UT forward miffed

By Jesse Newell     Feb 9, 2010

KU vs. Texas

Nick Krug
Kansas center Cole Aldrich blocks Texas forward Gary Johnson's shot during the second half, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

Box Score

? Damion James wasn’t happy with Cole Aldrich’s actions late in Kansas University’s 80-68 victory over Texas on Monday.

“He threw ‘bows,” the UT forward said. “I know he probably didn’t mean it on purpose, but just the type of player I am, I don’t appreciate that type of stuff.

“But he’s a good guy. He played hard, so big ups to Cole. It’s all love.”

The KU center picked up a technical foul when he swung his arms after a whistle, knocking James to the ground.

It appeared that Aldrich tried to pat the 6-foot-7 James on the head, but the Texas forward swung his arms away before marching angrily to the bench.

“I’m always frustrated when we don’t do good,” James said. “It happens, though.”

Texas, which started the season 17-0, lost for the fifth time in seven games.

“This is the worst we’re going to play, I know that. This is the worst we’re going to play,” James said. “Once we get going on that high hill and get back up the hill, it’s going to be great.”

James, who set a career-high in three-pointers (four) and also tied a career-high for blocks (five), said that giving up a 22-0 run in the first half was “unacceptable.”

“It happened so fast,” James said. “They showed why they’re the No. 1 team in the country. If we want to be that, we’ve got to watch this game and see what we’ve got to do to make things happen.”

UT coach Rick Barnes said there was one reason for the Longhorns’ ineffectiveness offensively: a poor assist-to-turnover ratio. Texas finished with six assists and 17 giveaways.

“Not taking anything away from them, because they do some great things, but we helped them,” Barnes said. “And they don’t help you very much. Kansas doesn’t help you very much. You’re going to have to defend them and do some things.”

Texas, which scores more than 60 percent of its points from two-point field goals, struggled to get any offense inside against KU.

The Longhorns were just 20-for-52 from two-point range (38.4 percent) despite making 51.9 percent of their two-pointers heading into Monday’s contest.

“We’re going through a tough stretch right now,” James said. “Everybody knows that. I’d rather go through it now than at the end of this month and the beginning of March.”

James wasn’t convinced it was his last game against the Jayhawks.

“I think somewhere down the road, we’ll probably bump into them again,” James said, “and see what happens.”

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