Texas basketball opened Big 12 conference play with a key win on Wednesday night, cruising past Kansas State 67-47 in Manhattan. The Longhorns turned in several rocky performances en route to a 8-4 non conference record to open the season, but managed to put together one of their best performances of the season against the Wildcats.
Texas was led by sophomore Jase Febres, who went 7 of 9 from deep and poured in a team high 23 points off the bench. Kerwin Roach was the only other Longhorn player to reach double figures with 10 points to go along with 4 assists. Matt Coleman added 7 assists and 6 points.
Kansas State, who is considered one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12, allowed the Longhorns to shoot 47.9% from the field and 51.9% from three. Texas controlled the game for much of the first half, but the Wildcats used a late surge to cut the lead to 25-22 heading into halftime. The second half was dominated by Texas, and specifically by Febres. The Houston native connected on 5 3-pointers in the final 10:45 and displayed the shooting ability that helped make him a top recruit coming out of high school.
In addition to Febres offensive outburst, the Longhorns also stifled the Wildcats offense that was missing star guard Dean Wade. Kansas State managed to shoot only 32.7% from the field and 50% from the free throw line. Makol Mawien led the Wildcats with 13 points.
Texas will return to action on Saturday when they host West Virginia in Austin. Tip off will be at 8:00 PM CST and the game will be shown on ESPN2.
