The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Sam Houston State
Men's Basketball downs Sam Houston State, 84-50
11.23.2010 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2010
Box Score | 
| Notes | Quotes | Box Score 
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The losing coach was respectful.
The star player cracked a joke about him getting old.
That's how it is for Texas coach Rick Barnes: Earn career win No. 500 with an 84-50 victory over Sam Houston State and he gets praise from his peers and friendly jabs from his own team.
"I think he's getting old, that's all," said sophomore Jordan Hamilton, who scored 25 points for the No. 20 Longhorns on Tuesday night.
The win made Barnes just the 12th active major college coach to reach the 500-win milestone and just the 50th in NCAA history.
Barnes, whose career record is 500-250, got sentimental about his 24 seasons at George Mason, Providence, Clemson and Texas.
"I've been extremely well blessed. I have an incredible family. It hasn't been easy on them all the time," Barnes said. "I thought about some of the players I've coached. Some of them are in their 40s now. Life is a vapor, it goes by so quick. I can tell you exactly what I wore in the first game. It seems like yesterday."
For the record, it was a blue pinstripe suit and a green tie.
"It looked good," Barnes said.
First-year Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten is 2-1 in his career and pondered what it will take to get 498 more.
"That's a long way" to 500, Hooten said. "It couldn't happen to a greater guy. I just want to win one more."
On Tuesday night, Barnes simply had the bigger, faster, better team.
Hamilton, who is averaging 25 points, continued his early-season tear with 9 of 12 shooting. Senior point guard Dogus Balbay had an unusual scoring night for him with a career-high 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting.
"I just ran up the court and tried to get easy baskets," Balbay said.
Defensively, Texas (4-1) held Sam Houston State to 29 percent shooting. Texas shot just 3 of 10 from 3-point range but scored 40 points in the paint and went 15 of 19 from the free throw line.
Balbay was the only returning starter from last season's squad that started 17-0 and rose to No. 1 before falling back to unranked six weeks later.
Texas began this season unranked before a 3-1 start that included a win over No. 19 Illinois and a 68-66 loss to No. 5 Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The Longhorns were sluggish through the first 10 minutes against Sam Houston State. Balbay, hardly a scoring threat in most games, led the Longhorns with six points in that stretch.
Balbay and J'Covan Brown had layups off steals before Hamilton made the game's first 3-pointer from the left wing. Consecutive turnovers by Sam Houston State's Nafis Richardson led to baskets by Hamilton and Corey Joseph as Texas opened up a 23-8 lead late in the first half.
Hamilton started finding his shooting stroke, scoring 11 in the first half. The Longhorns forced 11 turnovers--and had 12 of their own--in taking a 33-18 lead into halftime.
Texas pushed the lead to 46-26 early in the second. Balbay scored on consecutive layups and Jai Lucas beat two defenders for a twisting shot in the lane to put the Longhorns up by 20 with 14 minutes to play.
Hamilton was able to pick and choose his shots against the smaller Bearkats and had little trouble working his way in for easy looks at the basket. His dribble past one defender for a short bank shot over another put Texas up 60-39.
"I'm a shooter, but I can post up too," Hamilton said.
Antuan Bootle scored 16 points and had nine rebounds for Sam Houston State. He did a good job defensively on Texas freshman forward Tristan Thompson.
Bootle bottled up Thompson most of the night, allowing him just three points and four rebounds in 28 minutes. The Bearkats won't face many forwards as talented as Thompson in the Southland Conference.
"I like it," Hooten said. "If a guy can play like that all year long for us, he's going to be one of the best centers in our league."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Rick Barnes won his 500th career game to become the 12th active coach and 50th coach all-time to reach the 500-win mark
- Texas owned a rebounding advantage (43-38) for the fifth consecutive game
- Texas improved to 12-2 all-time against Sam Houston State
- Texas record its 21st consecutive non-conference home win
- Texas improved to 79-7 (.919) at the Erwin Center in the last six seasons [dating back to the start of the 2005-06 season] and 169-22 (.885) at the Erwin Center under Rick Barnes
- Texas improved to 101-15 (.871) against in-state foes during the Barnes era
- Texas held Sam Houston State without a field goal for a span of 6:58 in the first half (12:13 to 6:15) to go on a 13-0 run
- Texas had nine players log at least 13 minutes of action
- Texas held a team under 30.0% shooting from the field for the first time this season and under 40.0% for the fourth time
Dogus Balbay
- Recorded a career high with 14 points, topping the 13 he registered against Texas Tech on Jan. 27, 2010
- Reached double digits in scoring for the first time this season and the sixth time in his career (66 games)
- Made a career high with six field goals, topping the five he recorded on three prior occasions
J'Covan Brown
- Reached double digits in scoring (12 points) for the second time this season and the 17th time in his career (38 games)
Jordan Hamilton
- Averaged 26.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game over the last three contests
- Scored 20 or more points (25 points) for the fourth time this season and the sixth time in his career (39 games)
- Reached double digits in scoring for the fifth time this season and the 23rd time in his career (39 games)
Matt Hill
- Equaled a career high with three blocks matching his total against Louisiana Tech earlier this season
- Grabbed six rebounds, his highest total since registering six boards against Texas State on Dec. 16, 2006 during his freshman season
Cory Joseph
- Equaled a career high with four assists, matching a total he recorded on two prior occasions
QUOTES
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On his 500th win: Like I told the team, I have been extremely well blessed in my lifetime. One, I have an incredible family. This has not been easy on them all of the time through all of the years. I would not be here today if it were not for them. I have had great presidents. I have been at great universities. I have had great athletic directors. Obviously, I have had tremendous coaches that have been with me through the whole thing and great players. Driving today, I thought about some of my players that I have coached. Some of those guys are in their forties now.
