The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Michigan State
No. 2 Men's Basketball downs No. 9 Michigan State, 79-68
12.22.2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2009
Box Score | Box Score 
| Notes | Quotes |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas coach Rick Barnes told his team last weekend that a victory over one Top 10 team didn't convince everyone that the second-ranked Longhorns are for real.
Maybe beating two in four days will sway the holdouts.
Damion James had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Texas pulled away from No. 9 Michigan State in a 79-68 victory Tuesday night, giving the Longhorn consecutive wins over Top 10 teams after beating No. 10 North Carolina on Saturday.
James, who followed 25 points and 15 rebounds against the Tar Heels with another monster outing, proclaimed himself the "heart and soul" of the Longhorns (11-0) afterward and warned whoever else might still be doubting Texas.
"Like we didn't prove anything against North Carolina," James said. "We took that to our workout, and let's go prove how good we can be."
The Longhorns hadn't played a ranked opponent before last weekend but now have impressive wins over two of the nation's best. And like the lesser teams to face Texas before them, both the Tar Heels and Spartans couldn't hang within single digits by the final buzzer.
Chris Allen had 12 points for the Spartans (9-3), who couldn't beat Texas for a fourth straight year.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo lamented his team's 22 turnovers and the Spartans lacking concentration and size on defense.
"We looked a little fatigued and not hungry enough," Izzo said. "I didn't feel very good."
For anxious Longhorns fans awaiting the BCS championship game, this big Texas win may tide them over until Jan. 7. Texas football coach Mack Brown looked on as the Longhorns trailed 37-34 at halftime, and quickly started chipping away at the deficit.
J'Covan Brown hit a corner 3-pointer with 12:58 left to tie the game at 52. James gave the Longhorns the lead back seconds later, hitting a floater in the lane to put Texas ahead for the first time since the first half.
From there, the Longhorns slowly pulled away--then abruptly put the game out of reach. Gary Johnson stripped the ball from Spartans point guard Korie Lucious at halfcourt on consecutive possessions with under 4 minutes left, both leading to fastbreak dunks and a commanding Texas lead.
It was a record-breaking night for James, who became the school's all-time leading rebounder, surpassing James Thomas. James, who was 10 of 18 from the field, has 1,087 rebounds.
The 6-foot-7 senior forward, who said he was "50/50" after last season about deciding whether to leave for the NBA, said he hasn't peaked yet.
"I'm not even playing my best basketball right now," James said. "And that's what's scary."
Jordan Hamilton had 14 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Longhorns, who now have a week off before a last stretch against Gardner-Webb, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Arkansas takes the Longhorns into their Big 12 schedule.
Before beating North Carolina, the Longhorns feasted on lesser foes. Texas beat the Tar Heels in the vast enormity of Cowboys Stadium, in the first basketball ever played at the home of the Final Four in 2014.
Back home at a raucous Erwin Center, a small cluster of Michigan State backers briefly stole the show: officials stopped the game for several minutes so police could confiscate an airhorn from a Spartans fan who tried shirking away from her seat but was allowed to stay.
But as the second half wore on, the Spartans had less and less to cheer about.
Playing consecutive games against Top 10 opponents for the first time in a decade, the Longhorns hit 7 of 16 from behind the 3-point arc and shot 59 percent from the field in the second half.
Barnes tried tempering the excitement of beating two Top 10 teams.
"I told them it's great. It's December," Barnes said. "I said if this is as good as we're gonna be, we're in trouble. We've got a lot of room for growth."
TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Barnes
On Damion James: When you play at the pace that we're playing, and it's a fast pace, and when Michigan State is playing at the same pace, it's really hard to slow down from playing at that pace and then go to the free throw line. When he goes to the line I think he's going to make the free throws, because he works so hard at making them.
On where the team is now: I told them that if this is as good as we're going to be, then we're in trouble. The great thing about it is that we really have a lot of room to grow. I think tonight was a great experience for the freshman, because they got screened harder than they've ever been screened, they played against a group of guys that cut harder than we ever have and they understand how this game is going to be played. The great thing is that those younger guys will continue to improve the way they have to.
