Cliffs Notes: Texas essentially got doubled up in the second half, which turned a tie game at half-time into a 80-60 win for No.13 Texas A&M over unranked Texas on Saturday night in College Station.
The Participants: Texas (11-3) and No.13 Texas A&M (12-2)
Pre-Game KenPom Rankings: Texas (No. 35) and Texas A&M (No. 16)
Game MVP: It's slim pickings in the star performance department, but Tramon Mark led the Longhorns 14 points on 4 of 9 shooting. It didn't really get better than that,
Keeping it 100: This team isn't good enough to go on the road and get a win against a good team when freshman Tre Johnson shoots 2 for 13 from the floor. He has to deliver the goods every night in conference play. There were other issues that need to be addressed, especially in the second half, but Texas needs Johnson to be great and he was far from it.
First-Half Success: You might know it by simply looking at the box score, but when the Longhorns weren't losing their occasional way on offense, I thought the team played some of the best ball that it has played so far this season. Texas shot the ball well from downtown (42.9%) and the free throw line (100%), while finishing +2 on the glass and a 12-0 edge in fast-break points.
Second-half Demise: The Longhorns came out stinking Reed Arena out in the opening stages pf the second half, getting outscored 11-2 in the opening 4:10 of the half, which put the Aggies up 48-39. Texas didn't score its second bucket of the half until Johnson hit a jumper with 13:40 remaining.
Ball Game: Trailing 61-52 with just a shade over 6 minutes remaining, the Longhorns got called for a 10-second violation. By the time the Longhorns got the ball back, they were back down by 11.
Who Needs Three-Point Shooting? Not the Aggies. A&M hit a horrid 2of 19 from downtown on Saturday night and it didn't matter at all.
Did We Learn Anything: Not really. If you thought this team was going to struggle to make the NCAA Tournament, your opinion didn't change after tonight. If you're a little more bullish on this team, you didn't see the components needed to make the Tournament. Not tonight, anyways.
Because I'm a nerd: Points through 12 career games: Tre Johnson (228) Kevin Durant (259)
ESPN Bracketology: Just thought I would give everyone a view of how things look at this stage of the season.
