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For more on Pittman's impact against Kansas, Eamonn Brennan notes on the College Basketball Nation Blog that the big man led the Longhorns with two assists and the rest of the team combined for four dishes. Not a good sign.

Holly Rowe reports on J'Covan Brown possibly establishing himself at guard for Texas.

It was just three weeks ago that Texas was 17-0 and No. 1 in the country. Now it is 2-5 in its last seven. Wow.

Texas tried to make it interesting with about four minutes left, but a 22-0 run in the first half had pretty much decided this game. Kansas had a double-digit lead for most of the sceond half to win it, 80-68.

Some thoughts on tonight's game:

* What has happened to Texas? This team was one that hit big shots, grabbed rebounds, made baskets in transition and beat everybody it played to start the season. Now the Longhorns can't seem to keep from turning the ball over. They aren't making baskets consistently and look out of sorts at times. It's strange. Rick Barnes has his work cut out for him to get this team going in the right direction again. The good news: He has some time left to do it.

* The 22-0 run pretty much decided things. Texas was 0-for-10 from the field during the run, including one missed 3-pointer. It had two steals, but couldn't convert them. It's shocking to consider that Texas would have a scoring drought like that at home. Barnes tried to stop the run with two separate timeouts, and it didn't work.

* It was balanced scoring for Kansas. Marcus Morris had 18 points to lead the Jayhawks on 7-for-10 shooting. Xavier Henry and Sherron Collins added 15 each. Brady Morningstar and Markieff Morris had eight points.

* What a second half for J'Covan Brown. He will likely get even more playing time. He was 9-for-19 in the game and had 26 of his 28 points in the second half. He was 8-for-9 from the free throw line, which had been a problem for the Longhorns this season (especially in losses).

* Damion James was solid again. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double and was 8-for-13 on the field. He was 4-for-4 from 3-point line.

* Kansas coach Bill Self was pleased with his team's defense. He should be. Texas shot 37.3 percent from the field. But it also missed some easy shots inside. It was just one of those games where the Longhorns couldn't get anything to go in.

* The Longhorns got just three points and three rebounds from center Dexter Pittman.

* Texas has lost to Oklahoma, Kansas State and UConn on the road and Kansas and Baylor at home. The upcoming schedule includes Nebraska at home and Missouri and Texas Tech on the road.

* ESPN's TV analysts discussed the idea that Barnes needs to shorten his rotation and pick seven or eight guys to use and not 11. Do you agree?

Your thoughts? What is your answer to Texas' problems?

Cole Aldrich was given a technical foul for an elbow against Damion James. It means Kansas loses a big man and James may have some more room inside to manuver (as would Pittman).

Texas seems to be generating a little momentum. They are down by eight with 3:30 left. It's the first time the game has been under double digits since the first half.

Led by J'Covan Brown, who has 17 points tonight the Longhorns cut a 17-point deficit to 10 with a 7-0 run.

But Kansas got a big 3-point play (thanks to a fortunate bounce off the backboard) from Markieff Morris to go back up by 13.

Texas isn't giving up. And Brown is quite hot on the offensive end as well. We could be set up for an entertaining final four minutes.

It hasn't been a very good game for Texas since that first four minutes. But one impressive player on the floor for the Longhorns is Damion James. He's 4-for-4 from 3-point land and 7-of-12 from the field with less than six minutes left for 20 points.

No other player for either team has that many points right now. James also has eight rebounds, so he has a shot at a double-double.

James has nearly half of Texas' points as the Longhorns remain behind by 12-15 points, as they have for much of the half.

With less than half of the second half remaining, Kansas has 23 points off turnovers and Texas has none.

It's just one of the more lopsided stats in Kansas' favor tonight. But it's difficult to believe through 30 minutes that Texas doesn't have a point off a turnover and they can't stop committing turnovers, either. And Kansas sure is making Texas pay for those mistakes.

It appears Dexter Pittman is starting to get a little more physical down low. Look for him to try to take it to Cole Aldrich down there.

The Longhorns need Pittman to create some space in the paint and get a chance at some easy buckets if they want to go on a run. This entire half so far the game has stayed around a 12- or 14-point lead for Kansas.

Texas is moving the ball around and then trying to go inside to get Pittman his touches. I like it. They need to do even more of it and see what happens. Aldrich now has three fouls. Keep going at him. (And not just Pittman. Longhorns need to get the ball inside).

The Longhorns began the second half with a turnover and just haven't gotten anything going.

