) 24-6 in postseason play
- Set his career postseason high with nine rebounds, which is one shy of his career high (10 vs. Oral Roberts, 12-18-07)
- Dished out at least four assists for the fourth consecutive game and the 11th time this season
- Has made at least one three-pointer in six of the last seven games
Dexter Pittman
- Registered the first double-double of his career with 11 points and 10 rebounds
- Set his career high with 10 rebounds and matched his career high in rebounds of seven by halftime
- Set his career postseason high with 11 points, including eight in the first half. His previous high was two points.
- Scored in double figures for the second time this season and the third time in 62 career games
- Six of his first seven rebounds were on the offensive glass
- Led Texas in rebounding for the second time this season
