Tom Izzo is one of the most venerated figures in college basketball, and when a man of his stature praises another team in the aftermath of a dispiriting home loss, you know it’s a painful, but genuine, declaration. “We got beat by a better team,” Izzo said, following No. 12 Michigan State’s demoralizing 67-55 home loss to No. 18 UT on Wednesday night.
“I think this is the most talented team we’ve played so far.” Izzo’s post-game assessment multiplies in value upon sizing up the Spartans’ early-season competition: all four State losses have come against beastly opponents – No. 1 Duke, No. 4 Connecticut, No. 5 Syracuse, and No. 18 Texas (a murderers row in the strictest sense). The Spartan icon clearly recognizes something exceptional in the Longhorns that the stubborn pollsters have yet to. Let’s see how much of a boost UT’s remarkable week on the road affords them when the polls refresh; look for them to at least leap-frog the vanquished Spartans (8-4), and their flat résumé of wins – which read Saginaw Valley State, Nebraska-Omaha, Eastern Michigan, South Carolina, Chaminade, Washington (then 13th ranked), Tennessee Tech, Bowling Green, Oakland, and Prairie View A&M.
Texas might one day have the luxury of hosting a “neutral court” game in San Antonio against a big-name adversary flown in from clear across the United States; but not this season. The Longhorns found themselves on the short end of a neutral court once again on Saturday, Dec. 18, in Greensboro, North Carolina, against the regionally deified Tarheels. Situated only 48 miles from Chapel Hill, the showdown on the Greensboro court reaffirmed that UT is astonishingly strong when playing at a geographical disadvantage. Freshman guard Cory Joseph gave a mature performance with a career-high 21 points and some dramatic icing via a clinching bucket with 1.4 seconds left to exasperate the 20,000-plus in attendance and seal a gutty Longhorn victory, 78-76. Joseph’s defender on that decisive play, Tarheel Dexter Strickland, summarized Joseph’s maneuvering and fatal 16-foot jumper: “It was a tough shot … he’s a great player; I’ll give him that.” It’s tempting to christen Joseph, a mere freshman, as a superlative player based on his recent output; but the youngster has displayed sustained bursts of command and poise of late that have redeemed his inauspicious start and prompted Rick Barnes to appoint him the primary ball handler when on the court. Jordan Hamilton’s 24 points and 10 rebounds were vital in positioning Texas to wrest victory away from the unranked – but still imposing – Tarheels in the closing seconds.
Nobody but Rick Barnes would’ve disparaged his team for folding against the Spartans on their home court in East Lansing on the heels of their statement win over North Carolina. Recent history was also stacked against the visiting Longhorns: not only did Michigan State enter the contest riding a vaunted 52-game nonconference home winning streak, but Tom Izzo’s Spartans were also 3-1 against UT since 2006 – winning by 6 points or less each time. But the Spartans had the ghost of last years’ 79-68 loss in Austin – also played on December 22 – to exorcise, and they couldn’t do it, attributable to a combination of errant shots (29% from the field), 16 turnovers, and UT out-hustling and out-muscling them in every dimension of the game. The only critical juncture of the contest occurred early in the second half when Michigan State took a brief 32-31 lead on the momentum of their 11-3 run to close out the first half. But as the horde of Spartan fans who departed early into the deep freeze will tell you, Texas quickly stormed ahead and never looked back, going on a 16-3 run colored with high-percentage shots generated in the open court. Longhorn sophomore Jordan Hamilton stood out once again with a complete, well-rounded performance – 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block – and freshman Tristan Thompson atoned for his disappearance against North Carolina with 17 points, 15 rebounds (an individual season-high), and 3 steals. Texas only trailed for 54 seconds, and their persuasive road victory in East Lansing, 67-55, branded Michigan State with their first nonconference home defeat since a loss to Duke in 2003. Texas (10-2) has won four straight.
Though Michigan State – the preseason No. 2 – has been exposed as soft and turnover prone by superior teams, the Longhorns accomplished a tall order nonetheless by upending the Spartans at home. Though respectively weakened this year, the symbolic value of any team toppling the Michigan State Spartans and North Carolina Tarheels on the road in a given week – let alone a single season – can’t be ignored. UT’s 2010-11 campaign is boding well for a deep run into the NCAA Tournament, they’ve demonstrated they can outmatch and challenge some of the nation’s best, and their Dec. 5 road loss at USC (73-56) is looking increasingly forgivable via the Trojans’ 65-64 victory at No. 19 Tennessee and their near-miss days earlier at No. 3 Kansas, a two-point loss.
Are these Longhorns any different from last year’s bipolar squad? It truly appears so, but we’ve been burnt before.
This article appears in December 24 • 2010.