Closing Out the Jayhawks: Breaking Down the Last 5 Minutes of KU vs. Texas

by Barking Carnival Staff on Jan 23, 2011 1:26 PM CST in Texas Longhorns and Other Basketball

Bartoncreek asked that I break down the last 5 minutes of the game so here goes. Unlike the UConn game, we did virtually everything right during winning time with only a handful of hiccups. From big shots, to timeouts, to clock management, players and coaches alike were on their A game and the results speak for themselves. But I thought I'd break it down anyway.

Setting up the 5 minute home stretch, Texas extended its double digit lead with some big shots from J’Covan Brown and a pair of big buckets by Cory Joseph including a 25 foot bank shot as the shot clock expired. Texas’ 27-7 run allowed the Horns to lead 59-48 with just five minutes to go in the ballgame.

At this point in the game, Coach Barnes begins an offense to defense substitution pattern exchanging Gary Johnson for Matt Hill with most dead balls. The first Longhorn possession J’Covan Brown picks up his dribble which forces a time out. Selby and Brown exchange words and there’s the double Tech.

Out of the timeout Texas goes to a 1-4 low look with Brown on the ball and he just muscles Selby down to the cup for a bucket. Marcus Morris counters with a bucket of his own on a runner. Tough shot, but it was one of the few he hit. Texas by 10.

Next possession, Texas gets Hamilton isolated on Taylor in the corner. GJ is in the high post and TT stays weakside then lifts Marcus Morris away from the bucket. Hamilton blows by Taylor along the baseline for an easy lay in that’s goal tended. Horrible defense by Taylor giving up the baseline with all the helpside defense away from the goal. Texas by 12. Timeout.

Texas stays small, and Hamilton is caught going under the screen on a dribble handoff to Reed. Reed drains the 3 on a contested shot. KU down 9. Fullcourt pressure.

Texas is confused by the press and Brown runs away from the ball, Joseph gets caught in the air on a pass as he’s crossing halfcourt. Charging. KU ball. Rick with a really good 30 second timeout to talk press offense and calm the lads down.

Texas stays small, Reed with a tough 3 boarded by Marcus Morris for an and-1 stick back. KU rebounds the missed foul shot, ball out of bounds. Matt Hill comes in to give the Horns some size. Quick shot and miss rebounded by the Horns. Great sub by coach Barnes. KU fouls Joseph while pressing. One of two for CoJo, Texas up 8. Balbay and Hill now in.
Another runner by Morris, tough shot, cuts the lead to 6. That’s the kind of shot you want Morris taking all day. KU presses, Texas forced to call time out because they can’t get the ball inbounded.

Brown is the one man press breaker. Texas uses the entire shot clock and then Iso’s Hamiltion at the top of the key and he promptly blows by Taylor for another easy lay in. I can’t believe JH is able to explode by Taylor and there isn’t any help on a driver coming 25 feet from the bucket. Horrible defensive sequence by the Jayhawks. Texas up 8 with under 2 minutes to go.

Morris comes down and takes Hill off of the dribble for an and-1. Tough shot by Morris again, and Matt Hill fouls out. Lead down to 5 with 1:39 to go.

Texas runs the clock down with Hamilton iso’d out top. Hamilton drives it and then kicks it to Gary Johnson for an open jumper. Draino, Texas up 7. Biggest play in the game in my opinion. A miss and Texas might start gripping only up two possessions.

Hamilton then trails Taylor into the lane and swats Tyshawn’s layup attempt into Joseph’s arms. Brown is fouled. Texas up 9 after two foul shots. Great 4 play sequence by Hamilton. Two buckets, an assist, and a block leading to a steal. Morris hits 2 foul shots to cut the lead to 7 with 40 seconds to go.

Hamilton gives the ball up to Thompson and the heated discussion between Barnes and JH ensues. TT drains both foul shots. Ballgame.

Unlike the UConn game, Texas had two closers in this ballgame in Brown and Hamilton. They accounted for all of the field goals down the stretch and virtually every bucket was made after running 25-30 seconds off of the shot clock. Just textbook basketball.

Also credit Rick for a couple strategic, run stopping timeouts and two well conceived iso plays to manufacture some offense while running clock. Defensively, we made the Jayhawks make some tough shots and kept our composure after two or three questionable foul calls. The lone mistake was Joseph leaving his feet and charging when KU started to press fullcourt. Brown can’t leave the ball in that situation because our best ballhandler and best foul shooter. But J'Covan acquitted himself nicely in our press offense the rest of the way.

Oh, and then there's foul shooting. To a man, we were nails at the stripe.

