"Kansas kept throwing bodies at the basket, wearing down Texas with dunks and outrebounded the Longhorns 23-13 in the first half. James, who picked up two quick fouls in the first four minutes of the game, was a force in the second, grabbing two quick rebounds and hitting a 3-pointer as Texas regained the lead 50-48. With James in the game, that rebounding edge Kansas enjoyed completely disappeared. Texas outrebounded Kansas 23-12 in the second half." The Link
During the first half offensive boards were killing us. James was a monster in the second half and made all the difference. Reminds me of Thomas.
I saw Mason pulls down a couple of tough offensive boards in the middle of at least 3 KU defenders. Rebounding in general was better in the 2nd half. Also helped that Kansas stopped getting those easy layups or dunks off of rebounds.
I love how James frequently skies above everyone for boards. James and Mason were huge on the boards last night.
i think we won this game due to the following of shots, two in particular by Mason and James, following shots for easy paint points, four points for following shots and a three point victory. lots of reasons why we won by three, but i feel like the crashing of the boards was what held off Kansas late, giving us a late extra possession with about 1.5 minutes left. great effort
no doubt damion was huge in this game. his second half energy on the boards was probably the main factor in us winning last night. i was a little surprised barnes didn't play damion any more in the first half. i guess that shows why barnes is a coach, and i'm not.
My favorite play involving those was when DJ threw a lob to Damion who was only about 2 feet away and now Damion was trapped with like 3 defenders around him. So he just throws the ball up and Mason comes out of nowhere to grab the ball up above rim level and drop it in the hoop. It looked like he came off of a trampoline to grab that one.
It's getting to the point where I'm beginning to wonder whether Damion James is the best athlete ever to play hoops for UT. It seems there's nothing he can't do ... except shoot free throws, perhaps, yet he was 4-of-4 from the line last night.
His mechanics were much better on FTs last night. I always enjoy watching James play. he has a lot of heart and talent.
James is a beast on the boards. The man can jump out of the building. Mason's got some serious hops also. Earlier in the year, when his shot was on, James looked like a lottery pick. Hopefully he can get back to that form. He sure looked it last night.
I've been thinking what the final score of this game might have been should Damion not have missed most of the first half !!
