Texas 73, North Texas 57

At the Erwin Center Tuesday night, the Texas Longhorns handled the North Texas Mean Green by a score of 73-57. Freshmen sensation Myck Kabongo played his best game of the season by far, both shooting exceptionally from the field and free throw line as well as defending the Mean Green's best player Chris Jones. As Kabongo's 16 points and 7 assists led the way, Texas freshmen combined to score 54 of the Longhorns' total of 73 points. With junior guard J'Covan Brown suffering his second consecutive lukewarm performance, finishing this time with a mere 6 points scored, freshmen Jonathan Holmes, Julien Lewis, and Sheldon McClellan filled in amply on the offensive end of the court. Unfortunately, the Longhorns were outrebounded 42-29 by North Texas, including an obsene 18 offensive rebounded yielded to the Mean Green. While the Longhorns are certainly happy to come away with the victory, coach Rick Barnes is likely pulling his hair out over an unimposing team such as North Texas coming into Austin and so thoroughly owning the glass.

     

The Longhorns' 2012 Recruting Class

Last week, four Longhorn recruits signed letters of intent to play at Texas starting next fall. 5'11" point guard Jevan Felix currently plays at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, Louisiana and last season as a junior, he led his team to a 5A state championship, becoming the state player of the year along the way. 6'11" forward/center Prince Ibeh plays at Naaman Forest High School in Garland, Texas and is a natural shot blocker, averaging over 5 per game his junior season. 6'9" forward Connor Lammert plays at Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas and his all-around game has been compared to that of former Longhorn Connor Atchley. 6'8" forward Ioannis Papapetrou is a native of Greece who plays at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida and last season, he led Brevard County in scoring with 22 points per game. A glaring omission  from this list of 2012 Longhorn recruits is 6'10" center Cameron Ridley who plays at Bush High School in Fort Bend, Texas. Rated as a 5-star prospect, Ridley formerly made a verbal commitment to Texas, but for uncited reasons has decided to wait for the spring signing period to sign a letter of intent. Ridley would become the Longhorn's top recruit of the 2012 class and would basically make or break the prestige of the group as a collective. At the very least, Texas can be immediately pleased that the formidable defensive presence of Prince Ibeh will be added to a squad sadly lacking in that particular area...

 

Texas 56, Sam Houston State 40

At the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns outlasted the Sam Houston Bearkats 56-40 in a defensive struggle of a game that saw neither team shoot above 32% from the field. Longhorns forward Alexis Wangmene scored 13 points, collected 8 rebounds, and proved himself as capably nimble with a series of strong plays down the stretch that sealed the win for Texas. With guard J'Covan Brown having an off night, held to 11 points on 4-15 shooting, freshmen Jonathan Holmes and Sheldon McClellan stepped in to carry the weight with 26 points and 15 rebounds between them. Meanwhile, Longhorn freshmen Myck Kabongo and Julien Lewis couldn't buy a basket, shooting a dismal 2-13 between them. After the game, Texas coach Rick Barnes expressed his concern over the lack of discipline exhibited by his team, primarily rearing its ugly head by way of ill-advised shots and lazy rebounding. Had this been the Longhorns playing a team any better than the Bearkats, now 1-5 on the season, the outcome would not have been so favorable.

North Carolina State 77, Texas 74

For the second consecutive game in East Rutherford, New Jersey as part of the TicketCity Legends Classic, the Texas Longhorns blew a 2nd half lead in heart-breaking fashion. This time the North Carolina State Wolfpack, down 18 with with 11:43 left to play, stormed back with a 19-1 run which tied the game at 66 with 6:10 remaining on the clock. Junior guard and team-leader J'Covan Brown spurred the Longhorns collapse by immaturely fouling out of the game at the 8:25 mark. Up to that point, Brown had performed brilliantly, scoring 17 points with 7 assists. But after being called for his 4th foul, Brown let out an expletive on his way to the bench and was promptly handed a technical foul, which sat him down for good. In full crisis mode without their leader, the Longhorns went on to allow the Wolfpack to run up a lead as high as 8 with 2:58 left in the game. With guard Julien Lewis misfiring on several jumpers down the stretch and point guard Myck Kabongo failing to help the cause at all, it was guard Sheldon McClellan who eventually took a stand and made a valiant attempt at stealing back the win from the Wolfpack. Closing the deficit to 3 with 58 seconds on the clock, Texas had two chances to send the game into overtime, but both McClellen and Lewis missed  on 3-point shot attempts. In his post-game interview, Longhorns coach Rick Barnes placed the blame firmly upon the shoulders of J'Covan Brown, who inexplicably continues to lose his head all too often within the heat of cempetition. As Barnes put it, "He has to grow up. He's been in the program for 3 years. He should know that he just can't do that. Sooner or later, he has to figure out that it's a team game and he has to realize that it's not about him. He has come a long way, but he should have had it all figured out by now."

