AUSTIN, Texas—The Long Beach State men’s basketball team will enter the second half of its six game road trip 0-3 after falling to the Texas Longhorns 78-68 on Saturday.
The 49ers (5-7) are winless on the road this season, having been outscored by an average of more than 13 points per game in their six losses. Head coach Dan Monson is disheartened by the leads in the road games that his team has squandered.
“We’ve been right there,” Monson said. “We had a nine point lead against Washington with five minutes to go, a nine point lead against San Diego State the other night before losing by one, and it’s tough with this kind of schedule to not get rewarded with a win now and then.”
After falling behind by double digits eleven seconds into the second half, the 49ers found their way to a lead against the No. 9 team in the country. LBSU went on a 19-7 run over five minutes to take a three point lead.
Five turnovers in the first six minutes of the second half sparked the 49ers run. LBSU guard Mike Caffey scored seven points during the run, finishing with a game-high 23 points including four three-pointers. Back to back jumpers by David Samuels and Branford Jones gave the 49ers their only lead of the second half.
“Sixteen points off turnovers [for LBSU], and some of them were just really, kind of lazy,” said Texas coach Rick Barnes talking about how the 49ers got back in the game.
After losing the lead, the Longhorns (10-1) went to their biggest advantage, height down in the paint. Texas scored the next eight points to retake the lead, with three of their baskets coming from inside the paint. That sparked a 19-3 run that the 49ers were unable to overcome.
“We just had to focus in on making crisp passes, and getting the post ball,” said guard Javan Felix, who led the Longhorns with 17 points. “We weren’t focused on it. We just took it for granted.”
Monson cited a lack of defensive execution for the 49ers’ struggles.
“We knew we were going to struggle rebounding against them, but defensively they really spread us out hitting threes early,” Monson said.
The Longhorns came out blazing from three point range, hitting five of their first six shots from beyond the arc in the first half. To compound troubles, the Longhorns grabbed six offensive rebounds on their first nine missed field goals. Texas led by double digits for much of the first half but the 49ers ended the period on a 12-5 run to cut the lead under ten points.
“It is one thing to come in and be outmanned, but I didn’t have a problem with our rebounding,” Monson said. “They had 12 offensive rebounds. Our goal was to keep them under ten, but they had four or five of those where it was just a matter of this guy is longer, taller, stronger.”
Despite the hot start by Texas, the 49ers wound up winning the three point and offensive rebounding battles. LBSU shot 40 percent from three in the game while the Longhorns did not make a single three in the second half. On the boards, the 49ers had 14 offensive rebounds to the Longhorn’s 12, but lost the defensive rebounding battle 28-14.
The 49ers schedule does not get much friendlier on this road trip as the next three games are against No. 20 St. John’s, traditional tournament-team Syracuse and No. 4 Louisville. LBSU will take on St. John’s in Queens, N.Y. Monday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time.