Texas Survives the Griffin Brothers

The Texas Longhorns survived the Griffin brothers, Blake, Taylor, and Eddie, and held on to win 64-54 in Norman last night. Blake and Taylor combined for 41 points and 24 rebounds as Eddie chipped in with several jokes and all-around bad acting.

The Longhorns once again let their opponent jump out to an early lead, as Tony Crocker hit three, three pointers early as Oklahoma had an early 10 point lead. The Longhorns were able to battle back behind the play of their guards. And when I say guards, I mean all of them as AJ Abrams led the way with 22 points, DJ Augustin had 19, and Justin Mason had 11 points! Oklahoma's game plan of leaving Justin Mason wide open for shots, backfired for the first time in the history of Justin Mason being left wide open for shots, as he hit all 3 of his attempted 3 pointers, 2 of which came late in the second half.

While Texas had no answer inside for the Griffin brothers inside, they were spared the trouble of dealing with Longar-Longar who was a surprise scratch due to an injury. No word on whether he was injured while accepting a ride from Eddie Griffin to the stadium. It was a good thing Longar-Longar did not play as the Griffin's were enough for the overmatched Texas front line. Damion James, Gary Johnson, and Connor Atchley combined for 12 points and 12 fouls in doing pretty much nothing to stop the Griffins.

It was a great game plan for the Longhorns as Coach Rick Barnes decided the best way to catch the Sooners off guard was to become "pretty intimate" with Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops. Hey, whatever works. It also probably helped that only four of the Sooners' 8 players scored points in the game. Has there ever been a game before where no one scores in single digits?

While it was a disappointing performance for the Texas front line, the Longhorns played great defense and shot the basketball well. The Longhorns improve to 5-2 in conference, and will head to Iowa State this Saturday to face another team that is strong on the interior. After the difficult test against the Griffin brothers, the Longhorns are confident that they will be able to handle all future challenges including their scheduled bout against the Hanson brothers.