Men's Basketball topples Iowa State, 75-67, in the conference opener
Jan. 10, 2009 Box Score AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The shots still aren't falling for Texas' A.J. Abrams. The Longhorns still found a way to win. Instead of the 3-pointers the senior guard usually rains on opponents, it was the mid-range shooting of forwards Damion James and Gary Johnson that carried No. 7 Texas to 75-67 win over Iowa State on Saturday in the Big 12 opener for both teams. Iowa State purposely dropped off James and Johnson while keeping pressure on Abrams at all times, and they picked apart the Cyclones by knocking down the open looks. James finished with 19 points and Johnson scored 17. "The team needs an extra boost when A.J.'s getting the toughest defense every night," Johnson said. "That's what I'm trying to do." Texas' leading scorer this season, Abrams finished with eight points, the fourth time in five games he's been held under 10. He was 2-of-10 shooting, making just one from long range. "A.J. has struggled. Today was the first day I thought he was really pressing," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. The Longhorns (12-3) are undefeated in 11 conference home openers under Barnes and have also won a school record 13 in a row at home in the Big 12, dating back to 2007 when Kevin Durant was a Texas freshman. The Cyclones have been just the opposite, losing their ninth straight Big 12 road game. Craig Brackins scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Iowa State (11-5) on Saturday, his sixth double-double of the season. "We had to come in here and play a pretty perfect game to beat Texas," Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said. McDermott's plan was not only to stop Abrams on the perimeter, but for his big players to stay close to the basket to keep the Longhorns from crashing in for offensive rebounds. The Cyclones outrebounded Texas 42-38 but the strategy backfired when it gave the Longhorns the open looks to shoot 55 percent from the field in the second half. "I'll take 55 percent shooting any time," Barnes said. Johnson was 6-of-9 from the field and James was 8-of-16. "That's cool with me," James said. "We work so hard on our individual game. It was hard to get rebounds." Johnson used a variety of moves to score 13 in the first half. He had eight points in a 17-5 Texas run that opened up a 29-16 lead before Iowa State closed to 33-27 by halftime. The Cyclones quickly cut the lead to one after the break when Justin Hamilton hit a 3-pointer on the first shot of the half and Brackins converted a three-point play. Two dunks by James and a third by Dexter Pittman allowed Texas to hold onto the slim lead. The Longhorns pushed the lead to 58-47 when Pittman dunked over Hamilton and Johnson blocked a shot and grabbed it to set up Justin Mason's layup. The Cyclones wouldn't let Texas get comfortable. Lucca Staiger twice got lost in the corner for wide open shots before the Longhorns finally put the game away. Two nifty passes under the basket from Varez Ward to Pittman and Connor Atchley led to easy baskets that put Texas up 67-57 with four minutes to play. Staiger finished with 15 points. POSTGAME NOTES Gary Johnson Justin Mason Dexter Pittman TEXAS QUOTES On his players' performance: A.J. (Abrams) struggled and I thought today was the first time he was pressing a little bit. We have some things that are sorting out. Gary Johnson is starting to be consistent. Damion (James) came in and played right where we wanted to play in terms of minutes. Varez [Ward] came in and played an excellent part defensively. We challenged the guys to play today with no turnover and I think this is the fewest we've had this year. On Damion James' mid-range jumper: That should be his shot. He's really good right there, he's really good at that. That's a great range for him, Gary is really good as well, but for Damion, he could take that shot all night long. SENIOR GUARD A.J. Abrams On getting the ball to the inside: That's what we've been working on. People have been focusing on me coming off screens and when I have the ball so if our big guys can slip to the basket, we'll have some easy layups or dunks. On the game at Oklahoma: I think we're ready. We've gotten a lot better in practice; we've been working on things that we need to get better on. We're doing a good job on improving and if we can play good defense and rebound the ball, the offense will tend to take care of itself. JUNIOR FORWARD Damion James On being challenged to take the shot: It's cool with me. We work so hard on our individual game and if they don't play us like that, then we have to do what we have to do. it was hard to get rebounds, and they out rebounded us by six so we're a little disappointed with that. On the game at Oklahoma: It's going to be great. It is what you play college ball for these types of games. Oklahoma maybe has the best player in the country with Blake Griffin. He's a great player and that's a great program. It's going to be a great crowd, it's going to be so much fun. I'm looking forward to play against Blake because he might be the best player in the country. SOPHOMORE FORWARD Gary Johnson On becoming a reliable scorer: I feel like the team needs an extra boost. A.J. (Abrams) is getting tougher defenders and Damion (James) is also getting tougher defense every night so I feel like somebody has to step up and take on the challenge for us. That is what I'm trying to do for the team right now. IOWA STATE QUOTES On the mid-range success of Damion James and Gary Johnson: That was a chance we had to take. We're relatively young and inexperienced inside at a couple spots, and to provide some help on the block, we chose to see how well those guys could shoot it from the mid-range level. To their credit, especially Gary Johnson in the first half, they made us pay for it. On the performance of Craig Brackins with two fouls: Well we were able to get back in the game. We hung in there and I told myself, if we could keep it under 10, I'd leave him on the bench. They got it to 12 so we put him back in. He wasn't the one scored, but he was certainly part of the defense that allowed us to get back into the game. On the driving ability and health of Lucca Staiger: It's coming with time. He needs to be put in those situations more. I was pleased with his decision making for the most part when he put it on the floor, because when he's done that in the past, sometimes his decisions haven't been quite as good. But he created some opportunities for his teammates this afternoon and that was encouraging. SOPHOMORE FORWARD CRAIG BRACKINS On the current and future state of the team: I think we're doing pretty well. I think we're going to learn from this game a lot. We found out where we are and we need to progress with that, and get better. SOPHOMORE GUARD LUCCA STAIGER On whether his knee is feeling better after an injury earlier in the season: It's feeling better. It's getting better every day and I'm glad.
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