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Augustin scores 18 as Texas crushes Rice

Dec 9, 2007 - 5:53 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- D.J. Augustin and Texas accomplished a feat that had not been done in 26 years.

Augustin scored 10 of his 18 points in the first half as the fifth-ranked Longhorns crushed Rice, 80-54, on Saturday.

A.J. Abrams and Damion James also had 18 points for Texas (9-0), which has won nine in a row to start a season for the first time since 1981-82 when that team began 14-0.

James, a sophomore, also hauled in a career-high 17 rebounds.

"That's one of my strengths, I can rebound the ball," James said. "I've just got good instincts. I love rebounding man, so that's all I can say."

In the first half, Augustin, who connected on 5-of-12 from the floor, drilled a 3-pointer at the 14:03 mark to give the Longhorns a 17-6 lead. Later in the first, his fourth basket of the half with 9:23 left made it 30-10 with 9:23 left.

"At the start of the game, we came out a little bit passive," Rice's Rodney Foster said. "Against a team as good as Texas is, when you come out passive it's going to be tough."

Augustin, another sophomore who came into the game averaging a team-high 19.1 points, had a season-high 29 in an 88-72 win over North Texas on Wednesday.

The Longhorns, who shot 47 percent (29-of-62) and led at the half, 47-29, are outscoring their opponents by an average margin of 23.9 points.

"We'd dug ourselves such a deep hole that we expended so much energy trying to come back," Rice forward Patrick Britton said. "They had a run and we were already down by 10 points so add 15 points on to that and soon it's back to 20-25."

Foster scored 13 points and Britton had 11 for the Owls (2-6), who shot just 37 percent (23-of-63) and have lost 10 of their last 11 meetings with the Longhorns.