 

Oregon State 100, Texas 95

Saturday night in the opening round of the TicketCity Legends Classic in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Texas coach Rick Barnes experienced his worst nightmare when it comes to his young, undersized team when each of his only 4 big men fouled out of the game. 6'7" Jonathan Holmes went first, then 6'10" Clint Chapman, then 6'7" Jaylen Bond, then 6'7" Alexis Wangmene, leaving 6'4" guard Sheldon McClellan as the tallest Longhorn player on the court in overtime against Oregon State. Beavers guard Jaret Cunningham ate the depleted Longhorns alive, scoring 37 points, including 20 back-breaking free throws made in 23 attempts. Texas actually led by 7 toward the end of the 2nd half of the game but then did quite the job of letting that lead slip away.

Big12 Player of the Week J'Covan Brown all but disappeared on the scoring front beyond his 18 points poured in during the 1st half alone. Brown finished overtime with a game total of 25 points and 9 assists, but for the 20 minutes or so that he wasn't playing like a lights-out All-American, yielding 6 turnovers along the way, none of his teammates successfully stepped in to fill his leadership role. Point guard Myck Kabongo failed to hit what would have been a clutch free throw and then a driving lay-up toward the end of regulation, and guard Julien Lewis shot a disappointing 3-11 from the floor overall. With consecutive baskets, freshman guard Sterling Gibbs did almost bring the Longhorns back from the grip of doom towards the end of overtime, but it still wasn't enough to overtake the Beavers. On Monday night, Texas will play North Carolina State, who lost to Vanderbilt on Saturday, in the consolation game of the TicketCity Legends Classic.

Texas 100, Rhode Island 90

Tuesday afternoon at the Erwin Center, Texas guard J'Covan Brown scored 35 points as his Longhorns beat the Rhode Island Rams 100-90. Brown looked every bit the All-American candidate with his quick trigger hitting on 5 of 10 3-point shots to go along with 6 assists and no turnovers. Texas point guard Myck Kabongo relentlessly attacked the Rhode Island defense to the tune of 18 points and 9 assists. As a team, the Longhorns went to the free throw line a whopping 44 times, indicating that the Horns were successfully pressing the offensive issue. And unlike Texas teams of the past which have been prone to struggle at the charity stripe, this young Longhorns team hit 79.5% of their free throws. Each of Texas freshmen Julien Lewis, Jonathan Holmes, Sheldon McClellan, and Jaylen Bond enjoyed shining moments over the course of the game, including several rim-shaking dunks. And for a second game in a row, forward Clint Chapman vastly outplayed his senior counterpart Alexis Wangmene, although neither should be commended for their lackluster defensive efforts against the Rams.

 

Texas 82, Boston U. 46

As expected Sunday evening, Texas junior J'Covan Brown led the way for the Longhorns, scoring 28 points and distributing 8 assists in a 82-46 season-opening victory over Boston University. Brown's freshmen counterparts, all 6 of them, fared favorably in supporting roles, including an impressive 18-point performance from guard Julien Lewis. Looking as good as advertised, freshman point guard Myck Kabongo collected 7 assists against 2 turnovers in 22 minutes of play. And how appropriate was it that freshman Jaylen Bond's first basket of his Longhorn career came by way of an electrifying  fast-break dunk? Senior forwards Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman also chipped in admirably collecting 11 rebounds and 8 blocks between them. Boston U., an NCAA Tournament team last season, was for the most part stymied by the Texas defense, who held the Terriers to a 29.8% shooting percentage for the game.       

Sterling Gibbs

Freshman Sterling Gibbs comes to Texas from Seton Hall Prep School in West Orange, New Jersey. Gibbs originally signed with the University of Maryland but was released from his commitment upon the retirement of longtime Terrapins coach Gary Williams. With the Longhorns still needing a point guard to back-up Myck Kabongo, Texas assistant coach Rob Lanier jumped at the opportunity to bring Gibbs to Austin.

