Niagara Falls To No. 18 Texas

Niagara had seen enough of Texas' defense. Purple Eagles coach Jim Mihalich couldn't wait to head back north.

"Happy New Year," Mihalich said after watching his team go without a field goal for nearly 15 minutes in an 85-48 loss to the 18th-ranked Longhorns on Tuesday night. "Let's get out of here. We can't score down here."

Chris Mihm had 22 points and 14 rebounds as Texas (7-3) fought off a cold-shooting first half and learn a good reminder for the rest of the season when the offense sputters, defense can win games.

The Longhorns turned 27 Niagara turnovers into 36 points and held Demond Stewart, the nation's leading scorer, to just five points. Gabe Muoneke had 14 points and William Clay added 12 for Texas.

But the fun stopped after Niagara had built an 11-5 lead with 15:47 left in the half.

Using a mix of full- and half-court pressure defense, Texas didn't allow the Purple Eagles another field goal for 14:35.

Clay's 3-pointer evened it at 11 before Texas pulled away with a 31-8 run to take a 42-19 halftime lead. Niagara's Luke Dobrich broke the shooting drought with a layup with 47 seconds left in the half.

Texas, which started the game just 4-of-16 shooting, scored 18 points off 13 turnovers and held Niagara to just 7-of-25 shooting in the first half. The Purple Eagles were just 17-of-55 (31 percent) for the game.

"Any chance we had of winning went out the window because of their defense," Mihalich said. "There is a lesson to be learned about what defense can do for a team."

"Coach (Rick) Barnes says that defense is the besoffense," Mihm said. "Tonight the defense was fantastic."

When Texas finally started to gel offensively, the 7-foot Mihm and 6-9 Muoneke were rarely challenged under the basket. The two combined to go 8-of-11 from the field and had 23 points before halftime.

The Longhorns outrebounded Niagara 56-28 and scored 42 points in the paint for the game.

Texas also had its own struggles handling the ball and committed 25 turnovers that led to 26 Niagara points.

"We are young in a lot of areas, but the guards have got to take care of the ball," Barnes said.

Stewart meanwhile, who came in averaging 27.1 points per game, was just 2-of-10 from the field with Clay often guarding him.

"I take pride in guarding the other guys' best guards," Clay said. "We were able to force him into tough shots."

Often forced into wild, off-balance shots, the visibly frustrated Stewart complained often to the officials and was whistled for a technical before fouling out with 13:36 to play.

Edwards led Niagara with 12 points.

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