FINAL SCORE: Texas 62 – Kansas State 49
Their NCAA tournament hopes; their coach’s job; their teammates’ final home game…the Texas basketball team had nearly every distraction possible heading into Saturday’s game against Kansas State. Nevertheless, the Horns persevered through poor shooting to beat the Kansas State Wildcats, 62-49.
Texas led for most of the game, with K-State inching closer depending on how long Texas went without scoring. A final 2-minute surge that was capped by an alley-oop dunk by Cam Ridley proved to be enough to propel the Longhorns to victory on Senior Day at the Erwin Center.
A closer look at how the game unfolded:
1st Half: Texas 34 – Kansas State 26‘”
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[*]Early on the Horns have solid ball movement on offense and good rotation on defense. The crowd is here and into the game….the stage is set.
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[*]The Horns nabbed 3 offensive rebounds in the first 3:30 – great energy so far and it’s obvious KSU misses Nino Williams.
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[*]Texas started the game 0-6 from 3-point range – they’re doing everything else well.
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[*]5 different Longhorns scored in the first 16 minutes, and Jonathan Holmes is not one of them.
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[*]Despite cold shooting, the Horns are staying aggressive on offense. KSU has 7 personals in 15 minutes (compared to 2 for UT).
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[*]2 three pointers from Lammert seemed to relax the team. KSU needs to keep it close in the final 3 minutes of the half, or this game could turn into a rout.
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[*]Jonathan Holmes missed an easy bucket on offense, but followed it up with 2 blocks on the ensuing KSU possession. His effort today is there even though his shot is off.
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2nd Half: Texas 28 – Kansas State 23‘”
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[*]Texas opens the 2nd half by continuing to dominate most aspects of the game, except for shooting. If the Horns were scoring on pace with blocks, rebounds, bench scoring, assists, etc, this game would not be close.
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[*]Before a fast break bucket by Javan Felix, the Longhorns went nearly 4 minutes without scoring. K-State took advantage of the drought and pulled within three points.
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[*]Consecutive 3 pointers by Holmes, then a big block by the Senior, followed by a monster alley-oop from Ridley, and the Texas lead is up to 8 points. The crowd is back in the game and riding the surge from Texas.
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[*]At the 6:53 mark, every player on Texas has scored except Kendal Yancy – surprising considering his trajectory over the last few weeks.
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[*]Thomas Gipson is the only reason KSU is competitive today. His effort, especially without Williams in the lineup, has been tremendous.
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[*]Connor Lammert has been a valuable contributor today. From key three pointers to clutch rebounds, Lammert played his role to perfection.
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Top takeaway
When shots don’t fall, a team can still control their effort plays – defense, rebounding, loose balls, etc. Even though nerves seemed to get the best of the offense, Texas did an excellent job of playing with intensity in all other areas while waiting for their shots to fall.
The stat story
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[*]Texas finished with 14 blocks. Today was the 3rd consecutive game of double figure blocks.
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[*]Despite long scoring droughts, Texas still shot 40% from the floor.
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[*]4 UT players scored in double figures (Holmes, Lammert, Taylor, Holland).
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[*]The Horns had 12 offensive board and finished with 11 second chance points.
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[*]Thomas Gipson and Marcus Foster scored 30 of KSU’s 49 points.
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[*]The Longhorns’ bench outscored KSU’s, 22-7.
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Looking ahead
The Big 12 tournament is this week in Kansas City. With the win, Texas will be the No. 7 seed and play in the late game on Wednesday night. The winner of that game plays the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinal round. At the time of publishing, the No. 2 seed isn’t confirmed, but it’s likely to be Iowa State.
