Horns collapse in 2nd half
AUSTIN — Courtney Ramey’s final 3-point attempt swirled around the cylinder, kissing every bit of the orange rim. It was nothing more than another tease.
Momentum sent the Texas guard’s shot flying away with 46 seconds left on the game clock. Kansas guard Marcus Garrett snatched it from the sky and in doing so, secured both ball and victory.
So close. So painfully close, so painfully familiar.
In losing 66-57 on Saturday at the Erwin Center to sixth-ranked Kansas, Texas regressed. Again.
Bad habits prevalent in earlier losses to Baylor and Oklahoma returned and torpedoed the Longhorns (12-5, 2-3 Big 12).
Adding to the sting: Texas stymied Kansas (14-3, 4-1) through the first half, limiting the Jayhawks to 26 points with nearly as many field goals (nine) as turnovers (seven), but could only build a 31-26 lead.
That advantage rose to seven on the first possession of the second half in spectacular fashion.
Sophomore guard Courtney Ramey tossed a lob for junior Jericho Sims. The pass was high, seemingly too high, but the 6-foot-9 flyer went up, pulled the ball from the heavens and smashed it through the rim.
It was never quite as easy as that for the Longhorns as Kansas clamped down on defense and started carving them up on the interior.
“As a collective group we let go of the rope,” junior guard Matt Coleman said. “They made plays. We didn’t respond good enough. We still had a chance to pull it out down the stretch but they made more plays.”
For the first 25 minutes, just about everything went through Kansas 7-footer Udoka Azubuike. He towered even over Sims and won nearly every battle for position, finishing with 17 points on 7for-9 shooting with nine rebounds.
Even as he struggled from the line and became less prolific as a scorer in the second half, Azubuike disrupted the Longhorns’ offensive flow by aggressively hedging on screens while still maintaining a paint presence.
And while Sims was able to score a career-high 20 points on a diet of rim runs and post-ups, their duel wasn’t what determined the outcome.
It was the play of Garrett and sophomore Devon Dotson that tilted this matchup in the Jayhawks’ favor.
“I thought their guards were the biggest difference in the game,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “Udoka did a lot of good things but Jericho Sims scored 20 points. Those guys to some extent cancelled each other out, but their guards outplayed our guards.
“The combination of those guys getting deep in the paint, and they got some timely offensive rebounds and put them back, that was really the big difference down the stretch.”
Dotson seemed unbothered by a hip injury, scoring a game-high 21 points, including 11 over the game’s final 7:11. Garrett went for 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. And they helped pester Coleman, Ramey and junior Jase Febres all afternoon. Those three shot a combined 3 of 13 from behind the arc, often forcing or settling for contested jumpers late in the clock.
Even as the Longhorns endured another cold spell the game remained in reach. Sophomore forward Gerald Liddell flipped an over-the-shoulder pass to Sims for a game-tying dunk with 4:50 remaining.
Then Kansas did what all the best teams do — closed.
Texas connected on just one more field goal, again courtesy of Sims, as the Longhorns’ trio of guards struggled to create open looks and make the right read in the pick-and-roll.
Azubuike controlled the interior. Dotson and Garrett controlled the game’s tempo. And Texas, well, it just lost control of a game there for the taking.
“I just think we didn’t finish possessions well by getting a rebound and securing the ball, making sure we can go the other way,” Ramey said. “When you have a team making tough shots it’s kind of hard, but we have to get past hard, make them miss and grab the ball.”
The turnaround from this will be quick. Texas has a date Monday with No. 12 West Virginia at WVU Coliseum, where both team and fans will be rowdy and motivated following the Mountaineers’ blowout loss to Kansas State.