On playing a Tom Izzo-coached team: It's hard, because Tom [Izzo] and I met back in 1985 while he was an assistant at Michigan State and I was at Ohio State, and we were able to get acquainted and get to know each other. He stands for all of the good things in college athletics and he's built a program that's a model of consistency. I really believe that no team runs any harder than his teams run. No team executes their offense any harder than they do, and he's done it the right way. It's hard to play him, but every year we get better from our game against them.
SENIOR FORWARD Damion James
On the defense and Gary Johnson's performance: It was great. What Gary did really blew the game open. Those two plays in the middle of the court were unbelievable because Coach had called for us to blitz the ball screen with the small lineup. We were able to do that and what Gary did was great, he blew the game wide open.
On what happened when Dexter Pittman was in foul trouble: I thought we were in trouble. When Dexter is in the game, he's the main objective. That's what makes us so good; when Dexter goes out we have guys who can come in and pick up the slack. Gary (Johnson), (Clint) Chapman, Matt Hill, when those guys can come in and contribute it's great. It was a great team win.
On what he takes from the wins over North Carolina and Michigan State: We've got to get better. We can't keep turning the ball over. We have to score when we have open chances, we can't keep making bad passes, and we just have to keep getting better. It was a great win, and it's just December. We have a long road ahead of us and we just need to continue getting better.
On his thoughts on breaking the UT career rebounding record: To be honest, I didn't know what was going on. I just heard my name. I thought I got in trouble. It's an honor, but the biggest award tonight was the win. I promise you that I don't care about any awards or records, I just want to win. If I continue to do that, that's all that matters.
JUNIOR FORWARD Gary Johnson
On his performance: I just had an opportunity to show people I'm a pretty good defensive player, too.
On beating two Top 10 teams in a row playing their opponents' style of play: We didn't want it to be a physical game. We wanted to get up and down the court. However, we have physical players as well. I think that's what makes us so good, we can play different kinds of styles, the run and gun, and we can grind it out as well. And it was a grind out game. We didn't score 90 points this time out. It was a great team win with everybody, and what Dogus did at the end of the game was unbelievable.
MICHIGAN STATE QUOTES
HEAD COACH TOM IZZO
Opening statement: There was good news and bad news in this game. The good news is that it was a great atmosphere. I love it here. Football is so big here, but this team is teaching a lot of us that you can have a good football and basketball program at the same school. I was excited that we competed, but I was disappointed that we just turned it over at will early on. I was mostly worried about second chance points after the beating they gave North Carolina.
On the difference between the two teams: I have to give [Damion] James credit, he's improved his game every year we've played them. I thought we did a pretty good job on the other guys. I thought we lost Hamilton a little bit and we got a little tired when we got into foul trouble and that created some problems for us. I'm disappointed because that's two games: this and Florida, that we've turned the ball over 24 and 22 times. We didn't do the little things that I think we needed to do to win the game. The key play was the missed layup on our end that would have cut it to two. Then, we fouled with five minutes left and they went out and made the first and missed the second, got the rebound and then went up seven points instead of us being down two.
On thoughts about Texas: I really like Texas. They have a very good team, they're very well coached. Every year I try to take a look at teams and say who has a chance to be a final four team. I'm a big believer that last year 15 teams had a chance, and in my mind Texas is definitely one of those teams. I think we can come away from this and build on it a little bit, because there were some things that we did well.
SOPHOMORE GUARD KORIE LUCIOUS
On knowing that they can compete with the likes of Texas: We always knew that we could compete. We can play with anybody in the country, we're a good team. We just turned the ball over a little too much and that was a major factor of the game.
On this year being a learning experience: I'm still young and new to this kind of game. It's my second year in college and I still need to get used to the ins and outs of everything.
JUNIOR GUARD DURRELL SUMMERS
On his play: Obviously we had some bad turnovers, and there was the missed layup towards the end of the game. As far as everything else goes, I thought we fought pretty hard.
On where the team stands at the halfway point in the season: I think we're in pretty good shape. We lost some games that were in our hands and we have just got to figure out how to pull it through. If we can do that, I think our team will be complete.
