After a close call against Sam Houston State on Saturday, the Longhorns are looking to return to the offensive form that helped them win their first two games of the season.

To do that, junior guard and team leading scorer, J’Covan Brown, said it starts with quick decision making as a team.

“We need to take open shots when we have them. I saw a lot of shots not being taken when they were open. When I am on the court, we have to be aggressive, and when I am not, we have to do the same thing. I don’t want them to let me dictate the game, whether I am on or off,” Brown said.

Texas has the chance to take Brown’s advice tonight at 7 against North Texas (1-3) in the Frank Erwin Center.

The Longhorns (3-2) were slow and sluggish against the Bearkats, which freshman Jonathan Holmes said is due to the difficult transition from high school to college ball. There are six freshmen on the squad this year, so there are plenty of growing pains to go around.

“In the past, I was just running up and down the court without a purpose. Now, I have a better feel of what I am doing and where I should be on the court,” Holmes said. “I would not say the competition is any different because I have always played with and against competitive players. The speed of the game, on the other hand, is a part of the transition [to college basketball] for me and the other freshmen here now.”

Though Holmes is still learning to adjust, he seems to be doing it quicker than expected. He has now scored double figures for the fourth time out of five games this season, including 14 points to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks on Saturday.

He and the rest of the freshman corps will need to put together strong collective performance tonight against North Texas, as they did in the season’s first two games, to keep this Texas team competitive.

Texas holds a 29-5 lead in the all-time series against the Mean Green which dates back to the 1913-14 season. Texas has won seven straight games against UNT entering Tuesday’s contest. The last time the Mean Green defeated Texas came in 1981.

Printed on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 as: Players hope to overcome growing pains against UNT