The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
No. 3 Men's Basketball tops Oklahoma, 68-52
02.09.2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2011
| NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Dogus Balbay didn't waste any time putting No. 3 Texas in control for another Red River Rivalry blowout.
Jordan Hamilton scored 20 points, Gary Johnson added 14 and the Longhorns continued their perfect run through Big 12 play by leading wire to wire in a 68-52 win against Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
The Longhorns (21-3) are off to a 9-0 start in league play for the first time since doing it in the Southwest Conference 23 years ago. All nine of the wins have been by double figures, the first time Texas has been so dominant to start conference play since the 1921-22 season.
"There is a reason they are undefeated. They've gone in a lot of people's gyms and the game's been over pretty quick," Sooners coach Jeff Capel said. "They are playing with incredible swagger right now, that Texas team is. They punched us in the mouth early and we could never really recover."
Andrew Fitzgerald led Oklahoma (12-11, 4-5) with 16 points, and Steven Pledger scored 13. Freshman Cameron Clark, who scored 25 points in Oklahoma's win against Baylor last week, was a non-factor for the second straight game. He scored two points after going scoreless in the Sooners' loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Texas won for the 10th time in the last 12 games in the series, with the only losses coming the past two years at the Lloyd Noble Center, and notched its largest margin of victory of its 10 wins in Norman.
There was plenty of star power around for the rematch of Texas' 66-46 blowout win in the first installment of the rivalry this season.
Oklahoma honored 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford at halftime, and his courtside seat was two spots down from country singer Toby Keith. Kevin Durant, the former Longhorns star who's now the NBA's scoring leader, sat behind the Texas bench.
Balbay helped remove most of the drama right away, though.
He had an easy transition layup after Oklahoma's Steven Pledger opened the game with a miss, and Texas scored the first six points of the game. By the time Tristan Thompson's two-handed dunk on an alley-oop made it 14-4, the Longhorns had largely neutralized a packed Lloyd Noble Center on a night when the Sooners offered free admission to boost attendance with a couple inches of snow on the ground.
"I'm just trying to set the tone at both ends of the court and defensively just trying to be tough," said Balbay, who scored six of his team's first 10 points. "It's really important to start the game really tough and setting the tone for us."
The Sooners missed 11 of their first 14 shots, fell behind by 15 midway through the first half and could never get within double digits after that. Many fans, wearing free white T-shirts given out to all 11,572 in attendance, started heading toward the exits after Hamilton scored seven points in a 9-1 Texas run that stretched the lead to 57-35 with 11:57 to play.
"They were there, they were screaming for us loud and we really appreciate it," Cade Davis said. "We were a little disappointed in ourselves we didn't give them a little more to cheer about."
Balbay finished with 12 points, and Thompson and Cory Joseph scored 11 apiece as all five Texas starters reached double figures and provided all of the team's offense. The Longhorns, allowing Big 12 opponents to shoot just 36 percent, limited the Sooners to 32 percent.
"Texas is very good. They are the best team we've played all year, by far," Capel said. "I think they have all the ingredients to make a deep run.
"I thought we competed. They are just better than us."
TEAM
- This marks the third time in program history (second in the Rick Barnes era) that the Longhorns have started the year with at least 21 wins in their first 24 contests. The last time Texas accomplished the feat was the 2005-06 season when the Longhorns started 21-3
- Texas' 16-point victory over Oklahoma is the largest margin of victory in Norman in the program's history. The previous highs came in 2007 and 2008 when the Longhorns won by 10.
- The last time Texas trailed in a game was the first half of the game at Oklahoma State (25-23 - 4:04). Dogus Balbay hit two free throws to tie the game at 25-25. Texas has gone the last 184:04 without trailing.
- Texas has won five consecutive conference road games for the first time since the end of the 2002-03 season and start of the 2003-04 season when the Longhorns won at Texas Tech and at #5 Oklahoma in 2002-03 and at Missouri, at #13 Texas Tech, at Texas A&M and at Baylor in 2003-04.
- Texas has won five consecutive conference road games in the same season for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
- This marks the fourth time this season Texas has had five players (Jordan Hamilton, Gary Johnson, Dogus Balbay, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph) reach double figures. It is the first time this season that all five starters have reached double figures.
- Texas held Oklahoma to its third-lowest point total on the season. The Longhorns also held Oklahoma to its lowest point total (46 points) in their first meeting Jan 15. in Austin
- Texas has won 10 of its last 12 games against Oklahoma and 15 of the last 20 meetings
- Texas started a conference season with nine consecutive wins by 10 or more points for the first time since the 1921-22 season
- Texas started 9-0 in conference play for the first time since 1977-78 when they started 9-0 in Southwest Conference action
- Texas has held eight of its nine Big 12 opponents under 40.0% shooting from the field
- Texas is holding Big 12 opponents to 54.0 points per game
- Texas owned a rebounding edge for the 21st time in 24 games on the season
- Texas owns a +18.1 edge in scoring margin through the first nine conference games
- Texas shot 50.0% or higher from the field for the ninth time this season
Dogus Balbay
- Reached double digits in scoring (12 points) for the third time this season and the eighth time in his career (85 games)
Jordan Hamilton
- Scored at least 20 points (20 points) for the 11th time this season and the 13th this in his career (58 games)
- Reached double digits in scoring (20 points) for the 23rd time this season and the 41st time in his career
Gary Johnson
- Reached double digits in scoring (14 points) for the 16th time this season and 52nd time in his career (112 games)
Cory Joseph
- Reached double digits in scoring (11 points) for the 16th time this season
Tristan Thompson
- Reached double digits in scoring (11 points) for the 19th time this season
- Recorded at least two blocks for the 18th time this season
