Kansas used a 19-6 second-half run to overcome an 11-point
deficit against determined Texas as the Jayhawks left Austin with a 64-59 win
Saturday. The Horns had a chance to tie
with 10 seconds left, but Julien Lewis’ attempt from outside the arc barely
drew iron.
It was a surprisingly competitive contest that saw three
ties and seven lead changes If Texas
plays like this, it can beat anybody in the country, coach Rick Barnes’ told
his team. But the caveat has to do with the fine line of managing the minutia
of details that separate winning from losing. The laundry list includes
fighting for space, getting into sets quicker, managing emotions and simply
understanding the flow of the game.
It was Texas’ tenacious D that kept them in this one,
holding the visitors to just 39 percent (20-of-51) from the field. Texas shot
well enough from the floor (25-of-56, 45 percent) to win, including 7-of-18
treys (39 percent). The big difference was at the free throw line. Kansas drained 21-of-25 from the charity
stripe while Texas was nonexistent. The
Horns were all of 2-of-8 from the foul line.
The Jayhawks won the battle of the boards, 35-26.
Sheldon McClellan led all scorers with 18 points but still
shot hesitantly, Barnes said. McClellan also finished with just one rebound. Julien Lewis notched 11 Jonathan Holmes was
saddled with early foul trouble and scored all 10 his points in second
half
At the end of the day, Texas has dropped all four Big 12
conference games and is mired in it longest losing streak since Barnes’ first
season (1998-99). It was also the third
time this season (UCLA, West Virginia) that Texas squandered a late lead. It
was the 15th straight win for the nation’s No. 4 team and, frankly,
the most experienced Texas will face.
(KU starts four seniors, including three fifth-year seniors); Texas, now
8-9, is college hoops' youngest team.
Texas held a 28-26 lead at intermission, holding the
Jayhawks to their fewest halftime total of the season. It was just the second
time this season Kansas trailed at the break.
Point guard Jevan Felix was whistled with his third personal
just 1:31 into the second period, and Barnes called a time out following a Jayhawk
trey. Foul trouble sidelined Holmes for
all but three minutes in the first half, but then Holmes took over. He followed
this three-ball with a steal leading to a Lewis layup. The Horns forced five straight KU turnovers,
including three from Holmes. He drained
another jumper as part of a 12-0 run that spotted Texas a 42-31 lead.
Holmes’ put-back kept KU at arm’s length with a 46-37 scoreboard. By then, Jayhawk point guards were 0-of-10
from the field until Elijah Johnson got one to fall with 8:30 left. It pulled KU to within 49-43 with 8:30 on the game clock.
The Jayhawks went with a smaller lineup with Texas nursing a
51-47 lead with less than seven minutes remaining. Kansas stepped up its
defensive pressure and recaptured the lead, 54-53, with 4:10 left on Ben McClemore’s
dunk.
Holmes fouled out with 1:18 left and KU holding a 58-57
lead. Texas had a chance to send this
one into overtime, but Lewis’ trey fell short.
As did the Longhorns. Again.
Texas returns to action with a (not so) Big Monday matchup
at Oklahoma.