Gibbs might very well leave jaws ajar this season and beyond with his scoring ability belying his modest frame. At 6'1" and 180 pounds, Gibbs isn't afraid to drive the lane inevitably looking for shot first and pass second. He may in fact have more in common with shooting guard J'Covan Brown than with the more assist-minded Kabongo. Averaging 21 and 23 points per game his junior and senior seasons of high school, Gibbs plays a game much like that of his older brother Ashton Gibbs, now a senior and an all-American candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Julien Lewis

Freshman Julien Lewis is a 6'3" guard who played his high school ball at La Marque. He's a 3-time District 24-4A Player of the Year and was named the All-Greater Houston Player of the Year as a senior. A big time scorer, Lewis averaged 18 points per game his sophomore season, 20 points per game his junior season, and 25 points per game his senior season.

When Lewis was a junior, his La Marque Cougars were bounced from the state playoffs by Jack Yates High School, then the #1 rated team in the nation. When Lewis was a senior, his Cougars once again faced Yates in the state playoffs and seeking revenge, Lewis was not to be denied. He collected 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals in an epic 102-91 victory for La Marque. The Cougars would then advance to the state championship game, only to fall to Dallas Kimball and finish their season with a record of 33-5.

Expect Texas coach Rick Barnes to utilize Lewis as part of a 3-man rotation at the twin wing positions. Between J'Covan Brown, Sheldon McClellan, and Julien Lewis, the Longhorns should see about 40 points of scoring per game from the dynamic trio.

  

Sheldon McClellan

Freshman Sheldon McClellan should enjoy tons of playing time this season for the Longhorns, as a 6'4" guard who can light it up in a hurry. His senior season at Houston Bellaire High School, McClellan averaged 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. In Bellaire's season-opening win against Booker T. Washington, McClellan scored an incredible 56 points dedicated to his former teammate Tobi Oyedeji who had died in an automobile accident earlier that year.

Here in Austin, McClellan will man the wing position in rotation with fellow backcourt aces J'Covan Brown and Julien Lewis. Coach Rick Barnes will especially need McClellan to produce during the times when J'Covan Brown is on the bench. With some already comparing his offensive game to that of former Longhorn Jordan Hamilton, the sky is the limit for McClellan here at Texas.

Jonathan Holmes

Freshman Jonathan Holmes comes to Texas touted as San Antonio's best basketball recruit since Shaquille O'Neal. The 6'7" forward attended Antonian Prep School and was named as an all-state selection both his junior and senior seasons. Holmes averaged 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game his senior year and 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game his junior year. Such consistency will be welcomed at Texas where Holmes will be expected to chip in immediately. A good rebounder and post player, Holmes can also pop out to stick 20-foot jumpers when given the opportunity.

Jaylen Bond

Freshman Jaylen Bond joins the Longhorns from Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Pennsylvania, where he was part of a state championship team his junior season and averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds per game his senior season. Bond is a 6'7" forward who can leap out of any building. Well known for his in-game dunks, Bond is full of exuberant athleticism and routinely shows it running the floor to set up his powerful finishes at the rim.

Bond originally signed a letter of intent with the University of Pittsburgh, but de-commited upon learning that Pitt had also signed McDonald's All-American Khem Birch who plays the same position as Bond. At first, Jaylen indicated that he would spend a year at St. Thomas More Prep School in Connecticut. But then ace Longhorns recruiter Rob Lanier got ahold of him and successfully persuaded Bond to join coach Rick Barnes at Texas.

With Texas lacking in frontcourt depth, Bond will be expected to contribute immediately. In fact, when Barnes was recently asked who he thought would be the Longorns' 2nd leading scorer this year behind J'Covan Brown, Barnes carefully replied "Jaylen Bond".

Myck Kabongo

Myck Kabongo arrives at Texas as possibly the most polished freshman point guard in the entire nation. Kabongo's ball-handling skills are other-worldly. He can see the floor and distribute with the best of them. He can readily sink the 3. He can play tight pressure defense. And he will immediately start for the Longhorns alongside shooting guard J'Covan Brown.

Myck (pronounced: Mike) was born in Lumbaschi, Congo, spent a few early years in Capetown, South Africa, and then his family settled in Toronto, Canada. Along with fellow Ontarians and former Longhorns Tristan Thompson and Cory Joesph, Kabongo played high school ball with coach Dan Hurley at St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey. His junior season, Jabongo averaged 18 points and 6 assists for a 20-1 St. Benedict's squad.