On staying in the moment: My message to the team before the game was really about staying in the moment. I told them after the game that what I have learned from all of this and through a lifetime of it is that life is a vapor. It goes by so quick. I could close my eyes right now and tell you exactly what I wore the first game and Rutgers, playing Seton Hall in the preseason NIT. I can tell you exactly what I wore and exactly what I said to my team. It seems like yesterday. I told them whether they know it or not that it will go by really quick for them. That is why you have to embrace it every day.
Freshman Guard Cory Joseph
On how he played tonight: I just tried to stop thinking as much and just try to get in the flow of the game and it worked.
On being a part of Coach Barnes's 500th win: It's great for coach. He's a great coach and he has had talented players over the years that he has been coaching. I'm just thankful to be a part of his 500th win.
Senior Guard Dogus Balbay
On his career high 14 points: I just tried to get easy baskets. My coaches told me to push the ball before the game and I think I did a good job executing on the court. I got some buckets but I don't really care about the career high.
On adapting to a new offense: It's good for everybody. Fast breaks are much better for me because I can push the ball when there is someone in the paint I can finish it. We all like the offense and we try to execute it every game.
Sophomore Forward Jordan Hamilton
On their defensive performance: That was the game plan coming in. Just to see if I could stop my man from driving to the basket. I think once we got back from New York, coach has been teaching me a new philosophy on defense.
On his mindset in the game: I think that the offense that we run is good for not only the wings, but for everybody. We get a lot of open shots because guys screen. I also like to pass it to the post and maybe cut and have my guy follow me while the post man has one-on-one coverage.
SAM HOUSTON STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Jason Hooten
On tonight's game: It was obviously a tough game. Those guys are really good. They're number 22 in the nation for a reason. Our guys played hard. There are a lot of things that we didn't do that we talked about trying to do tonight. For the most part it has a lot to do with them more than it does with us. They're well coached. They've got a great program here year in and year out. I don't know if a lot of people know this that are sitting in this room, but there are 22 division one [basketball teams] in the state of Texas, in the past 10 years [Texas] obviously [has] the most wins of anyone, but the second most wins of anyone is Sam Houston State. That's in front of Texas Tech and UTEP and everybody, A&M, whoever else you want to put in there. We've got a really good program too. We like to play these kind of games because it makes you better. You get to see what you need to improve on, what you need to work on. [There were] a lot of positives out of tonight. You have to find the positives. We'll bounce back. We've got a tough game on Saturday at Colorado State. We'll be ready to go play.
On the lack of offense being attributed to the Texas defense or lack of a rhythm for Sam Houston State: Both. We're far behind offensively right now. Our first two games were against opponents we beat real bad and we should've beaten real bad. Two reasons we don't have our offense where it needs to be - first of all because we've got a new system that we put in offensively. It's not the same one we ran last year. We've got seven guys back from last year's team. Seven new guys are trying to learn a new offense. Then we've got three or four really good talented players who have come into our program and they're also trying to learn. Now you've got 11 guys trying to learn a new system. We're behind offensively. The way I was taught how to coach - you may not be able to tell after tonight, but defensively is what we've worked on. We've done it day after day and day after day. That's what we've felt like we've been pretty good at. Tonight they shot 55 percent. I'm really disappointed in that. We've got to get better offensively. We've got some time to do it. We will. We'll get there.
On what he liked from tonight's game: I can tell you the number one thing I liked tonight was a guy named Antuan Bootle who had 16 points and nine rebounds against a guy who's probably going to be a lottery pick and he had three points and four rebounds. With three minutes left in a 35 point game he was still in the game. I like that. If that guy can play like that all year long for us, he's going to be one of the best centers in our league. I like it. I hope he keeps playing like that. That was very positive. The other positive tonight was a guy named Marcus James. He twisted his knee the second day of practice and hadn't been in there for two weeks. He hasn't played in the first two games. He played tonight. I don't think his numbers were great. He had six points and five rebounds but what tremendous energy. Some of the ones underneath the basket that he didn't finish against the University of Texas he's going to finish in our league. I was really pleased with him.