It's still a 12-point game (it was a 10-point Kansas lead at the half), but Texas wanted to jump on Kansas early to get the crowd back in it and generate some momentum. So far that hasn't happened.

Damion James is out of the game right now, so we'll see if the Longhorns can get some scoring from other players on the roster. The Longhorns' bench hasn't helped much all night, either. There's still time though...

Some quick thoughts on the first half. No.1 Kansas leads No. 14 Texas 34-24.

* Texas came out hard, as Bob Knight noted on ESPN, and it appeared it would be a tight first half. But Texas started rushing shots, had some turnovers and couldn't buy a basket.

* Kansas went on a 22-0 run. In fact, Texas was 0-for-13 in nearly 11 minutes after taking a 14-8 lead. It left them with little momentum and down 30-14. Kansas got 16 points off nine Texas turnovers in that stretch.

* Give the Longhorns some credit for playing better in the final three minutes of the half. Kansas could have run away, but Texas stepped up its defense and made some big shots to close it to a 10-point game.

* Damion James has helped keep Texas in it. He is 6-for-9 from the field, including three 3-pointers, and has 15 points. No other Longhorn has more than 3. In fact, the rest of the Longhorns are 3-for-19 from the field.

* Kansas really suffocated Texas on defense. They grab the ball, they don't allow more than one shot very often and they make you pay on turnovers.

* That was a big 3-pointer by Avery Bradley with a minute left for the Longhorns.

* Kansas is shooting 40 percent from the field. They are 5-for-9 from 3-point land.

Rick Barnes took a timeout with less than six minutes left to try to stop the Kansas run. But missed shots and turnovers combined with Kansas hitting nearly everything they are putting up -- or at least getting second and third chances because of rebounds -- has Texas behind at home and the crowd getting quiet.

Texas is shotting less than 30 percent and the Jayhawks are shooting better than 45 percent. Texas needs to go on some kind of run before the half ends to get the crowd back in it and make things interesting. The Longhorns were 0-for-13 for about 11 minutes before James hit a 3-pointer.

Nothing that Texas puts up -- they just had three chances in close with about four minutes left in the half -- is going in.

The Jayhawks are swarming on defense. They are doubling Dexter Pittman, making things difficult on him and creating some turnovers.

Kansas has eight points off turnovers (to Texas' none) through the first 12 minutes of the game. The Jayhawks do a good job of moving their feet, getting in the shooters' face and grabbing rebounds.

Kansas leads it 18-14 with 8:14 left in the first half.

It sure looks like these teams are amped up. But maybe both need to step back and take it easy.

Kansas swarmed on defense and got a turnover just moments ago and then threw a rushed outlet pass and turned it over again. Kansas' Cole Aldrich is 0-for-3 from the field and he's had some good looks, but doesn't seem completely comfortable yet. Credit the Longhorns' defense, but it sure looks like everyone seems a little too pumped up.

I would think we'll start to see some better execution on offense as players calm down some.

ESPN analyst Bobby Knight just got through praising the Longhorns for their play in the first 3:30 of the game.

"It's the best I've seen them play in a while," Knight said.

He liked the team's energy and how hard they were playing to start the game. We'll see if they can keep it up in a tight game so far.

Those of you looking for an upset tonight should note that No. 14 Texas has a good record on ESPN Big Monday games at the Erwin Center. Texas is 14-2 at home entering tonight's game. And nine of those wins have come against AP top 25 teams. Here's a look:

Feb. 3, 1997: #22 Texas Tech, W, 83-67

Feb. 28, 2000: #23 Kansas, W, 68-54

Jan. 15, 2001: #15 Connecticut, W, 60-56

Feb. 26, 2001: Missouri, W, 76-61

Jan. 7, 2002: Providence, W, 68-48

Feb. 11, 2002: #2 Kansas, L, 103-110 (ot)

Feb. 10, 2003: #5 Oklahoma, W, 67-61

Feb. 17, 2003: Texas Tech, W, 77-65

Feb. 23, 2004: #20 Kansas, W, 82-67

Jan. 17, 2005: #5 Oklahoma State, W, 75-61

Feb. 28, 2005: #20 Oklahoma, L, 58-74

Jan. 23, 2006: Oklahoma State, W, 80-46

Feb. 12, 2007: #18 Oklahoma State, W, 83-54

Feb. 11, 2008: #3 Kansas, W, 72-69

Feb. 18, 2008: #22 Texas A&M, W, 77-50

Mar. 2, 2009: Baylor, W, 73-57