Makes me SICK

L

Lost_In_Ohio

500+ Posts
Rick Barne's offense with his team on the ropes. We own the paint, and where do we go with the ball.....to AJ Abrams, time after time after time. This is absolutely disgusting. Dude goes like 2 for 20 and we want him shooting the ball to tie the game???? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? Wake the hell up Rick and team. Know what works and go to it. Gary, Damion, and Dexter need the ball when were under pressure, not AJ. I cannot stand watching us just wait for AJ to run off a screen and pitch it to him. We need someone else to step up in the clutch and not rely on AJ every time.

You have to win games like this if you want to be a final four team, we didn't do it today, we didn't do it in Maui, we didn't do it in Houston.
 
Hold on.

I agree that you have to get the ball down low to one of the big 3 men more often.

On that note, Texas did not depend on AJ tonight and still was in this game. Before anyone jumps off a cliff, remember, this is an Arkansas team that is hot and extremely difficult to beat at home (see ou). Definitely a win that could have been gotten, but not a crushing defeat.

I hate it when the Horns lose and am bummed, but despite the horrid shooting and defensive break downs at times, this team had a chance, and should have won the game.

Now I will try to convince myself this and move on.
 
Frustrating to watch them pass into traffic and basically not take care of the ball like a John Wooden coached team.
 
amen brother, preach it
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Agreed. I just need to calm down. It just pains me to lose, especially when it's to teams that are inferior to us.

However, I honestly wonder if Mason or Ward or Balbay actually shoot jumpers in practice.
 
This is NOT a bad loss for the Horns. Arky is very underrated this year, not to mention that they are tough as hell at home anyway. Horns were in it till the final seconds so don't get too upset about this one. I doubt you guys will play in a tougher environment all year (AFH...maybe).
 
I think this Arkansas team will be very lucky to win 8 conference games. One thing you can say for Barnes is that his teams are usually playing their best at the right time, which is not early January. Arkansas should savor the last week and just hope they can get to 7 or 8 SEC wins to make the tournament.
 
Yale

You are probably right on the SEC reg season wins and I'm sure the 19K plus fans are savoring this win. A nice home court advantage in Bud Walton. Just like it was back in the day in Barnhill.
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I agree with the original post 100%... Texas HAS TO WIN games like this consistently. I like this years team and will stand by them win or lose, but it seems like we play an inferior team with a pulse and we fail. Arkie underrated or not, this is a game that is not excusable to lose, PERIOD!
 
We had everything we wanted in the paint and went to outside shooting at the end of the game, but that isn't our problem. Terrible PG play is; and it is what is going to kill us in tourney time.
 
What is amazing to me is Ark. lost their top 5 scorers from last year and are 12 - 1 with wins over OU and UT, they look pretty good to me.
 
The tide turned when big Dex picked up his 4th foul. We didn't "own" the paint so much then.

What I didn't like was Barnes burning timeouts before the 1 min mark. We were still close and didn't have to jack 3's yet. We never got a chance to put them on the line for FT's. And the foul by James at the end wasn't very smart. Made it a 4 pt game.
 
Agreed that AJ is a vitally important scorer for the team this year, but have never liked his momentum killing heaves from well past the three point line. He did have a nice drive last night which was a shock, but his scalding/freezing shooting from way back tends to leech the fire out of the team at times.

He has never been a favorite of mine because his handle is poor for his position and his discretion flat out sucks at times. He is not his idol, Iverson, and needs to pass up on the 5-10 crazy-as-hell, off balance shots that he attempts each game.

There should be a way to get him a shot when he is balanced and waiting for the ball, and if not that means there is a good one-on-one match-up or open man elsewhere.
 
There aren't any stars on this team this year. We have been spoiled for a few seasons with offensive stars, we don't have that this year. We still continue to live and die with AJ's shooting as we did last year and year before. He has always been the biggest wild card on the team. When he is shooting well from the outside Texas usually wins. When he doesn't Texas struggles. When he is absent Texas struggles. When he is horrid like he was last night Texas usually loses badly. Texas was in that game which gives you a reason to be optimistic.
 
I guess we didn't use our backsides enough.

Honestly, I've never heard announcers rave about guys' butts so much as in that broadcast.

It's one game, in early January, and it's not a death knell. Granted, I'd rather win, but the Horns no doubt learned something from this game and will improve because of it.
 
I understand it is upsetting to lose a seemingly winnable game. But in the big picture I give Texas a ton of credit for scheduling games like last nights. They have played three tough opponents in true road games (Hogs, Badgers, and Villanova) and won two of them. The loss to the Hogs will not affect Texas' seeding in the NCAA tournament one bit imho. We'll get credit from the committee for playing the game. I will say I too am pretty darn impressed with John Pelphrey at this point. I can't believe how well Arkie is playing in what I thought was a rebuilding year. 43 straight wins for them on that court against non-conference opponents is nothing to sneeze about. Rick Barnes teams at times seem like Kelvin Sampson's old OU teams. They play harder than heck, they rebound, and defend with gusto. They sometimes just struggle to score in the half court. Barnes' best squads have involved a stud point guard who can drive and create in the half court.
 
I agree with Indy... Arkansas is much better than I anticipated, and I saw the last half of the game against OU as well as last night's game. I believed the preseason mags that said they would stink, but they remind me of Barnes's team of two years ago that started the four freshmen and AJ.

