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DALLAS (AP) -- Texas' T.J. Ford is the best in the country at
making sure his teammates get baskets. Yet every so often the
freshman point guard realizes that he needs to shoot it, too.
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Texas raced out to a big, 19-point halftime lead. They held on through the second half, thanks to Deginald Erskine and the big-shooting Longhorns. T.J. Ford distributed the rock with his usual aplomb and James Thomas was a force inside.
The Longhorn defense did an outstanding job holding Ryan Sidney in check. Troy Bell tried and tried, but his supporting cast didn't come through, and the Eagles made their earliest exit from the Tournament in their last 10 appearances.
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Ford scored five of his 20 points during a crucial stretch
midway through the second half, helping the Longhorns maintain a
big early lead for a 70-57 victory over Boston College on Friday
night in a Midwest Regional opener.
"We went a while without scoring and I knew I had to do
something for my teammates," said Ford, who also had seven
assists. "I just started attacking the defense and forcing them to
play me."
Ford, who is likely to become the first freshman to lead the
nation in assists, came within two points of his season high in the
most important game of his young career. The victory sends Texas
(21-11) into a second-round game Sunday against Mississippi State,
which beat McNeese State 70-58.
"I don't think there's a player that means more to his team
than T.J. Ford does," Longhorns coach Rick Barnes said. "I've got
so much confidence in T.J., I was probably surprised he had jitters
at the beginning of the game. He was a little jumpy but he settled
down.
Texas took control with a 20-4 run midway through the first
half, then upped the lead to 22 several minutes before halftime.
Troy Bell, who scored 27 points to break out of a four-game
skid, got hot to put Boston College (20-12) back into it.
He scored 10 straight BC points late in the first half, then had
12 of the first 18 in the second half. His 3-pointer with 12:49
left got the Eagles within five.
"It always feels good to find your way out of a slump," he
said.
Then Ford switched into scoring mode and had five straight
points to get the lead back into double digits. He helped keep it
there with a long alley-oop to Royal Ivey that drew roars from a
crowd loaded with Texas fans.
Ford scored 16 of his points in the second half, 10 on free
throws.
"When Boston College made a run at the end, I thought T.J. made
some terrific plays with the ball," Barnes said. "He really kept
us steady."
The Eagles needed every one of Bell's points because
second-leading scorer Ryan Sidney was 0-for-9. He was so out of
sync that he barely drew iron on his only free throw. He did,
however, add six assists and seven rebounds.
"I couldn't have hit the side of a barn with a rock if I'd
wanted to," Sidney said. "When that happens, you have to try and
do other things."
Uka Agbai had 12 points and Kenny Walls and Nate Doornekamp each
scored eight.
BC, which was ranked 10th in December, went out with its fifth
loss in eight games, bolstering the argument of teams from
mid-majors who said the Big East didn't deserve to have a fifth
team in the tournament.
This is the earliest BC has been eliminated in its last 10 NCAA
trips. The Eagles had won at least one game in every appearance
dating to 1968.
Texas, which lost leading scorer and rebounder Chris Owens to a
knee injury Dec. 29, is headed to the second round for the second
time in three years. Barnes has only taken a team further once in
nine trips with Texas, Clemson and Providence.
But Barnes has never had a player like Ford, who led his high
school team to a 77-1 record his last two seasons, was anointed a
starter the day he moved to Austin and set a freshman record for
assists in his debut -- against Arizona.
He came in averaging 8.5 assists per game, the most in the
nation. No freshman has ever led the country in that category,
although Omar Cook of St. John's set the rookie record last season
by averaging 8.7.
In the first half, Texas jumped ahead behind the inside play of
James Thomas (eight points, 10 rebounds) and Deginald Erskin (16
points, seven rebounds).
The Longhorns also welcomed back to the offense leading scorer
Brandon Mouton, who was coming off an 0-for-7 outing in a loss to
Oklahoma in the Big 12 semifinals. Although he put up an airball on
his first attempt, he finished with nine points.
Playing close to home in a city full of Texas alumni, UT went
ahead for good 5 minutes in on an alley-oop to Mouton that brought
the crowd to its feet. Then an NBA-range 3-pointer from Sydmill
Harris and a more conventional 3 from Mouton got fans roaring
again.
"It's like playing them at home," Sidney said. "You look at
one side, it's all Texas fans; you look at the other side and it's
still all Texas fans." | 
