1/5/03
No. 7 Texas 80, Mount St. Mary's 64
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| Sydmill Harris and Jason Kotz |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)
-- Still struggling to shake some rust from the winter break, No. 7
Texas used another strong defensive effort to pull away from Mount St.
Mary's for an 80-64 victory Sunday.
Playing just their third game in the two weeks around the holidays,
the Longhorns struggled through another cold shooting performance but
clamped down on defense in time for their fourth straight win.
Texas (9-2) forced Mount St. Mary's into 24 turnovers and turned them
into 22 points. The Longhorns also dominated the rebounding 52-35 to
make up for 37 percent shooting.
"This has been a tough two weeks,'' said Texas coach Rick Barnes,
who thinks the time between games has left his team struggling to find
its rhythm. The Longhorns don't play again until Saturday's Big 12 opener
against Iowa State.
Texas has shot under 38 percent on its home floor for three straight
games.
"I would never do what we've done again, the way this has worked
out, have this much time off,'' Barnes said.
It wasn't all bad Sunday. Sydmill Harris and Brian Boddicker each scored
14 points and combined to go 7-of-8 from 3-point range.
Freshman Brad Buckman had his first career double-double with 11 points
and 13 rebounds and James Thomas grabbed 16 rebounds, one shy of his
career high.
"This week we stressed defense and rebounding,'' Buckman said.
"We need to do a lot more on offense now. I'm sure everyone will
work on their shooting so that we can be on the top of our game in the
Big 12.''
Jamion Christian led Mount St. Mary's (5-4) with 12 points and Kiel
Butler scored 10.
Mount St. Mary's stayed close throughout the first half as the Longhorns
were 14-of-36 from the field. Texas forward Jason Klotz got his first
start of the season but missed all five of his shots in the first half.
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| Royal Ivey |
The Mountaineers tied it at 27 on Charles Cook's 3-pointer
before Texas closed the half with a 10-3 run in which Boddicker had
half of the points on a short hook and a 3-pointer.
"We played them pretty well early on,'' Mount St. Mary's coach
Jim Phelan said. "They stepped up the defensive intensity in the
second half. That's how they're going to win the bulk of their games.''
Texas led 43-36 with 16:26 to play when the Longhorns shut down the
Mountaineers. Mount St. Mary's hit just one field goal over the next
nine minutes as Texas opened a 74-49 lead. Harris hit two 3-pointers
and scored eight points in the run.
"That's the way we should have been playing from the start,'' Harris
said.
Texas held Mount St. Mary's to 9-of-29 shooting after halftime.
Barnes wants to see that effort from opening tipoff.
"In the first half, I thought we more or less were going through
the motions defensively,'' Barnes said. "Once we stepped up intensity,
we seized control.''
TEXAS HEAD COACH RICK BARNES
ON TODAY’S GAME …
“I thought that we played very aggressive offensively during the
first half, which was great. During the second half, we needed to make
more of those little shots. When you miss those types of shots, it adds
more pressure and that is unnecessary.”
ON THE SCHEDULE …
“I wanted to play teams that I thought could win their league.
Playing those teams have been good for us and has helped us out a lot.
Hopefully what we have done so far has prepared us for conference play.”
TEXAS GUARD SYDMILL HARRIS
ON TEXAS’ PERFORMANCE…
“Being more efficient means taking care of the ball. It’s
all a matter of playing like we do in practice. We are ready for Big
12 play. We just picked it up on defense. That’s the way we should
have been playing from the start.”
TEXAS FORWARD BRAD BUCKMAN
ON TEXAS’ PERFORMANCE…
“This week we had a huge stress on our defense and beating the
zone. I thought we did a good job. We need to do a lot more on offense.
It’s been tough. We will find our niche. I’m sure Coach Barnes
will stress shooting in practice.”
ON HIS FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLE…
“I told J.T. before the game that I was gonna get a double-double.
I was concerned about it since I was starting so many games.”
MOUNT ST. MARY’S HEAD COACH JIM PHELAN
ON TEXAS DEFENSE…
“They stepped up their defense and we could not do anything. They
have a nice strong competitive club. With their defense and their level
of intensity, that is the way they (Texas) win games. They are well-coached
and they are gonna be a hard team to beat. They are gonna have to keep
up that intensity for conference play.”