This was Texas's worst offensive game of the season, and, IMO, among their worst in the last several years. Yet, they were in it until the final seconds because of defense. I was disappointed that they lost, but hardly discouraged.
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You follow them for the rest of the season with realistic expectations and wait until next season, when they will wreck ****.
 
I was hugely disappointed in the outcome, particularly when I think Texas was up 43-35 with a fast break opportunity, but I'm not too bummed by the loss.

1) Atchley was out--that removes the second outside shooting threat on the team and ends the perimeter screening game. Huge negative effect on the team, even when Atchley isn't hitting his shots.

2) Texas was 1-14 from 3 land. See 1) above.

3) Arkansas is more than just pretty good.

4) Pittman picked up those two fouls in the first two minutes of the second half and Texas lost strength inside for most of the half. When he was in, I thought he was generally used very effectively. So effectively that Arkansas deliberately attacked him to start the second half for the sole purpose of getting him to the bench. Watch the first two minutes of the second half--5 possessions. Arkansas takes it to Pittman three times, one possession being a forced miss on which Pittman could have been called for a foul and two possessions being fouls on Pittman. Texas took it inside to Pittman both times for point blank shots that he couldn't convert, but in one instance Texas saved possession and Mason drove for a layup when nobody left Pittman and the lane was clear for Mason.

5) During Arkansas's climb back from the deficit, there were instances of rugby style play going on with questionable fairness of the calls. I'm thinking particularly of the sequence in which Johnson is trying to receive a pass while entering the paint, gets a two handed push in the back so he can't get position, gets undercut going up for the rebound later in the possession, then gets pushed out of bounds while trying to secure the ball. No call. Then Balbay gets called for a foul while trying to get in front of Fortson coming up court on the sideline. Yeah, right.

Being outscored 21 to 9 over the last 9 minutes was painful, but crap like that happens on the road against good teams when one starter is out with an injury and another is on the bench with foul problems.

What I hated to see more than anything was James's unforced turnovers and the horrible short armed shot he threw up at the 1:28 mark. I'm really glad he's on our team, and maybe I have it wrong, but to me it's seemed like he's saved his worst offensive games this year for games on national TV, Wisconsin game being the exception.

I also think the loss will affect seeding come tournament time. It won't have a disastrous effect, but surely it will cost at least one spot in the end
 
Let me preface this post by saying this is not an overreaction to last night, merely my observations to this point in what has been a fairly successful but at times, frustrating non-conference season. I get that we have had some success (UCLA, 'Nova, Wisc) doing what we are doing right now. But if we are conceding that we are going to live and die this season playing junkyard ball - tough man defense, hustle points, etc - because of a lack of elite PG play why not move AJ back to the point and Mason off the ball. AJ is probably the best ball handler on the team (and creator when he wants to be) and is pretty adept at getting good looks off the bounce. Yes, he does not shoot a super high percentage when he is creating for himself but they are better looks than he is getting right now, as teams seem to have figured out how to limit the running off screens game. Also, whose to say that AJ throwing up shots and having GJ, Dex, and Damo chasing boards will not be more successful than having them set picks and then just stand there and not be utilized like they should be in a true screening offense.

Another benefit to moving AJ back to the point is Mason can once again concentrate on being the lockdown defender and offensive glue guy he excels at being. While 7 assists to 1-2 TO's per game looks nice, in this fan's eyes, he really is not making a lot of "plays," at least the plays that you need from the PG position in Barnes' unsophisticated offense. Couple that with declining performance in other areas of his game, I think Mason would benefit tremendously from playing off the ball. And this in turn, would make our defense even better.

In summary, I not thrilled with the idea of living and dying by AJ, but if that is really what we are already doing (and in my opinion, how this team can go the farthest in the tourney), why not go all in. We might lose a few when AJ shoots us out of the game - see Notre Dame (although Damo tried his best to outdo AJ in that game), but we are not going to accomplish what the level of athletes on this team suggests we can with the way the offense is currently structured. Let AJ make this his team on offense and turn Mason loose on the defensive end which will allow the team to play even more suffocating man-to-man and hopefully create more easy, transition buckets to supplement the offense.
 
Yeah, that was definitely a botched opportunity. I thought Texas was going to win going away at that point. I didn't really blame Johnson too much though; he had to reach back to catch a bounce pass behind him and shoulder high. Kind of hard to keep your steps in order on that play.
 
This game was a typical ugly/frustrating offensive Barnes game. John Pelphrey had Barnes for lunch twice .

Barnes offense is predictable and easy to defend when you run it 100% of the time.
John Pelphrey had Abrams shut down because they overplayed the pick and roll / pop. The weak figure 8 that Abrams runs can work when the screener puts a BODY on the defender which did not happen enough for AJ to get a GOOD shot off. Arky played good defense like they knew what the play was, shades of Davis.

Barnes is money in the bank but Barnes was out coached by John Pelphrey yesterday.
Johnson needs to pass the ball back when he does not have a clear look, reset and get the pass back. He is good when he gets the ball in the paint.
Our man to man looked confused and Arky was not running much to speak of. I did like the Fortson run through the lane and hard screens from the two bigs for Arky.
Barnes needs to let the players play BB and not just run the same 2 sets every trip down the court. Given that the sets we run have several options we should run more options and again dribble drive it was there the whole game for Mason, Abrams , James.
Oh! Dex should have had 20 touches yesterday, he was doing a job on Arky's big guys......??? Did we ever go into a zone to change up the Arky attack on our man to man?
Oh ! sure hope we learned something from this game.
Conference games wins 12-13 if we play well or worse if we go stale again.
 
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