James Steers Longhorns Past Cyclones

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It wasn't hard for Texas senior forward Damion James to find motivation for Wednesday night's opening-round game against Iowa State.

His four-year career has come down to a guarantee of just two more games.

James pulled out all the stops to extend it Wednesday, scoring 28 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to lift the No. 6 seed Longhorns to an 82-75 win over No. 11 Iowa State at the Sprint Center. Now the Longhorns, including seniors Justin Mason, Dexter Pittman and James, still have a guarantee of at least two more games heading into Thursday night's anticipated quarterfinal showdown against No. 3 seed Baylor.

"Before the game, we were getting ready to go out, I told my teammates that me, Dex and Mase are only promised two more games," said James, who also had three steals and two blocked shots in 38 minutes against the Cyclones. "So we had to do whatever it takes to win the game."

Apparently, that wasn't James' only motivation. UT coach Rick Barnes had more than subtly reminded James this week in practice that Iowa State senior forward Marquis Gilstrap led the league in rebounding during the conference season. James tried to refute Barnes' stats, saying he had the better overall numbers.

Barnes was talking only of conference games.



Share "What he did on the boards ... He came over to me and said 'I'm getting them all,' " Barnes said. "I don't think he liked the fact for two days I just kept talking about how Marquis Gilstrap led the Big 12 in rebounding in conference play. Every time I said it, I'd look at him. I could tell he kind of took it personal."

But James wasn't alone in playing well for the struggling Longhorns. Junior forward Gary Johnson was inserted into the starting lineup for just the second time this season and produced a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Pittman also had one of his better games in a while around the basket with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

And with freshman guard J'Covan Brown apparently in Barnes' doghouse, Jai Lucas stepped in at point guard off the bench and provided a steadying performance with two points, two rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 22 minutes.

Barnes was evasive when asked if it was purely the matchup with Iowa State that caused Lucas to receive the majority of the playing time while Brown played just a total of three minutes in the first half.

"Jai does a lot of subtle things out there for you," Barnes said. "So we put him out there. I thought he was ready and he handled it very very well."

GAME BALL GOES TO:
There were plenty positives to go around, but the way senior forward Damion James played was the difference in the game. He scored every big basket, came up with every critical rebound and more or less pushed the Longhorns to victory over a dangerous Iowa State team that moved within one point of the lead three times in the second half.



HEART GOES OUT TO:
ISU forward Marquis Gilstrap put forth a valiant effort to extend his senior season another game, scoring a team-high 17 points, while grabbing eight rebounds and coming up with three steals in 39 minutes. But Gilstrap's collegiate career ends with the Cyclones going 15-17 on the season.

KEY ELEMENT:
The Longhorns won the rebound battle 46-34, but even bigger they converted 14 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points. Iowa State had just six second-chance points.

WHERE TO FROM HERE:
Texas, which at one time won its first 17 games and was ranked No. 1 in the country for two weeks, has to psychologically convince itself its playing better than it has the last month and a half of the season as it gets set to head into next week's NCAA tournament. The Longhorns could improve their seeding with a strong run during the Big 12 tournament.

The Cyclones, meanwhile, showed some flashes this season under head coach Greg McDermott but couldn't sustain it. Perhaps their regular-season upset of Kansas State will propel them into next season.

WHO'S GOT NEXT?
If ever there was a team that seems to bring out the worst in Texas, it has been Baylor as of late. The Bears, once a bottom feeder in the Big 12, has won three straight over the Longhorns dating back to last season's Big 12 tournament. The Bears closed out the regular season with a convincing 92-77 win over Texas, which adds even more intrigue to Thursday night's quarterfinal matchup between the two Texas schools.

SOUNDBITE
"Coach said they had 15 dunks. That's never happened. So we've got to take it personal."

James on avenging last Saturday's 92-77 loss at Baylor.