Texas gets by Horned Frogs, 70-57, No. 11 K-State awaits

KANSAS CITY –  The Texas Longhorns live to fight another day.

They took down the TCU Horned Frogs 70-57  at the Spirit Center in the first round of the 2013 Big-12 Championship tournament.

Texas, who has won three games in a row, first time since December, moves on to play their nemesis No. 11 Kansas State, at 6pm Thursday. They held TCU to under 35% shooting for the game, one of their best defensive showings of the season.

Julien Lewis led the Longhorns with 19 pts (4-for-7  from behind the arc), while Myck Kabongo finished with 16 points and six assists.

Charles Hill Jr. and Connell Crossland combined for 21 points for the Horned Frogs, while Devonta Abron added nine points and 10 boards in TCU’s (11-21) final game.

Texas opened up the lead with a 13-3 run capped off by a Sheldon McClellan canned 14-footer, giving the Longhorns a, 62-49 lead at the 4:05 mark.

“I do think we’re figuring some things out with a full rotation, said Texas coach Rick Barnes. “We never got to do that in practice with Myck.”

‘There’s no doubt, put it rust, feel, whatever – he’s played nine games this year. He sat for a long time,” Barnes said of his second-year guard.

Texas led, 28-26 at halftime, behind Kabongo’s eight first-half points, and fueled by a  Julien Lewis 7-point spurt in the final minute, including two 24-foot three-pointers, for a 27-22 lead at the 1:36 mark.

Longhorns’ forward Connor Lammert grabbed an offensive board and tip-in for the a 20-19 lead with 3:09 left in the first half.

Horned Frog Abron’s layup as time expired in the first half, brought the Horned Frogs within two of Texas, 28-26. Abron and Nate Butler Lind both had eight points in the half.