Aldridge's double-double helps put Hawkeyes in trouble

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Texas is proud of its No. 2 ranking and

had no intention of tossing it away with a bad first half in the

title game of the Guardians Classic.

So the Longhorns turned everything around starting from about

the 12-minute mark and rolled to a 68-59 victory over Iowa (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP).

"I think we understood the importance of the game," said point

guard Daniel Gibson, who had 16 points. "I think we understood

that every night we come out to play, we come out to win. We knew

that wasn't one of our better halves, so we took that as

motivation."

LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling

out as the Longhorns erased a 7-point halftime deficit.

Iowa (3-1) took a 47-39 lead on Carlton Reed's basket with 12

minutes left and then Aldridge picked up his third foul, making

things look even bleaker for the Longhorns (4-0).

But the 6-foot-10 Aldridge got a quick basket and Texas went on

a 13-4 run and took a 52-51 lead on a 3-pointer by Brad Buckman.

It was the first lead for Texas since 19-17 and quieted the

solidly pro-Iowa crowd that had been chanting, "Let's go, Hawks,

let's go Hawks."

"I told our guys that if we're going to be a good team, we've

got to find a way to win when we're not playing well," said Texas

coach Rick Barnes. "We did that tonight."

Buckman rebounded an Iowa miss and Kenton Paulino scored for the

Longhorns to extend the lead to three.

Jeff Horner's basket put Iowa briefly back on top 55-54 before

Aldridge got a huge dunk off a fast break and then added a follow

shot and Buckman completed a three-point play.

Iowa shot just 10-for-33 in the second half.

"The second half, we just couldn't make a shot," said coach

Steve Alford. "And you've got to give credit to their defense. But

you can't shoot 30 percent. We fouled too much the second half."

Aldridge fouled out and Greg Brunner made one free throw to cut

the Texas lead to 61-56 with 1:50 left.

Adam Haluska had 15 points at halftime for Iowa and finished

with 23, one shy of his career-high.

"We just let our guard down a little bit," said Haluska. "We

can't let a zone dictate how we play. I thought we came out in the

first half and defended well."

Doug Thomas came off the bench and was 6-for-6 for 12 points for

the Hawkeyes

The experienced Hawkeyes, who returned five starters and 11

lettermen from last year's 21-12 team, led by as many as nine in

the first half before settling for a seven-point halftime

advantage, 31-24.

Aldridge, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds in the 76-75

semifinal victory over No. 13 West Virginia and blocked the potential

winning shot, was named the tournament's MVP.

The Longhorns, who outrebounded their first three opponents

90-48, were outrebounded 22-12 in the first half by the shorter

Hawkeyes and wound up on the short end of a 41-31 rebound total.

"We did a great job on the boards," said Alford. "It's

encouraging to see we outrebounded them. We're going to take some

positives out of this."

Iowa missed 19 of 24 3-point attempts.