Legends Classic News & Notes
by Ray Floriani
NEWARK, N.J. – The initial StubHub Legends Classic gave us ample evidence that life will go on without Kevin Durant. Texas head coach Rick Barnes would have loved to have the talented Durant stay in Austin a little longer. Regardless, there is a wealth of talent available for the Longhorns to make a national impact. Their convincing victories over New Mexico State and Tennessee at the Prudential center attest to that.
Semifinals
Tennessee 74, West Virginia 72
Texas 102, New Mexico State 87
Consolation
West Virginia 75, New Mexico State 61
Final
Texas 97, Tennessee 78
“We knew we would be a great team,” Texas point guard D.J. Augustin said after the final.” We worked very hard. Kevin (Durant) is in the NBA and we wish him well but we are working to become the best team we could be.” Augustin is certainly doing his part. The sophomore lead guard was chosen tournament MVP following his 23 points and eight assists against the Volunteers in the final.
“Put the team in a great point guard’s hands,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said, alluding to Augustin, “and you have a great team.”
But Texas is far from just Augustin. “Last year a lot was written about Kevin Durant and rightfully so,” said Barnes. “But we have guys like (junior guard) A.J. Abrams who scored 15 a game and quietly went about their business.”
The Longhorns had four players crack 20 points in the final. Beside Augustin, Abrams (21 points), Justin Mason (21) and Connor Atchley (22) were all very productive on a team with outstanding balance.
Tennessee saw their perimeter game eventually dry up against Texas. Chris Lofton led the way with 18 points and earned all-tournament honors, but the Vols shot 39 percent from the field. Tennessee also likes to score off turnovers from their press, but Texas only committed 13 miscues.
“Texas has excellent ballhandlers,” Pearl said. “They are a tough team to press and trap.”
Notes
- West Virginia earned a split at the classic. The Mountaineers took Tennessee down to the final minute before losing a tough one. They rebounded nicely to earn a solid win over New Mexico State in the consolation.
Bob Huggins, the new Mountaineer coach, conjures up images of an inside power game as he had for years at Cincinnati. Inheriting a group of good three-point shooters from the John Beilein days, Huggins is not changing things.
“We are going to shoot threes,” Huggins said following the consolation. “That’s the nature of the team we have. We would be foolish not to shoot the three.”
The Mountaineers entered the consolation with 42% of their field goal attempts coming beyond the arc. Against the Aggies, 26 of their 60 attempts (43%) were from three. They hit ten on the afternoon. - Defense has been a staple that hasn’t changed in Huggins’ philosophy. West Virginia led 33-30 at the half of the consolation. New Mexico State guard Jonathan Gibson led the way with twelve points at the break. He finished with 12 and got only two shots off the second half. “(Bob) Huggins’ halftime speeches are legendary,” junior forward Joe Alexander said. “Tonight he gave us a good one.”
- It was a nice homecoming for Da’Sean Butler, as the 6’7″ Newark native who starred at nearby Bloomfield Tech was named to the all-tournament team. Butler led WVU with 16 points against Tennessee and added 13 in the consolation.
“Da’Sean is our most consistent player,” Huggins said, “He can play the perimeter or inside, guard backcourt players or the post. We run several things specifically for him in our offense.” - Connor Atchley, Texas’ 6’10” junior, had a solid tournament. He added a team-high 11 boards to complement his 22 points in the final. An all-tournament selection, he is effective inside and deadly from three. Atchley hit 2 of 3 treys in the title game and exited the Rock with a season mark of 7-of-10 three-point shooting for five contests.
- Former Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien did color analyst work for the TV telecast. “I got a call to do some games when Jim Spanarkel had an NBA (analyst) conflict,” O’Brien said. He’s not sure if that is the route he would like to take in the future, but for now, “it’s been interesting and different.”
- Attendance at the final session barely surpassed 4,000, which is unfortunate because this was a god tournament with some quality teams. And how much shopping can you do on “Black Friday” weekend?
- I knew it would happen: late in the second half as Tennessee was getting waxed by Texas, a fan bellowed, “Where’s Pat Summitt?”
On The Baseline
No squad brought cheerleaders or bands. Local high schools supplied the pep band music for the respective schools. After getting their championship trophy the Texas team came over to the group from Elizabeth High Scholl and thanked them for their support. Team members even posed as a group and individually with members of the band.
