The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas State
Men's Basketball downs Texas State, 87-54
12.12.2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2009
| AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Shot by shot, rebound by rebound, the double-doubles keep coming for Texas senior forward Damion James.
How about a dozen more?
James got his 40th career double-double Saturday with 21 points and 16 rebounds as No. 2 Texas beat Texas State 87-54.
"I think 50 sounds better. Or 60," James said. "It's cool. I just want to win. I promise, that's all I want to do."
Texas (8-0) has won its first eight games by at least 15 points, the first time that's happened.
But Saturday's victory was tempered by another injury to a guard.
Freshman J'Covan Brown, who has started four games and is averaging 12.6 points, had to be helped off the court about 6 minutes into the second half after a fall near the basket. Trainers wrapped his left ankle and he left the court on crutches a few minutes later.
Coach Rick Barnes said immediately after the game he didn't know the extent of the injury.
Brown had switched his jersey from No. 14 to No. 50 for the rest of the season to honor teammate Varez Ward, who was lost for the season with a thigh injury in pregame warmups last month.
If Brown is forced to miss games, it would be at least a temporary hit to the impressive guard depth Texas enjoyed when the season began.
The Longhorns get to add a new one within a few days. Jai Lucas, a transfer from Florida, will be eligible to play Dec. 19 against North Carolina.
"You don't ever have enough players," Barnes said.
Against Texas State, Texas missed its first three shots before James converted a tough, spinning layup by practically throwing the ball behind his head. It dropped through the rim and James spun around again, this time punching the air with both fists.
That basket woke up the Texas offense and the Longhorns raced to a 20-6 lead. Brown, Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton all made 3-pointers in the run.
Texas held the Bobcats to 8-of-34 shooting in the first half. Dexter Pittman, Texas' 6-foot-10, 290-pound senior center, had two early blocks and the Longhorns held Texas State scoreless for stretches of 5 minutes and 4 minutes.
Bradley made another 3-pointer and Hamilton made two straight baskets to put Texas up 35-12. The Longhorns scored 20 points off 13 turnovers in the first half.
J.B. Conley had 10 points to lead Texas State (3-7). Bobcats forward Cameron Johnson, who scored 24 against the Longhorns last season, was held scoreless Saturday.
"I don't' know if we were intimidated or what, but I thought we were back on our heels too much," Texas State coach Doug Davalos said. "In Cameron's defense, he's 6-7 and going against Dexter Pittman."
In the second half, a blocked shot by Justin Mason led to an easy pass from Bradley to James for a dunk. Texas State made one of its first nine shots in the half and managed just two points over the first 5 minutes. Texas quickly built the lead to 57-26.
Brown was hurt on a drive to the left side of the basket and appeared to roll his ankle when he landed. He immediately flopped to the ground and didn't try to get up. When got to the bench, he held both hands over his face while trainers wrapped the ankle.
"I didn't see it. There was traffic in there," James said. "We hope he gets better."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas started the season 8-0 for the third time in the last five years
- Texas improved to 39-5 all-time against Texas State, winning its 21st consecutive game against the Bobcats
- Texas improved to 95-11 (.896) against in-state foes during the Rick Barnes era
- Texas opened the season with eight wins by double-digit margins for the first time since the 1921-22 season and just the third time in school history (1915-16, 1921-22, 2009-10)
- Texas opened the season with eight wins by margins of 15 or more points for the first time in school history
- Texas won by 30 or more points for the fourth time this season
Avery Bradley
- Reached double figures (15 points) in scoring for the fifth time this season
- Made a career-high three 3-point field goals, topping the two he made against Long Beach State
- Played a career-high 32 minutes, topping the 29 he played against Pittsburgh
J'Covan Brown
- Logged a career-high six free throws, topping the five he had made on two prior occasions
Jordan Hamilton
- Reached double figures in scoring (14 points) for the fifth time this season
- Logged a career-high seven rebounds, topping the six he had against Western Carolina this season
- Equaled a career-high with 26 minutes, tying the total he had against Long Beach State
Damion James
- Registered his third double-double (21points, 16 rebounds) of the season and the 40th of his career. The 40 double-doubles is tied with Ron Baxter (1977-80) for third place on the UT career list
- Reached double figures in scoring for seventh time this season and the 76th time in 116 career games
- Scored 20 or more points for the third time this season and the 13th time in his career
- Reached double figures in rebounding for the third time this season and the 51st time in his career
- Logged a season-high 16 rebounds, topping the 15 he logged against UC Irvine
- Scored 20 or more points for the third time this season and the 13th time in his career
- Ended the game with 1,437 points to move within 19 points of Gabe Muoneke (1,456 - 1997-2000) for 14th place on the UT career scoring list
- Ended the game with 1,050 to move within three rebounds of Colorado's Stephane Pelle (1,053 - 2000-03) for fourth place on the Big 12 career list
- Equaled a career-high with three steals, a mark he reached on five prior occasions
TEXAS QUOTES
SENIOR Damion James
On his personal performance: I had too many turnovers. I turned the ball over three times. That's not acceptable. I just have to continue to get better. All I want to do is help this team win and lead them every day. As long as I continue to do that and we continue to get W's, I'm okay.
On overall team performance: We played okay, but we can't play like that against our opponent on Tuesday. We have to fight, play hard, get better every day and make sure we don't turn the ball over. As long as we go out there and play hard, the rest will take care of itself.
FRESHMAN Avery Bradley
On shooting three-pointers: I've been working on it a lot with the coaches here. They've really been helping me with the deep ball and I'm improving every day. I try to get more consistent by shooting a lot of threes before and after practice.
On his increased comfort level when shooting the ball: I'm becoming a lot more comfortable just playing with my teammates. At first, we were all new playing with each other, so we were still getting used to playing with each other. Now, it's our eighth game and we're much more comfortable playing with each other. Since I'm comfortable, my shots just come.
TEXAS STATE QUOTES
HEAD COACH DOUG DAVALOS
Opening Statement: First of all, Texas is awfully good. I was disappointed because although I thought they are more talented than we are in every position, I thought that they played harder for more stretches of the game than we did. There were stretches where we played pretty hard, but one thing that we have done in the last three years is that we have come here and played hard. It helped us, and it helped us stay in the game because we had an aggressors mentality. I don't know if we were intimidated, but we were back on our heels a little too much during this game.
On Cameron Johnson going against Dexter Pittman: In fairness to Cameron, he's 6'7," and he's going against Dexter Pittman. The only thing I can say is that he could have done a better job of being more of a face-up player against Pittman. He could have done a better job of catches on the high post and even facing up at the basket. He shot some tough shots, but Pittman is so big and long, he can test all the shots. Cameron shot tough shots, and one of the things he has is quickness, but he didn't utilize that to his advantage, that's what it was more than anything. Pittman did a good job, but I thought Cameron shot tough shots and battled early on. He had chances, but he couldn't put it away. You've got to identify which mismatches you have and exploit it. There are not a lot of those on that team.
