*****Texas vs. Florida A&M Game Thread*****

[Aaron Carrara]

Texas (4-2) vs. Florida A&M (1-7)
Date: Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Time: 7:00 PM tip
Venue: Frank Erwin Center
Location: Austin, TX
Television: Longhorn Network
The Texas Longhorns (4-2) will face the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-7) in the first-ever meeting between the two teams on Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The Longhorns are looking to find the win column again after going 1-2 at the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon.  Texas defeated Butler in the opening round but fell to top-ranked Duke and a Top-15 ranked Gonzaga team, both in overtime on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Florida A&M’s lone win on the season came against Division II school Albany State on November 20th.  Senior guard Marcus Barham leads the Rattlers in scoring, averaging 16 points per game, while senior forward Desmond Williams averages 13 points per game and 5 rebounds. The Rattlers lost on Sunday to Stephen F. Austin State University 79-63, with Barham scoring 26 points, which included five-3 pointers and six rebounds. Williams contributed 14 points in the loss to the Lumberjacks.

Freshman Mo Bamba is off to a fast start in his early career at Texas, averaging 10.4 points and 10 rebounds per game. Tulane transfer Dylan Osetkowski has made an immediate impact in the scoring and rebound department for Shaka Smart, averaging 12.7 points and 8 rebounds per game.  Sophmore Andrew Jones leads Texas in scoring with 14.8 points per game.

Texas will celebrate 40 years of the Frank Erwin Center at Wednesday’s game.  The Longhorns opened the building on November 29, 1977 with an 83-76 win against Oklahoma.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Texas leads FAMU 32-21, 3:51 left 1st half.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Texas just 1-13 from the 3-point arch.  That's fairly poor.  Bamba with 6 points & 2 blocks.

Not a great half of play by Texas, but they can get away with it against a team like FAMU.  They need to clean it up before heading into conference play.

 

[Baron]

Are the UT unis supposed to be black or charcoal? Either way I don't like them.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Charcoal-y.  Not sure I can get used to them either.  

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Texas leads 65-44, 8:35 left in the game.

 

[odell327]

This team is going to have to learn to play to their level and not to that of their opponent. This game should be a 30pt difference at this point at least. 

On a positive, we finally have depth. This team could exceed pre season expectations.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

 

[tejasrulz]

Dylan Osetkowski is a stud! If the guards can start knocking down a higher percentage of their 3s, that will really help the bigs underneath.

As Aaron stated, ugly first half but they picked it up in the 2nd. Next up, VCU at their house. I will definitely be watching that one!

 

[83Dee]

Texas will celebrate 40 years of the Frank Erwin Center

Texas needs a 9,000 seat arena for basketball.  When the camera catches a shot of the crowd it is embarrassing.  

I’m amazed Shaka recruits as well as he does. 

 

[tejasrulz]

Texas needs a 9,000 seat arena for basketball.  When the camera catches a shot of the crowd it is embarrassing.  

I’m amazed Shaka recruits as well as he does. 

The Erwin is terrible for any venue yet alone basketball games. No leg room if you're close to 6' tall. If you don't have arena seats, you may as well stay home and watch it on TV.

They were talking last night of Texas building a new venue to watch basketball. They just need to keep it close to campus.

 

[83Dee]

The Erwin is terrible for any venue yet alone basketball games. No leg room if you're close to 6' tall. If you don't have arena seats, you may as well stay home and watch it on TV.

They were talking last night of Texas building a new venue to watch basketball. They just need to keep it close to campus.

Agree keep any new basketball arena close to campus!  Here are some other suggestions I have - just in case I'm asked (note sarcasm):

If the arena is for basketball, build the it with 9,000 seats.  There may be 7,000 people at a game - but it feels empty in a 17,000 seat facility.

If you care about attracting recruits (like we obviously do in football) rip the tickets close to the floor right out of the hands of the rich boosters who rarely show up anyways and when they do just sit there.  Give those seats to students who don't mind standing and yelling.  I recently observed a basketball fan at a UT game - in a prime lower level seat, sitting there and working on his laptop during the game. 

I'm not sure how student allocation goes these days, so this point may be obsolete.  But let students in at minimal or no cost to "low energy games" such as the one last night. 

I doubt any of these suggestions which I believe are for the good of the basketball program will come to fruition (with the exception of keeping it close to campus).  Money will ultimately dictate decisions.  Our basketball atmosphere is a definite obstacle for the success of the program.  I hope people who make decisions realize this!

 

[longhorn_mig]

I've been to all the home games except the Lipscomb game. Sadly, very few students are showing up. Hopefully that changes once we get to better games and opponents. I remember sleeping against the walls of the Erwin Center for an OU game, and the student sections were always packed for my 4 years there. As for the arena, it needs to be less than 10,000. Have the fans that really want to be there packed in for the game.

 

[tejasrulz]

Agree keep any new basketball arena close to campus!  Here are some other suggestions I have - just in case I'm asked (note sarcasm):

If the arena is for basketball, build the it with 9,000 seats.  There may be 7,000 people at a game - but it feels empty in a 17,000 seat facility.

If you care about attracting recruits (like we obviously do in football) rip the tickets close to the floor right out of the hands of the rich boosters who rarely show up anyways and when they do just sit there.  Give those seats to students who don't mind standing and yelling.  I recently observed a basketball fan at a UT game - in a prime lower level seat, sitting there and working on his laptop during the game. 

I'm not sure how student allocation goes these days, so this point may be obsolete.  But let students in at minimal or no cost to "low energy games" such as the one last night. 

I doubt any of these suggestions which I believe are for the good of the basketball program will come to fruition (with the exception of keeping it close to campus).  Money will ultimately dictate decisions.  Our basketball atmosphere is a definite obstacle for the success of the program.  I hope people who make decisions realize this!

I like how Duke does it. Put the students behind the benches and keep the old people (which now includes me) on the other side. I have been to games in the past where people frowned on my kids for standing up, not the whole game mind you, during the game.