Texas Longhorns Hoops vs. Iowa St. Cyclones: Preview & Open Thread

IT'S TIME TO DROP THE MYCK!

The Texas Longhorns (10-13, 2-8) welcome back starting point guard Myck Kabongo, suspended for the first 23 games of the season. Texas hosts an Iowa St. Cyclones (16-7, 6-4) team that destroyed the Longhorns in Ames. The Cyclones have a few nice home wins, most recently beating Baylor and Oklahoma. However, Fred Hoiberg's bunch has done nothing of significance on the road.

That won't stop them from beating a bad Texas team, though. In the first go-round, the Cyclones shot 11-26 (42.3%) from distance, made 11 more free throws than Texas, and turned the ball over just five times. That equaled an easy-peasy 20 point win.

Iowa St. has a roster chock full of solid players with no real holes, but lack a superstar to make the jump. They're still in NCAA Tournament contention and are gunning for a top 5 finish in conference. I covered their personnel in the preview/open thread for the first game, and not much has changed for ISU.

Texas should see its capabilities increase with Kabongo back at the helm. Expect more dribble-drives, and perhaps more effective pick-and-rolls with Ioannis Papapetrou, Connor Lammert, and Jaylen Bond all showing limited capabilities at ball-handling and shooting. In another piece of good news, Jonathan Holmes has been medically cleared to play, though how effective he'll be coming off the injury remains to be seen.

This is basically Texas' last shot at salvaging the season. A loss here would be the nail in the coffin, overcome only if Kabongo can quickly and miraculously learn the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

LINEUP

PROJECTED STARTERS

Texas: G - Myck Kabongo (#1 - So.) | G - DeMarcus Holland (#2 - Fr.) | G - Julien Lewis (#14 - So.) | F - Ioannis Papapetrou (#33 - Fr.) | C - Cameron Ridley (#55 - Fr.)

Iowa St.: G - Korie Lucious (#13 - Sr.) | G - Chris Babb (#2 - Sr.) | G - Will Clyburn (#21 - Sr.) | F - Melvin Ejim (#3 - Jr.) | F - Georges Niang (#31 - Fr.)

BENCH

Texas: G - Javan Felix (#3 - Fr.) | G - Sheldon McClellan (#1 - So.) | F - Jonathan Holmes (#10 - So.) | F - Jaylen Bond (#5 - So.) | F - Connor Lammert (#21 - Fr.) | C - Prince Ibeh (#44 - Fr.)

Iowa St.: G - Tyrus McGee (#25 - Sr.) | G - Naz Long (#15 - Fr.) | F - Anthony Booker (#22 - Sr.) | C - Percy Gibson (#24 - So.)

INJURIES/ISSUES

Texas: F - Jonathan Holmes (#10 - So. - Limited - Broken Hand)

Iowa St.: N/A

TEXASSPORTS.COM MEDIA/NOTES

TEXAS (10-13, 2-8)
vs. Iowa State (16-7, 6-4)
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 • 7 p.m. CT
Austin, Texas • Erwin Center (16,540)

TV: Big 12 Network > view local affiliates
WatchESPN.com
Dave Armstrong (play-by-play), Reid Gettys (analyst), Kaylee Hartung (reporter)
Radio: Longhorn IMG Radio Network
Craig Way (play-by-play), Eddie Oran (analyst)
Satellite Radio: XM 202 / Sirius 216
Streaming Audio: TexasSports.com
Live Stats: GameTracker