<\/p>\n
There was little hope that Long Beach State would leave Austin, Texas with a victory against the #2 Longhorns on Monday night.<\/p>\n
But there were reasonable expectations that the 49ers would put up a good showing on national television, facing their third Top 25 team in the past four games.<\/p>\n
Those hopes were smashed, dashed and laid to rest by a Texas team that showed why many expect them to contend with #1 Kansas for the Big 12 Conference title, and figure to make some substantial noise come March. <\/span>Led by freshman Avery Bradley\u2019s 17 points \u2013 but with a balanced attack that saw six players score in double figures \u2013 the Longhorn offense scored more points than it had in any game since 2005 in a 107-74 victory.<\/p>\n It was a daunting challenge for Long Beach State from the get-go, relinquishing several inches and about 20 pounds to the Longhorns at every position. That drastic size advantage, plus one of the nation\u2019s most tenacious pressure defenses, made it easy for Texas to exploit a sometimes-jittery 49er offense into 23 turnovers. <\/span>Long Beach shot just 40.4% from the field when they did have the ball, and allowed the Longhorns \u2013 frankly, a poor shooting team \u2013 to shoot a blistering 59.0% for the game.<\/p>\n Several factors contributed to the efficient Texas offense. First, while they\u2019re not the most consistent shooters in the nation, the Longhorns are just plain good. Their offense was crisp and relentless, and \u2013 like #7 West Virginia just a few weeks earlier \u2013 they magnified Long Beach\u2019s defensive mistakes and lapses. Soft transition defense was an invitation to attack; double teams in the post drew immediate kickout passes for three-point shots. The 49ers actually did quite a good job of closing out on jump shooters, but were often stretched so thin that it was difficult to make up the ground necessary to properly bother Longhorn shooters. <\/p>\n Texas also made a few shots that, well, the #2 team in the nation makes: scooping finger-rolls, powerful dunks in traffic and jumper after jumper. That can sometimes happen when you\u2019re playing one of the country\u2019s most talented teams.<\/p>\n For their part, the 49ers struggled offensively. Senior guard Stephan Gilling led the way with 18 points off 6 six-three pointers (12 attempts) but there was plenty of standing around, picking up the dribble too early and aimlessly throwing the ball to Texas defenders for Long Beach to have posed a serious threat. The 49ers\u2019 three best all-around players \u2013 Casper Ware, Larry Anderson and T.J. Robinson \u2013 combined to score 39 points but committed 17 turnovers. <\/span>Long Beach State hung 74 points on a team holding its opponents to just 55.4 this season, but that had much more to do with extra Texas possessions and their willingness to score quickly than any resemblance of 49er offensive efficiency.<\/p>\n After a strong performance against #18 Clemson in the 76 Classic a few weeks ago, there seemed to be signs that Long Beach State had warmed up to playing such a high-caliber opponent and was perhaps ready to consistently challenge top tier teams like the Longhorns. But the 49ers reverted to habits that have hurt them against good teams in recent seasons, trying to three-point shoot their way back into games when they find themselves in a hole.<\/p>\n For example, Long Beach played Texas tough early on, and trailed just 11-9 when Gilling nailed a three-pointer, four minutes into the game. Then, however, the Longhorns went on an 11-0 run that the 49ers challenged from time to time but never quite threatened, in part because they shot 9-24 from behind the three-point line in an attempt to get back into the game (aside from Gilling, Long Beach shot 3-12 from three).<\/p>\n An abundance of three-pointers from the 49ers is usually a very bad sign. The team is not a poor jump shooting squad, but they tend to revert to long range attempts rather than work for better looks at the basket when they begin to trail. Stifling man-to-man Texas defense and a willingness to settle for the jump shot killed Long Beach\u2019s chances of cutting into the lead. Of course, it can be difficult to get to the rim when a team is catching passes outside of the three-point line each time, a nasty habit that Long Beach fell back into against Texas after West Virginia did the same thing in their blowout victory over the 49ers.<\/p>\n At times, though, it seemed that sophomore guard Casper Ware, all 5-foot-9 of him \u2013 maybe 5-foot-11 with the Mohawk\/high-top fade \u2013 was on his way to a performance akin to the one he put up in a victory over UCLA, when the lightning quick Ware relentlessly attacked bigger defenders to get to the rim. Ware has been the most impressive 49er against quality teams, thanks to both his ability to handle their elevated defensive pressure and his awareness when driving to the basket, but his efforts weren\u2019t enough against such a bigger, faster defensive attack and his six turnovers ultimately negated any effectiveness he had with the ball.<\/p>\n Ware could\u2019ve used a strong game from his backcourt mate, fellow sophomore Larry Anderson. Though he finally scored in double figures for the first time since November 21, the All Big West preseason selection looked tentative and even uncomfortable with the ball and six turnovers while shooting 3-10 from the field. Long Beach needs much a more assertive Larry Anderson than the one they brought to Austin.<\/p>\n In the post, two startlingly different performances from the 49ers\u2019 best big men, as T.J. Robinson posted 12 points and 12 boards but also had five turnovers, while Eugene Phelps blocked three shots but did not record a single rebound in 32 minutes of play. Long Beach was outrebounded, 41-32, overall.<\/p>\n Ultimately, this was a game that the 49ers would have liked to be able to look back on with pride in their fight and their improvement against nationally-relevant teams. It seemed they may have been on that path after nearly stealing one from Clemson recently. And still, it is important to remember that the 49ers had to play the nation\u2019s second-best team on their home floor, and has already run through a juggernaut schedule that figures to get even tougher with games at #4 Kentucky and #6 Duke.<\/p>\n But the 49ers made this season\u2019s schedule knowing full well the possible risks and rewards. With their eyes on the rewards, Long Beach dove in headfirst and hoped to make it to the surface still breathing. These preseason games against ranked teams do not negatively affect the 49ers\u2019 chances of winning the Big West conference or having a successful season; but they do send a message to their conference opponents about the type of team the 49ers are, and also gave them a chance to send that same message to the nation. So far, it hasn\u2019t worked out quite that way and it looks as though the schedule was as over-ambitious as 49er fans had originally feared. It remains to be seen how Long Beach will perform in two of the country\u2019s most heralded and most raucous arenas, but it is now clear that the 49ers need drastic improvement if they hope to gain anything besides a tally in the \u201cL\u201d column against two more of college basketball\u2019s best.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hoping to make a splash against college basketball’s elite, the 49ers faced a Longhorn attack that they were not prepared for. Here’s why…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}