Longhorns dodge upset to end skid
Texas remembered how to shoot Tuesday night in its 80-77 victory over Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum. And that torrent of silky jumpers was a comforting sight for coach Shaka Smart after watching this team chuck its way to a ghastly 20-for-79 shooting performance (25.3 percent) during a doubleovertime road loss to Oklahoma State last weekend.
But the way No. 13 Texas (12-5, 6-4 Big 12) closed was disconcerting, at minimum. And there are issues Smart will need to address with a team that has wandered through the past month in a troubling trance.
Still, the Longhorns built a sizeable lead early on and sank enough clutch free throws to halt a three-game losing skid and avoid what would have been a hideous blot on their NCAA Tournament résumé.
“We didn't have the defensive activity and intensity that we had the other day against Oklahoma State,” Smart said. “But there's a ton of plays to learn from there. There's a bunch of guys in the locker room that said to me, ‘Hey, I know you're gonna be showing us that tape.’
“Happy to find a way to win. And at this time of year, now it's all about us learning and improving.”
The same Longhorns who appeared so startled and uncomfortable working against the Cowboys’ zone ripped apart the Wildcats’ zone concept inside the “Octagon of Doom” in Manhattan, Kan.
Passes whizzed around the perimeter from shooter to shooter until one found enough daylight to fire away. Guards Courtney Ramey (14 points) and Matt Coleman directed the offense with aplomb, combining for 12 assists with five turnovers. Slashers Greg Brown (17 points) and Kai Jones drew eyes inside, forcing the Wildcats to choose where to focus their attention, which exposed other gaps in the zone.
And Texas seemed to capitalize on all of Kansas State’s defensive blunders in the first half. The Longhorns opened by knocking down six straight shots, four from 3-point range. They finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field and 52 percent from deep while committing just 10 turnovers, 11 fewer than in the loss to Oklahoma State.
But Texas, as it’s wont to do, smashed the hard button in the second half. A 17-point lead dwindled to one. The Longhorns slowed down and stopped hitting 3s at such an efficient and prolific rate, while Kansas State found success in attacking the paint and drawing fouls.
Wildcats guard Mike McGuirl was a nuisance all night, scampering his way to 18 points, five assists and four steals. Freshman guard Nijel Pack contributed a teamhigh 22 points and made some timely shots in the game's waning minutes. As a team, Kansas State shot 52 percent and hit 9of-20 3s.
“The parts of the game where our pace slowed down offensively corresponded with times we didn't score as well,” Smart said. “I thought, even when it got tight late, we had a few possessions where we got the pace back up and we scored. But then we didn't stop them on the other end so it stayed tight.”
Brown produced yet another galvanizing highlight reel dunk Tuesday night, this time looping around an elbow screen to chase down Ramey’s lob to the rim. He finished with both hands, for
safety and popped off the rim with a flourish.
But the freshman’s improved shooting stroke was the bigger story. Brown knocked down a career-best 4-of-5 3s, including one from the right corner that extended the lead to 71-66 late in the second half as the Big 12 foes traded blows.
Texas guard Andrew Jones (24 points) then weaved into the low post and sank a fallaway jumper. Pack answered with a soft floater. Jones swooped in from behind to steal a pass and tossed it ahead to a wide-open Coleman, but he whiffed on an overzealous gamesealing dunk. Kansas State capitalized with a McGuirl 3-pointer to draw within one point with 42.6 seconds left.
But Coleman and Jones recovered to close out the win, going 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch, and McGuirl’s halfcourt heave caromed off the rim as time expired.
“We just take it as a lesson to know we have to play a complete game,” Jones said. “The game is not necessarily won on one side, you’ve got to put two sides together and two halves together in order to be a complete championship-contending team.”
Nick Moyle reported
from Austin.