Junior guard Kerwin Roach made good on an acrobatic layup with 1.2 seconds left in the game to propel the Longhorns to a 65-64 win over Oklahoma State. Texas (17-12, 7-9), considered a bubble team by most college basketball bracketologists, delivered a much-needed win to help bolster their case for selection into the field of 68 teams.
Heralded freshman Mo Bamba did not play in the second half due to an injured toe, and Dylan Osetkowski led the Longhorns in scoring with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Kerwin Roach, Jacob Young and Jericho Sims also scored double-digits for Texas.
Oklahoma State senior guard Jeffrey Carroll led all scorers, finishing with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Lindy Waters III joined Carroll as the only other Cowboy to put up double digits in scoring, finishing with 14 points in the loss.
With Kansas looming on Big Monday and West Virginia on the schedule in the regular season finale, Oklahoma State was a team Texas had to beat to forsee a future in the Big Dance.
Mo Bamba’s timetable for a return to the court remains uncertain at this point, but Texas hopes to have the Wooden Award Finalist back sooner rather than later.
Texas head coach Shaka Smart was challenged with compiling a lineup devoid of Andrew Jones and Eric Davis, who is being withheld from the court for precautionary reasons after being named in a recent report alleging NCAA violations.
Shaka Smart had this to say on the team’s ability to pull off the win without some of his key players.
“Obviously, we were down a few guys. We had some different lineups in there that we haven’t played a lot this year. We were able to make one more play. I told the guys that it was a possession game. It was going to come down to a small number of possessions and it did.”
The Longhorns and Jayhawks will tipoff at 8:00 PM CST in Lawrence, KS on Monday. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
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