Then again following the lead of Thompson and Joseph, Kabongo transferred to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada to play his senior season. There, he averaged 17 points and 6 assists for a 28-4 Findlay team. The 6'1" Kabongo was also named as a McDonald's All-American and thankfully for the Longhorns, followed through on his early commitment to play for coach Rick Barnes in Austin.

While some doubt his durability as a mere 170 pounder and others cite his struggles with turnovers playing in both the McDonald's and Jordan Brand All-Star games, Kabongo may very well be NBA-ready as of right now. So don't expect Kabongo to stick around the 40 Acres for long. Let's just hope that while he is here, Kabongo can do great things while suited up in burnt orange.

Top5 Longhorn Dunks on Youtube

Clint Chapman

Senior center Clint Chapman enters the 2011-12 season as the Longhorns' tallest player. At 6'10", the product of Canby, Oregon may very well see more minutes than he has in 4 previous years at Texas. Chapman chose to redshirt last season and hopes to build upon what has to date been a disappointing stay in Austin. At worst each game this season, Chapman will provide 5 fouls worth of laying a big body on an opponent's most taxing inside presence. At best, he will block a couple shots, grab clutch rebounds, and score a few baskets creatively. Then again, Chapman might just need to step out of the way of freshmen forwards Jaylen Bond and Jonathan Holmes slashing to the hoop. However large or small Chapman's role becomes, coach Rick Barnes will expect nothing but quality appearances from his senior big man...

Alexis Wangmene

Senior forward Alexis Wangmene has travelled the longest road of any Longhorn player, all the way from Maroua, Cameroon. In 2004 on a trip to Johannesburg, San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford decided with his wife that they'd like to invite one of the participants of the NBA's Basketball Without Border program home to Texas with them. Shortly thereafter, the Bufords adopted 15-year old Wangmene and welcomed him into their family.

The initial intent was to enroll Alexis at San Antonio's Alamo Heights High School to play basketball alongside his new brother Chase Buford, who would later play at Kansas University. But UIL rules required that Wangmene sit out a year before playing, so the Bufords instead enrolled him at Central Catholic High School where he could play immediately. Alexis earned all-state honors at Central Cathoilic his junior season, averaging 22.7 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game.

With his adopted father wishing to expose him to better basketball competition, Wangmene transferred for his senior season to Blair Academy in New Jersey, the same boarding school that produced former Texas Longhorn star Royal Ivey. That year, Wangmene averaged 19 points and 14 rebounds per game for a Blair squad that went 19-7. Wangmene's performance was impressive enough to earn him a scholarship to the University of Texas in 2007.

A mere spot player for the Longhorns the past few seasons, Wangmene has averaged only 2.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game over the course of his career at Texas. But this season he will be asked to do much more as one of the few big men on coach Rick Barnes' roster. At 6'8", Wangmene sports a wingspan of 7'4" enabling him to be that much more of an effective rebounder and shotblocker.

And with 4 years on the Austin campus already under his belt, including a redshirt year when he was recovering from a knee injury during what would have been his sophomore season, Wangmene will likely provide a significant degree of leadership for a new crop of freshmen coming in. As he should, considering that Wangmene, by way of his maternal grandfather, is next in line to become chief of his Toupouri tribe in Cameroon. While Wangmene's arrest and subsequent 2-game suspension for DUI during the height of the 2010-11 season might indicate otherwise, the French-speaking stalwart of a presence in the paint is set to make the most of his plentiful opportunities.
   

J'Covan Brown

This season, Texas Longhorns coach Rick Barnes will be handing the keys to the team to junior guard J'Covan Brown. With the departure of Jordan Hamilton, Brown will be expected to be the Horns' primary scorer as well as the team's primary leader. As seen in the Horns' past 2 NCAA tournament appearances, Brown has the ability to carry a team on his back, but this year he will be trusted to do so on a much more consistent basis.

Brown's path to becoming the Longhorns' go-to guy and a pre-season All-Big12 selection has been bumpy to say the least. In high school during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Brown led Beaumont Kelly to back-to-back state championships. Then under auspicious circumstances, he tranferred schools to Port Arthur Memorial. There, Brown scored 30 points per game over the course of a seaon and a half, only to run into a major roadblock during Memorial's district opener against Humble his senior season. In the first half of the game, Brown was given a technical foul and was benched by Memorial coach Terrul Henderson. Frustrated that he was still sitting on the bench with only 30 seconds left in the game and his team losing, Brown then stormed from the bench to the locker room, angrily removing his jersey along the way. The incident caused Brown to be suspended for the remainder of his senior season.

