 "Photo: Courtney Dudley")
 "Photo: Courtney Dudley")
Against UCLA, Texas relied offensively on a sophomore duo, but against North Texas, the duo got a little help from their friends.
After combining for all but five points in the second half against The Associated Press'
No. 2 squad on Sunday, D.J. Augustin and Damion James scored 25 of the Longhorns' 40 second-half points to lift Texas to an
88-72 victory and its second 8-0 start in the last three years.
Augustin scored a game-high 29 points and James finished with 12, but fellow starters A.J. Abrams, Connor Atchley and Justin Mason combined for 42 points after netting a total of just 23 in Los Angeles.
"The focus has been there," coach Rick Barnes said. "Our whole team has improved."
However, just like Sunday's game against the Bruins, the Mean Green (5-2) made a run in the second half, outscoring Texas by six points and shooting 18-31 after falling by 22 points in the opening period.
"We beat a really good basketball team tonight," Barnes said. "They stayed aggressive, and you knew they would make a push."
Augustin picked up his seventh and eighth assists of the game during the opening minutes of the second period, finding James for a 3-pointer and Atchley for a dunk before scoring a layup to give Texas a 57-35 lead.
That's when the Mean Green began a 16-7 run. Josh White's pair of 3-pointers within a
28-second span cut the Longhorns' lead to 13, 64-51, with just over 11 minutes remaining. White, the team's top scorer, finished with 28 points, 12 above his average of 16.3 points per game.
Keith Wooden's jumper from the top of the key and subsequent layup cut the lead to nine with 9:55 remaining, but that would be as close as North Texas would get. The Longhorns extended their lead back to 13 points with a 6-2 run.
"We cut it down to nine in the second half, but they are a great team and they led another run back at us," White said.
Abrams' 3-pointer from in front of the Longhorns bench with 2:56 left virtually ended any hopes of a Mean Green comeback, giving Texas an 88-68 advantage.
After committing 11 fouls and shooting 32.1 percent from the field in the first half, North Texas played more disciplined in the second period, hitting 58.1 percent of their shots and only committing seven turnovers.
Atchley was active both offensively and defensively in the game, scoring 12 points and blocking three shots while James, the current Big 12 Player of the Week, finished with his third consecutive double-double
(12 points, 10 rebounds).
"Everyone on the team gets along, so I think we have good chemistry," Atchley said. "When you have D.J. and A.J. knocking down shots, everyone's playing well."
North Texas, last year's Sun Belt Conference champions, opened the game with three consecutive turnovers while Texas rushed out to a seven point advantage. The Mean Green didn't get on the board until White hit a 3-pointer with 17:45.
Four minutes into the game, the Longhorns lead was extended to 14 points, 17-3, after converting six North Texas turnovers into 10 points. It wouldn't get much better for the Mean Green over the remaining 16 minutes as they shot nine of 28, finishing with just three assists to 14 first half turnovers.
Abrams started hot, hitting his first four shots of the game after scoring just eight points on three of eight shooting against UCLA. The junior hit two of the team's first five 3-pointers, extending his streak to 46 consecutive games with a make from behind the arc.
Augustin and Abrams each scored 14 points in the half to pace the Longhorns who shot 16 of 32 to start the game. Augustin's buzzer-beating runner in the lane gave Texas their 18th point in the paint during the half and extended their lead to 22, 48-26, going into the break.
Be the first to comment on this article!