Bison battle Longhorns in non-conference fray

Dec 16, 2014 - 3:26 PM Austin, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Bison of Lipscomb shoot for a third straight win as they battle the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns in non-conference play on Tuesday night.

Lipscomb, a program that competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a game under .500 after losing five of six during one stretch. However, the team has won back-to-back contests, the latest of which was a 68-59 final versus Austin Peay on the road over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns are one of the top teams in the nation thanks to a seven-game win streak to open up the 2014-15 campaign. However, that successful run came to an end in the first game of this month as the team folded against top-ranked Kentucky (63-51) during the Big 12/SEC Challenge in Lexington.

The good news for Texas is that the team has already bounced back by destroying Texas State on Saturday in the first game of a five-game homestand, by a score of 59-27. The defensive effort marked the first time since 1948 that the Longhorns managed to hold an opponent to less than 30 points.

As far as the all-time series between the teams is concerned, this is the first meeting.

Against Austin Peay, Brett Wishon came off the bench to convert 7-of-12 shots from behind the 3-point line, en route to a team-best 21 points in the nine- point road victory. Also scoring in double figures for the Bison were Malcolm Smith and Josh Williams with 11 and 10 points, respectively, combining for 11 of the unit's 35 rebounds and six of their nine steals as well. Lipscomb made it into the win column despite turning the ball over 16 times and shooting only 8-of-27 (.296) beyond the arc.

As the only player to have started all nine games for the Bison, it only makes sense that Williams is also the leading scorer with his 15.2 ppg, while his 5.8 rpg also top the charts. Malcolm Smith and Martin Smith pitch in with 12.7 and 11.9 ppg, respectively, the former also hitting the glass for more than five per game in order to keep the Bison within a rebound of opponents on the average every time out.

In one of the most impressive outings in the last half-century, the Longhorns showed no mercy against their in-state rival, Texas State, as they limited the Bobcats to a mere 11 field goals on 51 attempts (.216) and watched the visitors convert only 2-of-12 tries from beyond the arc and 3-of-10 at the free-throw line. Texas also pummeled TSU on the glass, 45-21, thanks to the efforts of Connor Lammert who cleared 10 rebounds.

In the scoring column, Texas was paced by Cameron Ridley who tallied 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, followed by Javan Felix off the bench with 10 points as the team connected on 54.8 percent from the floor and survived 19 turnovers. If not for all the miscues, there's no telling how lopsided the outcome could have been.

Thanks to the effort against Texas State, the Horns have lowered their points allowed on the season to just 50.9 ppg, which gives them a scoring advantage of close to 18 ppg at the moment. Among the active leading scorers for Texas are Jonathan Holmes and Myles Turner with 11.8 and 11.0 ppg, respectively, the pair also combining for more than 14 rebounds per game.