With Ivey, Basketball Flourishes at Texas

By Thomas George (The NY Times)
March 26, 2004

When Texas clipped North Carolina on Saturday to reach the Round of 16, guard Royal Ivey showed the Longhorns how to do it step by step. He led the team with 17 points, after grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds in the Longhorns' first-round victory over Princeton.

Ivey, who is from Queens and has spent time absorbing the flashing signs of Times Square, knows plenty about packaging and delivering messages. His game-day sneakers are full of directions written in black ink: "KTF — Keep The Focus," is one, and "40 Minutes" is another. "All Out" is a reminder to himself to match the oncourt standard that Texas basketball has achieved.

"When I first got to Texas, I realized I was at a football school — basketball got no love," Ivey said last weekend in the Pepsi Center in Denver after Texas beat North Carolina, 78-75. "We vowed that we were going to make Texas a powerhouse in basketball. The Texas fans already bled orange for football; now they're feeling that way about their basketball. We're doing big things in basketball, and it's a good feeling."

Texas (25-7) plays Xavier (25-10) on Friday night in Atlanta, with the Longhorns trying to reach a second consecutive Final Four. They are one of only five teams — the others are Duke, Connecticut, Kansas and Pittsburgh — to have reached the Round of 16 for three consecutive years.

Ivey, a senior, was part of the second recruiting class of Rick Barnes, the Texas coach. Barnes was one of only a few coaches who intensely recruited Ivey after his prep career at Cardozo in Queens and Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J.

During Ivey's freshman year at Texas, he was a point guard. He moved to shooting guard the next two seasons to make room for T. J. Ford, the prized point guard who is now with the Milwaukee Bucks. This season, Ivey has primarily been back at point guard.

"What he has brought to us might be harder to replace than what T. J. did," Barnes said of Ivey. "He seems to have always been the fifth option on our team, but has excelled in that role. His role not only has changed throughout the years, but it changes from game to game. I will always want a Royal Ivey on my team."

When Texas reached the Final Four last season, Ivey was considered the team's defensive specialist. But in the N.C.A.A. tournament this year, he has averaged 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. During the regular season, he averaged 9 points and 4.1 rebounds.

In addition, he had 9 assists and only 3 turnovers in the Longhorns' two tournament games this season. "I don't like to be called this or that, I'm a just a player," said Ivey, who can adeptly use his 6-foot-3, 200-pound body to flash on the perimeter or tangle inside. "It's been difficult for me switching back and forth to different positions, but my ball-handling and patience have been good enough to see me through it.

"People said when T. J. left that we weren't going to do anything. But as you can see, it's not over. We want more. Coach Barnes told us when our class signed that we were going to go be regulars in the N.C.A.A. tournament. And that's just what we've been. That gives us pride."

Ivey has started 116 games for Texas, second most in school history to DeJuan Vazquez's 120 career starts. Ivey has averaged nearly 30 minutes a game in the Longhorns' 32 games this season.

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