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Nov. 14, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Notes | Quotes

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A.J. Abrams scored 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and No. 7 Texas opened the season with a 68-38 win over Stetson on Friday night.

The Longhorns' career leader in 3-pointers with 289, Abrams made four in the first half. The wispy 5-foot-11 guard had considered going to the NBA after last season, but opted to return to the Longhorns for his senior season. It was his 18th game with at least five 3-pointers.

Connor Atchley added 14 points for Texas, which returns four starters and nine of the top 10 scorers from the squad won a school-record 31 games last season. Texas lost last season's Cousy Award winner, point guard D.J. Augustin, to the NBA.

Texas held Stetson (0-1) to 18 points in the first half and just 26 percent shooting for the game. A.J. Smith scored 12 points for Stetson.

Abrams had no trouble with the new 3-point line, which is now at 20 feet, 9 inches, a foot further out than last season. He scored Texas' first basket on a 3-pointer and hit two more from NBA range in the first half.

With Augustin gone, Abrams also is being counted on to run the point for the Longhorns. Although Abrams has done it some in the past, he and the Longhorns' offense looked rusty at times as several fast breaks misfired with bad passes. Abrams didn't have any turnovers but finished with just one of Texas' nine assists.

Texas opened up a 24-7 lead when Abrams hit a 3-pointer and followed it with a soft floater in the lane before Stetson closed within eight behind an 11-2 run. Abrams ended the run with an off-balance 3-pointer in the last second of the first half that put Texas up 29-18.

Texas enjoyed a considerable height and strength advantage over the Hatters. The Longhorns have six players 6-7 or taller compared to just three for the Hatters. Texas outrebounded Stetson 37-28 and blocked eight shots.

Still, it was the littlest Longhorn who kept doing the most damage. Abrams hit another 3-pointer from the wing, then stepped inside the line for a soft jumper. Even when Abrams missed a 3-pointer, it rattled around the rim before falling out.

Stetson made four of its first five shots of the second half to stay within striking distance. Atchley and the Texas defense put it away from there. Atchley third 3-pointer of the second half made it 57-36 with six minutes to play.

POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
· Rick Barnes picked up his 450th career win
· Texas has held its season opening opponent under 40 points in each of the last two seasons for an average of 37.5 ppg
· Texas is 152-14 in the Coach Barnes era when holding its opponent under 40% FG shooting
· Texas held Stetson to a .260 field goal percentage, tied for the fifth lowest percentage by an opponent since the 1960-61 season
· Texas held Stetson to 13 field goals, tied for the sixth lowest total by a UT opponent since the 1960-61 season
· Texas made a 3-point field goal for the 584th consecutive game
· Texas won a season opener by 20 or more points for the sixth consecutive season
· Texas improved to 139-18 at home under Coach Barnes, including winning 93 of their last 100 home contests
· Texas improved to 84-19 all-time in season openers
· Texas improved to 9-2 in season openers under Coach Barnes, including seven consecutive wins
· Texas improved to 88-15 all-time in home openers
· Texas improved to 27-5 all-time in home openers at the Erwin Center
· Texas improved to 4-0 all-time against Stetson
· Texas held Stetson to one field goal in the first 11:16 of action
· Texas outscored Stetson 11-2 in the first 8:33 of action

A.J. Abrams
· Scored 10 or more points for the 69th time in 110 career games
· Scored 20 or more points for the 24th time in 110 career games
· A.J. Abrams and Connor Atchley combined to hit 8-of-12 from 3-point range
· Moved to 14th on the UT career scoring list with 1,410 points, passing Chris Mihm (1,404 - 1998-2000)

Connor Atchley
· Scored 10 or more points for the 19th time in 103 career games
· Was perfect on five or more field goal attempts in a game for the fourth time in his career
· Was perfect on three or more 3-point field goal attempts in a game for the second time in his career
· A.J. Abrams and Connor Atchley combined to hit 8-of-12 from 3-point range

Clint Chapman
· Equaled a career-high with two blocked shots. He did it on two previous occasions

Damion James
· Scored 10 or more points for the 39th time in 74 career games

Gary Johnson
· Led Texas in rebounding for the first time in his career

Justin Mason
· Equaled a career-high with four steals. He previously recorded four steals against New Mexico State last season

TEXAS QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Barnes
On the team's defensively performance tonight: We were good defensively in the first half; I thought we didn't give them very much. I think defensively if we can have that kind of effort, it can keep us around for a long time in some games. We obviously have to offensively get better, which surprised me tonight that we didn't run the way we've been running in the past. That was the slowest pace we've played so far and I can't really tell you why. They were small too, so when we went out with a lineup that we haven't even practiced, I thought our guys did a good job. Defensively I think we got a chance because we can play a number of different ways when we start switching things up.

On the point position: I thought tonight A.J. [Abrams] did a good job. He didn't have any turnovers but I thought in the first half we probably watched him play a little too much. When we switched over, I thought Justin [Mason] did a better job. He settled down because he didn't seem really comfortable at the start of the game until he moved to the point. And obviously when Dogus [Balbay] comes back it will give us somebody who can push the tempo and Varez [Ward] can play the point too. I feel good with that. I'm not concerned with that. We understand that we have got to develop a game that is as close to the basket and we can do that. We have guys that can score and we have got to get to the foul line.

SENIOR GUARD A.J. Abrams
On the team's performance tonight: I think we did a good job of playing hard on defense. We talked about that after the game. We came out with a lot of energy on the defensive end, and I think it was the offense that got us at times. Throughout the season we have to get better, but I think tonight might be due to it being the first game. It's nothing that can't be solved.

On playing against Stetson's zone defense: That's the way their team plays and we had to make adjustments. We did a pretty good job of handling zone when we weren't stagnant and we moved the ball. We got the ball moving back and forth and that is what kind of opened us up.

SENIOR FORWARD Connor Atchley
On the new three-point line: I don't think it makes a difference because as most people say it's all touch. I think it's really about people who don't shoot a lot of three's because the new line makes them think twice about shooting it.

JUNIOR FORWARD Damion James
On the team's performance tonight: Coach Barnes really wanted us to go after and get the stops. Stetson knocked down some open shots, so Coach wanted us to challenge shots and box shots. Everybody played hard. Overall, we didn't let them get a lot of movement on offense.

STETSON QUOTES
HEAD COACH DEREK WAUGH
Opening statement: I think Texas has a very good team. We knew they were really talented offensively but it surprised me how well they played defensively. I think they're very defensively sound, we tried to make it a tempo game and I think it is a credit to how well they play defense that they were able to not only stop us, but take good shots on the offensive end.

On playing zone defense most of the game: We were trying to mix things early. That was more of a tempo control device. We're more of a man-to-man team, but we thought if we could make them work the ball that would help us keep the game in the sixties. I thought A.J. Abrams' shot right before the half was huge. He's obviously a very good player and if he gets a crack, it was done.

On Texas: They're sound and they can make adjustments on the fly. I thought they did a nice job adjusting to our ball screen in the second half. We're generally better on our offense then we are tonight but that's not much of a statement seeing that we shot 26 percent and had 38 points. Texas did a great job.