The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
8-1
Texas State
5-2
No. 8/9 Men's Basketball shuts down Texas State, 59-27
12.13.2014 | Men's Basketball
Texas defense holds opponent under 30 points for first time since 1948
AUSTIN, Texas – Cameron Ridley scored a game-high 14 points, 13 in the second half, the defense held an opponent to fewer than 30 points for the first time since 1948, and the No. 8/9 Texas men's basketball team cruised past Texas State to a 59-27 victory at the Erwin Center on Saturday night.
The last time Texas (8-1) held an opponent under 30 points was on Feb. 25, 1948, when it defeated Baylor to 32-29, a span of 1,906 games. The last time a Texas opponent scored less than 27 points was Dec. 6, 1946, when Houston YMCA scored 23.
Texas set a program record by holding Texas State (5-2) to nine first-half points, the fewest allowed in a half by Texas since statistics were first recorded in 1949.
Points in the paint and second chance points came up big for Texas tonight, with a 28-8 advantage in the paint (24-4 in the second half) and 14-0 second chance points on only eight offensive rebounds.
Javan Felix scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Connor Lammert added in seven points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Myles Turner chipped in with eight points and six boards.
Texas shot 54.8 percent (23-of-42) from the field and 46.2 (6-of-13) percent from deep, while holding the Bobcats to a 21.6 percent shooting performance (11-of-51) and 16.7 percent (2-of-12) from three-point land. The defense also cleaned up the glass, outrebounding Texas State, 45-21.
Lammert scored the game's first points with a trey and the Longhorns would never trail the rest of the game. Felix responded with a layup and a three-pointer to take an early 8-3 lead.
Two three-pointers by Holland extended the lead to 16-7 with 5:55 remaining in the half.
A Felix trey with four seconds remaining gave Texas its largest lead of the half, 24-9, heading into the break. The junior guard led all scorers at the half with eight.
In the opening period, Texas did not allow Texas State to score for nearly 13 minutes, with scoring droughts of 7:23 and 5:34. The defense held the Bobcats to 1-of-10 shooting to start the game and 4-of-25 in the first half overall.
Coming out of the locker room, Texas started with a 6-0 run in the second half, with four points from Turner, to force a Texas State timeout with 15:22 remaining.
The Horns shot 82 percent (9-of-11) in the first nine minutes of the second half and closed out the game with a 15-7 run to take the largest lead of the night (57-25) with 2:10 remaining.
Cameron Naylor led the Bobcats with eight points.
Texas continues its nonconference action when it plays host to Lipscomb on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Central and will be nationally televised on Longhorn Network.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
No. 8/9 Texas 59, Texas State 27
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 10,452
Team Notes
- The Longhorns limited Texas State to only 27 points on 11-of-51 shooting (21.6%). It was the first time Texas has held an opponent under 30 points since Feb. 25, 1948 in a 32-29 win over Baylor. It was the fewest points allowed since Dec. 6, 1946 when Texas defeated Houston YMCA, 53-23.
- Texas held Texas State to only nine points in the first half. It is the fewest points allowed in a half in school history since tracking the stat began in 1949-50. The previous record was 11 points by Arkansas-Monticello on Nov. 18, 2007. The fewest points allowed in either the first or second half was 10 by Nicholls State (12/13/2011) and Baylor (1/21/1984).
- The Longhorns held Texas State to 16.0% shooting on 4-of-25 FG in the opening half.
- Texas out-rebounded Texas State 45-21. It marked the seventh time in nine games Texas has out-rebounded its opponent by double digits.
- UT is now 245-27 in the Rick Barnes era when holding its opponent below 40% FG shooting (8-1 this year).
- Texas had six blocks on the night. The Longhorns have now had at least six blocks in seven of nine games this season. The Longhorns are averaging 7.2 blocks per game.
- Scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 on free throws. It is his second game this season scoring in double figures and the 24th of his career (77 games).
- Posted a new career-high with eight rebounds. He surpasses his previous best of six, which he accomplished five times.
- Pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds. It marked his first double-digit rebounding performance this season and the fourth of his career (78 games).
- Scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and drained his only two attempts beyond the arc. It is his third game this season and 32nd of his career (76 games) to score in double figures.
Postgame Quotes
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
On effort on both sides of the ball: We were absolutely awful on offense. We don't play hard enough on offense for as hard as we play on defense. We just don't put the kind of effort and intensity into doing that. As a coaching staff, one thing that we've emphasized in games like this is that we defend and we really guard. I thought we did do that. But offensively, too methodical, not moving the ball, not fighting for our space, not playing hard. Just not playing hard at all. We act like we can just play at the pace we want to. I'm talking about cutting, screening and being careless with the ball. I thought the three best plays of the night were by Demarcus Croaker. He made three terrific passes. We're a good defensive team when we get big out there like we can. We are a hard team to score on.
