Holle, Moore come up big for Texas in Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — During Saturday night's Big 12 quarterfinals at the TMobile Center, the second quarter of the Texas-Kansas women's basketball game belonged to Longhorns forward Aaliyah Moore.
The fourth claimed that.
As for the game itself, owned by No. 7 Texas.
The Longhorns moved into Monday's semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament behind the play of Holle and Moore in a 76-60 win over Kansas. They'll play Kansas State on Monday afternoon for a spot in the championship game.
The Longhorns (28-4) were listed as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament in ESPN's most recent bracketology predictions. That move up from a No. 2 came in the wake of conference tournament losses by Ohio State and UCLA. But Texas players weren't ready to talk about the NCAAs after Saturday's win. Texas still has two games left to win in Kansas City.
"One game at a time," Holle said as head coach Vic Schaefer furiously scribbled something on the podium while sitting by his fourth-year guard in the postgame press conference.
"We're definitely focused on what we're trying to get to right now: the Big 12 championship," Holle continued. "That's what's on our mind. So one game at a time here. Once we get back home, we will start prepping. Obviously we all know what's at stake and we know we're in a very blessed position and we just need to put our heads down and work. But we're definitely focused on being in Kansas City right now, Big 12 championship, as it now says on the table."
Texas and Kansas met nearly two months after the Longhorns beat KU by 35 points in Austin. The Jayhawks, though, kept things much closer this quarter?
Shay
Holle that was
Monday's Big 12 semifinals
No. 6 Texas (28-4) vs. No. 16 Kansas State (25-6), 4 p.m., T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., TV TBA, 103.1
time around.
Texas led 19-12 after the opening quarter and then leaned on Moore in the second session. The junior forward scored 10 points and grabbed six points in the quarter and guided Texas into halftime with a 34-29 edge.
Moore went on to contribute 19 points and 11 rebounds. Two years ago, she had a breakout performance as a freshman in the Big 12 championship game. She had to watch the Big 12 Tournament
from the bench last year, however, as she recovered from a knee injury.
A Kansas team that had beaten ranked Kansas State and Oklahoma teams since Feb. 25 did not go away. Despite all-conference honoree Taiyanna Jackson's foul troubles in the second half, Kansas pulled within one point in the third quarter. Texas entered the final quarter with a slim 4843 lead.
Over the first 80 seconds of the fourth, Holle knocked down two 3pointers and made a jumper. She's an all-conference defender who entered the game averaging just 7.8 points, but that eight-point outburst put UT up by nine. Kansas never got any closer.
Texas prepares for a battle in the paint
During the 61-54 win that it earned over a Kansas State team that was ranked second in the AP poll at the time, Texas didn’t have to deal with KSU center Ayoka Lee; the All-American candidate was recovering from an ankle surgery at the time.
Lee is averaging 19.9 points and 8.4 rebounds. In a 65-62 win over West Virginia in Saturday’s quarterfinals, she finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She scored 21 points against Texas in January.
Texas has some size to throw at the 6-foot-6 Lee. Center Taylor Jones is 6-foot-4, as are reserve forwards Amina Muhammad and Khadija Faye. Texas has outscored its opponents in the paint in all but five of its games. But two of those outliers, however, were the Kansas State games.
Longhorns, Wildcats attempting to reach Big 12 finale
The winner of this semifinal will battle either Oklahoma (22-8) or Iowa State (19-10) in the Big 12 championship game. The Sooners and Cyclones play at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Texas has reached the Big 12 finale in each of the past two seasons, and won the tournament in 2022. Kansas State hasn’t made an appearance in the championship game since 2005.
Texas vs. Kansas State prediction
Texas. The Longhorns will prevail, but expect some drama. Nine of Kansas State’s last 14 games have been decided by three points or less.