D.J. Augustin's offensive slump began against Texas A&M.
It ended against the Aggies on Monday.
Augustin scored 27 points and dished out nine assists while leading the Longhorns to a 77-50 win over A&M.
In the first half, he almost single-handedly outscored the opposition. When the frame ended the Aggies had 18 points. Augustin had 17.
He also had five assists during that time.
"I didn't think when I was shooting," Augustin said. "I just kept shooting."
Augustin is a finalist for Bob Cousy Award, which is handed out to the nation's top point guard, and joins teammate A.J. Abrams on the Naismith Trophy midseason list of candidates for the player of they year award. Augustin is averaging 19.2 points per game this season, but during a six-game stretch that began when the Longhorns traveled to College Station, the sophomore averaged only 12.8 point per game.
"He struggled a little bit in College Station, but he did not tonight," A&M's Josh Carter said.
Between the oh-so different games against A&M, Augustin posted a 2-for-12 shooting performance against Baylor, and he hit one of 13 field goal attempts against the Jayhawks.
He never seemed to lose his confidence though, and Augustin certainly never quit throwing up shots when he got an open look.
It all came together against the Aggies.
"He did everything for their team. He's an impressive player," Carter said. "We had no answer for him."
A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said the same ball screen defense that proved effective against Augustin at Reed Arena just didn't work at the Erwin Center.
"[We] had no chance of guarding him tonight," he said.
Augustin punctuated his night with 3:02 left in the game by scoring his 1,000th career point with the Longhorns. With Texas' lead secure, he exited the game with 1:14 remaining and played an usually low 36 minutes.
If it weren't for a couple of passes that seemed to come out of nowhere and caught even his teammates off guard, Augustin's numbers could have been even gaudier.
Augustin admitted to working a little extra on his shot before the game, and he'd noted a couple of problems from watching tape.
"I wasn't getting into my shot," he said. "I wasn't following through."
Texas coach Rick Barnes instructed him to take more mid-range and deep jumpers in order to open up driving lanes, and it paid off.
Augustin made three 3-pointers and a couple acrobatic lay-ups.
Despite the noticeable difference, forward Connor Atchley said he and his teammates weren't worried about his lapse in accuracy.
"He didn't go anywhere," Atchley said. "Sometimes shots don't fall."
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