On what the Kentucky game taught the team: Defensively, we know we can defend. But we've got to understand that we need to play hard on offense. But the Kentucky game, we turned the ball over in that game. Think about it, they put an 18-2 run on us and that was strictly to do with turnovers. I thought the biggest play in the game was Jon's [Holmes] foul over the back. We lost Jon in that game from two over the back fouls. To me that was the single biggest play in that game. We've got to get smarter in terms of protecting the ball.
On Cameron Ridley: He finally did what we practice. He ran hard, but he started to fight for his space. It's up to the guards to get the ball moving. They have to understand that that window closes quickly because everybody knows we are trying to put it down low. I thought he really worked in the second half and he hasn't done that in a number of games.
Texas Junior Center Cameron Ridley
On frustration over the last couple of weeks: I wouldn't say I've been frustrated. I've just been going through a tough time. Every player goes through a tough time. Basketball is just a game. It was nothing specific. It was just happening over a course of time. I honestly don't know what it was but I'm getting back to my old self.
On the intimidating size of the team: If I was on a smaller team, I would be intimidated to look at a line up with four guys over 6-8. Being a smaller team they are limited to jump shots and long threes. It takes away from things a team does because they can't get to the basket as easily as they want to due to our shot blocking abilities.
On putting extra pressure on yourself: Yes I was putting a little too much pressure on myself, but I realize that this is a team game and I have an entire team beside me. I just have to let the game come to me and stay focused on what I have to do as a player to help the team win.
On having relief after getting the first shot off: I wouldn't say I had a sigh of relief but I hoped a lot that my teammates would throw me the ball. They've been trying to feed the ball into the big man.
Texas Junior Forward Connor Lammert
On dominant defensive effort: I did, it didn't hurt that our big guys were able to get their leading scorer, Gant (number) 21, in foul trouble early. We've been focusing and practicing on switching up defenses and we went a little man tonight, a little bit different presses. We showed some looks but I think we finished really strong in our zone.
On coming out in the second half stronger: It was the halftime speech we got. I feel like when we are scared to turn it over we're hesitant and we start overthinking passes and we weren't playing aggressive. Coach (Rob) Lanier said we came out and played scared. I agreed with that and we tried to come out in the second half saying we were going to play and do what we do in practice, which is get the ball inside and drive. And that's what we did.
On having Cameron contribute scoring: He's a big part of our team and he's got to do every game what he did tonight; and if we want to do what we want to do, then our offense and our system is going to go through big guys – him, Myles, Prince, Jon and myself. If we get him going it opens up everything, different driving lanes and passing lanes and get people like Javan a wide open shot, get Jon an open shot, DeMarcus has been hitting his three's. These guys work hard in practice on their moves. It just goes back to turnovers and us not being afraid to get the ball inside to them when they are open.
Texas State Head Coach Danny Kaspar
Opening statement: It's very difficult for me to sit up here. Our game plan was not to let them score a lot of points, but our game plan was certainly to score more than 27 [points]. I have no explanation for the poor shooting other than some guys were a little intimidated by the height they saw. [Shooting] 21.5 percent is the worst any team of mine has ever shot. So, I'm in a new environment here. They're so long and big it captures your kids' attention when they walk out there. But, we have to be tougher than that and play better than that … of course, there is going to be a big difference win rebounding because we missed so many shots. So, they got 37 rebounds on the defensive end, and when you miss 40 [shots], that makes sense.
Rick's team does a good job. First half, I thought we played pretty good defense. First half we just couldn't score. We played pretty good again for about 10 minutes of the second half, then our kids really started wearing down mentally. They didn't have that zip in their step that they had for the first 30 minutes. I guess holding Texas to 59 points in their own gym is not something we should [be disappointed in], but scoring 27 is [not good]. We'll look at tape, see if it's just nerves, or defense on UT's part. We got the ball in the high post in the zone and threw it away numerous times, which is exactly where I want the ball to be … I think [Texas] has a chance to do very, very well again this year. I see them as an Elite Eight team at least, unless they have a bad day somewhere.
On forcing Texas turnovers: I am (happy with that). I told my guys, overall I am going to pat you on the back on the defensive end … But, I have never had a team miss as many open shots as they did tonight. I talked about how good this Texas team is and how well we will have to play, and perhaps I overdid it in building them up, I don't know … I do think our kids played hard on the defensive end. We just [did not play well on offense], whether it be Texas' defense, which I'm sure was a part of it, or whether it was nerves, and I'm sure that's some of it. We just did not perform offensively speaking.
