I was in Austin, Texas last Friday for a professional conference and was able to attend the Longhorns' opener vs. North Dakota State in the evening. I took the above photo (on which you can click to enlarge) during the warm-ups. As it turned out, there were at least two streakiness-related developments in the game.
- Even though NDSU led the nation last season in overall field-goal percentage (.509, based on a .564 percentage on two-point attempts and .367 on three-pointers), there was no carryover into the Texas game. The Bison shot .274 on the evening (.303 inside the arc and .241 on treys). As shown in the play-by-play sheet, North Dakota State started the game off by missing its first seven field-goal attempts. This season's annual Sporting News College Basketball Yearbook points out that NDSU lost its top three scorers from last year, which probably goes a long way in explaining the Bison's lackluster shooting in Austin.
- In contrast, highly touted frosh forward Myles Turner lit things up for the Longhorns. Upon entering the game a few minutes in, he hit three quick jumpers. All in all, Turner hit 6-of-8 from the floor, which combined with 3-of-4 from the stripe, gave him 15 points.