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Comments

This is probably Barnes best season as coach. Should be considered for coach of the year, IMO.

The turnaround from last season, and the improved offense are just amazing.

by Texoz on Jan 23, 2011 1:35 PM CST reply actions

Good post. We handled everything right, including our adjustments to mistqakes in the press out of Self’s timeout after falling down by 12.

Texoz, I agree. I don’t know a single Texas fan who heading into this season thought this team had a shot at winning four games in March, and now I don’t know a single one who doesn’t. Masterful job by Rick Barnes.

by PB on Jan 23, 2011 1:52 PM CST reply actions

Question was asked on prior thread as to where this victory ranks all time for UT basketball. Given the context of this game — (a) the ugly implosion on last year’s team from which three players were drafted in first two rounds of the NBA, leaving relatively low expectations for this season outside of the program; (b) coming off a win vs. Top 10 ranked rival Aggie the game before; © playing on national TV at #2 Kansas who was riding a 69-game home win streak; and (d) just weeks after highly recruited DeAndre decommits from Texas (and silent commits to Jayhawk?) - how can there be a bigger regular season win? I would argue that this game ranks in the top 3 including tourney wins. Dang, one of those top all-time wins could have occured during my time on the 40 had Wacker’s knee not shattered. :)

DeAndre, it’s not too late to come back to your first true love. We’ll leave the light on for you.

by Abe Lemons on Jan 23, 2011 2:12 PM CST reply actions

Thank you, Trips. I think that gives a good idea of how we learned from our losses. The timeouts by Barnes were huge and at the time I had thought that, but had since forgotten about them. It was the kind of game on the road after a big run where a young team could have easily melted down.

I was more impressed with how we finished than I was by the 27-7 run, personally. We finish like that against Pitt and UCONN and we are 20-1 and ranked 2nd in the country. It was worrying me that we might not have the confidence to be able to close out a tough one against an elite team. I know we are going to play hard and compete based on what we’ve seen, but that ability to close it out has to be learned and confidence built. Another loss in a close one and it might start to get in our young kids heads.

I love the idea of working the clock and then ISOing Hamilton. That is why we have failed at the end of halves and games this year, IMO. Nothing against CJ and JB, they are able to get their shot, but they are only 6-1ish. Hamilton can get a decent look against anyone from anywhere on the court though, due to his size, shot and ability to penetrate. I am hoping this is a staple from here on out. Also, he as good as anyone at finding an open man if they double/triple him as was the case on the drive and dish to GJ which probably was the icer. I’ll take GJ shooting a wide open 15 footer all day in that situation.

Like you, I was again shocked to see how much stronger and more athletic we appeared. That is two games in a row where we just look like machines. Something is in the water, we are getting stronger and more athletic looking every game. I can see know why opposing coaches have made comments about this Texas team being “special”. That is at least four coaches now that have commented about how good this team could end up being.

by Bartoncreek on Jan 23, 2011 2:26 PM CST reply actions

I’m working on a post on how the game ranks.

by Bob in Houston on Jan 23, 2011 2:26 PM CST reply actions

This team is everything last year’s team isn’t

by starting to smell on Jan 23, 2011 2:45 PM CST reply actions

What did Self say about the horns in the press conference?
Huge win, hook em!

by Mysterious Package on Jan 23, 2011 2:53 PM CST reply actions

Really interested in a where this victory ranks post from the Texas ball history majors, Bob. I don’t have the knowledge that others here have but off the top of my head I’d place this win behind only the elite 8 win over the Spartans and the sweet 16 win by the penders club (Xavier?).

All the factors that Abe listed are what make this such an evolutionary moment for the program.

by BandwagonBusDriver on Jan 23, 2011 3:18 PM CST reply actions

I’d also add beating UNC the day before the VA Tech Sugar Bowl.

Great writeup Trips. We pretty much did EVERYTHING right.

bartoncreek – I completely agree on ISOing Hamilton and am perplexed why that isn’t our goto for end of half/game/shotclock situations. This has been bothering me since last year.

by justhookit on Jan 23, 2011 3:39 PM CST reply actions

Great writeup, Trips. Do we know anything regarding the JH/Barnes aftermath? Is all well?

We don’t have a Pelini/TMagic situation on our hands, do we?

by GigoloJoe on Jan 23, 2011 5:36 PM CST reply actions

The second question was tongue in cheek, just to be clear. I KNOW Barnes does not = Pelini.

by GigoloJoe on Jan 23, 2011 5:42 PM CST reply actions

Barnes and Hamilton are fine. and I am not trips.

by justhookit on Jan 23, 2011 6:11 PM CST reply actions

I thought we had these guys the final four year and again with Durant. After those two I thought we may not ever win up there. Awesome win.

