Long Beach State played hard, but not well enough on defense, and fell to No. 2 Texas, 107-74, Monday night in the Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
Avery Bradley led six Longhorns in double figures with 17 points while 10 different players scored. The true freshman made 7-of-13 shots to lead the Longhorns to a 59 percent (46-of-78) shooting night. Damien James and Gary Johnson added 14 points apiece, while Jordan Hamilton and J’Covan Brown chipped in 13 points each off the bench. Dexter Pittman had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
On the other side, Long Beach State scored their points—more than most considering Texas has given up an average of 52 points a game this season. However, the turnovers were the difference as Long Beach tried to climb back in it.
Stephan Gilling led Long Beach State with 18 points, making 6-of-12 shots from 3-point range. Casper Ware took the offense into his own hands in the last few minutes of the first half and added 16 points and six of The Beach’s nine assists. However, in the thread of the night, he also committed six of the teams’ 23 turnovers. T.J. Robinson had a double-double, his third straight and fifth of the season, with 12 points and 12 boards. Larry Anderson added 11 points, but had six turnovers.
“We have a plan and we need to stick to it whether it works the first possession or not,” LBSU coach Dan Monson said. “We have to play offensively together. We knew we weren’t going to be able to run a lot of sets against them because they pressure you so much. But we are a better basketball team than that as far as pass and catch and not turning it over at that rate.”
The Longhorns took control of the game in the first half thanks to their depth, balance and deadeye shooting. Texas shot a blistering 60.5 percent (23-of-38) before the break, while forcing 13 LBSU turnovers. The Longhorns also scored 19 points off of Long Beach turnovers in the first half, outscoring the 49ers by 10 off turnovers en route to a 52-37 halftime lead. The Longhorns finished with a 33-16 advantage on points off turnovers.
The Texas bench also keyed the Longhorns to a 15-point lead at the half outscoring Long Beach State’s bench 27-3. The Longhorns finished with a 61-11 bench scoring advantage, while boasting a 20-7 advantage on second chance points and a 62-28 edge in points in the paint.
Gilling led The Beach in the first half with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Ware had eight points and three assists in the first half, but committed five of his turnovers. Robinson added seven points and seven boards before the break, while Eugene Phelps had six points.
“They just dominated us physically from the get go,” Monson added. “This is our third or fourth top 20 team and nobody has dominated us quite like that. Hopefully we can learn from it and move on.”
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