Fortunately for Brown, Rick Barnes still wanted him to become a Texas Longhorn. But Brown couldn't sign his letter of intent until he became academically eligle to enroll at Texas. And that took a full year of Brown attending a post-graduate school in Houston. Finally in the Fall of 2009, Brown joined the Texas squad but during his freshman season found himself in Barnes' doghouse, not so much for blatant mistakes made on the court but for poor body language and a bad attitude. While Brown's obvious basketball talent was never in question, it was still iffy whether Brown would be able to overcome the tantrums and lackadaisical attention to detail that had plagued his career up to that point.

Three things that happened during his freshman year did indicate that Brown indeed possessed the potential to transform himself into a mature player. One was that he made the Big12 Commissioner's Honor Roll both semesters, indicating that Brown kept his grade point average above 3.0 as an Applied Learning and Development major. Two was that he led the Big12 with a 89.8% free throw percentage, revealing a strong work ethic. And three was his gutsy performace against Wake Forest in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament. It wasn't quite enough to secure the win for the Longhorns, but Brown scored all 20 of his total points in the 2nd half and overtime of that game.

Brown continued to play off of the bench during his sophomore season and did so admirably. He scored 17 of his 23 total points in the 2nd half of an epic win at Kansas, breaking the Jayhawks' 69-game winstreak at Allen Fieldhouse. Then during the NCAA tournament, Brown became by far the Horns' best offensive option. He scored 21 of his 23 total points in the 2nd half of a losing effort against Arizona in the 3rd round of the tourney, leaving many Texas fans in awe at how effective Brown could be at keeping the Horns in the game practically all on his own.

So with so few Horns returning from last season, Brown is inequivocally the man for Texas in 2011-12. How Brown works with a new crop of fellow guards, including true point guard Myck Kabongo, will tell us a lot about how this year's team will fare. Having averaged 9.6 points in 21.7 minutes per game his freshman season and 10.4 points in 21.5 minutes per game his sophomore season, it's safe to assume that with increased minutes Brown will be contending to score around 20 points per game this year as a starter. Conditioning coach Todd Wright has been working Brown hard this off-season, preparing him to maintain his high level of performance while greatly fatigued.

So will J'Covan Brown step up and amply drive this Longhorns team back into the NCAA Tournament? Or will he crack under the pressure? Can't wait to find out...

2011-12 Preview

Coming off a 28-8 season in 2010-11, which ended with 3 Longhorn stars, Tristan Thompson, Jordan Hamilton, and Cory Joseph, leaving early for the NBA, Texas coach Rick Barnes has his work cut out for him in 2011-12. Fortunately, junior guard J'Covan Brown returns, along with senior forwards Alexis Wangmene and Clint Chapman. But it will essentially be up to the performances of highly-touted freshmen newcomers Myck Kabongo, Sheldon McClellan, Julien Lewis, Jonathan Holmes, and Jaylen Bond to chart the course of the new season.

The first game of the 2011-12 is at home in the Erwin Center against Boston University on Sunday, November 13th. Whether the Longhorns' under-sized roster can muster the strength to maintain the high standard set by prior Runnin' Horn squads is yet to be seen. But this very well could be a season as exciting as any down here in Austin.

2011-12 Men's Basketball Roster

2 Jaylen Bond F 6-7 224 Fr-HS Philadelphia, PA
14 J'Covan Brown G 6-1 197 Jr-2L Port Arthur, TX
53 Clint Chapman F/C 6-10 245 Sr-3L Canby, OR
22 Andrew Dick G 6-2 180 Jr-2L Sherman, TX
13 Sterling Gibbs G 6-1 185 Fr-HS Scotch Plains, NJ
10 Jonathan Holmes F 6-7 239 Fr-HS San Antonio, TX
12 Myck Kabongo G 6-1 169 Fr-HS Toronto, Ontario, Canada
0 Julien Lewis G 6-3 190 Fr-HS Galveston, TX
1 Sheldon McClellan G 6-4 200 Fr-HS Houston, TX
5 Dean Melchionni G 6-4 193 Jr-2L Lancaster, PA
20 Alexis Wangmene F/C 6-7 241 Sr-3L Maroua, Cameroon

Coaches:

Rick Barnes - Head Coach
Rob Lanier - Associate Head Coach
Russell Springmann - Assistant Coach
Chris Ogden - Assistant Coach
Chris Babcock - Special Assistant
Bryan Lentz - Special Assistant
Todd Wright - Strength & Conditioning Coach