This could be one of the top 3 CBB rivalries now that they will play home and homes each year.

by Savage Henry on Jan 23, 2011 8:09 PM CST reply actions

I (and others) have been very critical of Barnes for not working the officials over the years. From my couch it appeared that Barnes was pissed at the refs at the end of the 1st half and got in their ears. Maybe it had an effect in the 2nd half? Officiating was pretty poor throughout, but the 2nd half wasn’t as one sided as it was in the first half IMO (except for Matt Hill getting called for actually holding his ground under the basket).

Maybe Old Hickory can still learn some new tricks.

by Art Vandelay on Jan 23, 2011 9:24 PM CST reply actions

Great write up for a great game.

If we are talking about greatest all-time Texas games, tournament included 10 seed Texas over 2 seed Purdue 73-72 in the Hoosier Dome has to be near the top.

Panama Meyers for the win:

by misterloki on Jan 23, 2011 10:45 PM CST reply actions

the refs were piss poor, both ways really. KU probably got the better of it but that is to be expected in a road game.

Anyone know what they were reviewing on the Hamilton offensive foul as he cut across the lane? I know the TV guys said they were looking for a “flagrant” elbow. Was that it or were they just confused on who to call it on? Either way, it was a bs call.

by justhookit on Jan 23, 2011 11:35 PM CST reply actions

by Drew Dunlevie on Jan 24, 2011 12:02 AM CST reply actions

Also, Art, check out some of the quotes wrt time outs here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=6049153

by Drew Dunlevie on Jan 24, 2011 12:05 AM CST reply actions

I blame the disastrous grammar in my post above on having been awake for 30 hours straight.

Interesting comments in the Forde article about the differences between these guys and last years team. One of you insiders really needs to write a tell all chronicling what exactly happened between the star of the 2010 season and today.

by misterloki on Jan 24, 2011 7:54 AM CST reply actions

Don’t forget the OU game in Norman in 03, where we came from 15 down in the 2nd half. That got us the #1 seed.

by nordberg on Jan 24, 2011 9:16 AM CST reply actions

It would be interesting to hear Barnes’ thoughts on the difference between the two years. He has changed a lot this year whether he’d admit it or not. JCB and JH have changed a lot too. Tristan and Cory were just the perfect guys to bring in, self-motivated workout warriors. It is definitely a confluence of different things.

We aren’t being honest if we don’t consider addition by subtraction as a factor as well. Maybe AB wasn’t the best teammate in the world? I think the lack of love between him and CJ is well known. Who knows for sure? Barnes might not even understand such a dramatic change. Chemistry is a hard thing to figure and it can’t always be built.

by Bartoncreek on Jan 24, 2011 11:40 AM CST reply actions

As for the biggest games, Nordberg just hit on a huge regular season one.

I’ll throw out a few less obvious ones. The two wins over UH and Arky in 1980 which brought us up to 4 in the polls before Wacker went down. That team was dismantling everyone and had a real shot to win it all. Biggest disaster in Texas hoops history was Wacker busting his knee that year. Also, the first round win over Georgia Tech in Penders first year proved that maybe Texas could compete nationally. It was a win over a solid ACC team and at the time it was huge since we had been so bad for so long and hadn’t won an NCAA tourney game in years (decades?)

by Bartoncreek on Jan 24, 2011 11:47 AM CST reply actions

Incredible win, and easily top 5 all-time for regular season wins in Texas history. This is one helluva fun team to watch. For my sanity I stopped watching regularly last season after we imploded, but no way am I going to miss a game this season. They’re a joy to watch with the way they play together, help each other out and stay calm when things break bad. This group has major moxie, and Rick is pushing all the right buttons. After all the heat he took last year, Rick deserves major kudos for being flexible enough to make changes; he’s done a masterful job.

BTW, prior to Penders (who won 10 NCAA Tournament games and made 2 Sweet 16s) and Barnes (17 NCAA wins, 5 Sweet 16s, 3 Elite 8s, 1 Final Four), we had exactly 6 NCAA tourney wins:
1942-43: d. Washington, 59-55 (made Final 4)
1946-47: d. Wyoming 42-40, d. CCNY 54-50 (Final 4, 3rd place game)
1962-63: d. Texas Western, 65-47, d. Oklahoma City, 90-83 (made Sweet 16)
1971-72: d. Houston, 85-74 (made Sweet 16)
That’s it.
Of course we did win the NIT under Lemons in 1977-78, back when the NIT was still fairly respectable.

by burnt orange outrage on Jan 24, 2011 2:41 PM CST reply actions