 "Photo: Peter Franklin; The Daily Texan")
 "Photo: Paul Chouy; The Daily Texan")
Texas coach Rick Barnes wanted his team to attack the basket more after scoring just three fast-break points in its season opener.
The No. 7 Longhorns did just that on their second outing, notching 17 fast-break points in a 76-51 win over Tulane on Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Forward Damion James led all scorers with 16 points, none more exciting than an alley-oop dunk from Justin Mason to cap off a 13-4 run with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
Mason entrenched himself around the rim with all of his points coming in the paint.
“[Barnes] said we need to put fouls on people,” said James, who had a team-high eight rebounds. “The way you do that is attacking the basket.”
He wasn’t alone in the offensive onslaught. A.J. Abrams, Connor Atchley, Gary Johnson and Dexter Pittman all finished with double figures.
The performance could become a common trend for a team without last year’s leading scorer D.J. Augustin.
“I love balance and what it shows is our ability to do that,” Barnes said.
The Green Wave (1-1) kept things close for the first six minutes, trailing 10-8 but missed a chance to pull ahead when Johnny Mayhane shot an air ball on a 3-point attempt.
Abrams responded with a 3-pointer of his own, igniting the Texas offense that carried a 42-25 lead into halftime.
The Longhorns came out in the second half with a 21-2 run to bury Tulane.
Pittman, getting the starting nod at center, scored 8 of his 10 points in the first three minutes of the half. The junior displayed some new moves and his passing ability that he worked on this summer with esteemed coach Pete Newell.
“He told me that I was a beast,” Pittman said.
His teammates have noticed the improvement in the 6-foot-10-inch, 298-pound Pittman.
“He’s a force inside,” Mason said. “I truly believe that he’ll score every time he touches the ball.”
Texas shut down the Green Wave offense, forcing 25 turnovers and holding them to 32 percent from the field. The Longhorns finished with 16 steals with James, Johnson and Mason each having three. Kevin Sims led Tulane with 11 points.
“Coach made the point of using high hands and getting in the passing lanes,” James said. “Our defense is keeping us in the game.”
The Longhorns were lucky that Tulane couldn’t capitalize on their 19 turnovers, 13 of which came in the second half.
“Nineteen turnovers is unacceptable. Nothing irritates me more,” Barnes said. “We can’t get in a habit of not taking care of the basketball.”
Guard Dogus Balbay made his debut after missing all of last year with an injury and after serving a 11-game suspension for playing on a professional team in his native Turkey. He had just two points in 26 minutes and missed a couple of easy layups, but Barnes was impressed with his defense.
“He came in with a pit bull attitude,” Barnes said. “He played better than I’ve seen him play in a long time. I was pleased with his tempo more than anything. You keep puttingon pressure like that, we’ll be fine.”
The point guard by committee of Abrams, Balbay and Mason combined for 24 points, 10 assists and seven steals — not a bad line for a trio replacing Augustin.
And as long as they keep driving and feeding the ball inside, they’ll keep Barnes happy.
“It’s pretty simple — that real estate around the lance is what you’ve got to control on both ends,” Barnes said. “We’re really trying to hit it, hard and we need to keep doing that.”
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