Bench brigade sparks Longhorns to easy victory
AUSTIN — Everyone in the Moody Center seemed to know what was coming next. Well, everyone except the mark.
Positioned a few feet in front of Texas guard Sir’Jabari Rice out on the left wing, Iowa State senior forward Aljaz Kunc made the same blunder so many other defenders have this season — he fell for it. Kunc bit on the shot fake and flew past Rice, parting the sea for a slippery Eurostep layup that just about blew the lid off the Longhorns’ new arena.
Rice’s crowd-pleasing finish came amid a huge first-half run that set the tone for the rest of Tuesday night’s Top-25 clash. The Longhorns’ sixth man and his bench cohorts played a huge role in No. 8 Texas’ 72-54 win over No. 23 Iowa State combining for 34 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to score some payback for last month’s 11-point loss in Ames.
The victory pushed Texas (22-6, 11-4 Big 12) back into a tie for first place with No. 3 Kansas.
In the game’s aftermath, Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger commended the Longhorns’ bench for altering the energy after the team’s listless start.
“Yeah, it really did,” he said. “I mean, those guys are really impactful. They’re winning players. They’ve got really depth. They can bring those guys in, and it did change the energy and the trajectory of the game, for sure.”
Iowa State (17-10, 8-7) ran out to a 10-4 lead in the game’s opening minutes. It pounded the ball inside, hitting four shots in the paint along with a couple free throws.
But the game’s tenor completely changed when Texas interim coach Rodney Terry inserted Rice and veteran forwards Christian Bishop and Brock Cunningham. That trio hit kick-started a 16-0 run that Iowa State never recovered from.
Bishop (six rebounds, three steals) cleared space inside, scrapped for rebounds and poked away a few steals. Rice (15 points) broke loose for a couple 3-pointers and a pair of free throws. Cunningham pinballed around the floor to disrupt Iowa State’s possessions and set up teammates for clean looks around the arc on the other end.
“It’s nothing more than trying to impact winning,” Cunningham said after finishing with eight points, four assists and three steals. “That’s the biggest goal. Myself, Christian, Jabari could all be in places where we could start, but we’re all focused on winning. And our starting five is, I mean, extremely talented. So it’s all about having the right mindset.”
At one point during that 16-0 spurt, Texas turned Iowa State over four straight times. Otzelberger said the Longhorns’ ball pressure “really sped us up” and pushed the Cyclones out of their comfort zone, one they’d never fully settle back into as the Longhorns finished with 28 points off 16 turnovers.
Iowa State made one more charge to cut Texas’ lead to four with about eight minutes to go in the first half. But Texas sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter got hot against his former team with eight straight points and freshman guard Arterio Morris nailed another 3 off the bench to cap an 11-0 run.
Hunter matched Rice for the team lead with 15 points and Morris added eight, all in the first half. As a unit, Texas shot 55 percent and hit 9 of 16 3-pointers in the first half to build a 47-29 halftime lead.
“Tonight, I thought we did a really great job of playing inside out,” Terry said. “We got some really good looks from the perimeter. Our guys really did a great job of sharing the basketball. We had 18 assists in the game and our goal was to have 18-plus. We did a really nice job of attacking.”
Texas’ lead never dipped below 13 points in the second half, and Hunter slammed the door shut on a potential comeback with a fast-break 3 to put the hosts up 20 with 9:37 left.
It was as complete a performance as the title-hunting Longhorns have authored all year long, with all nine rotation players contributing during the rout.
“All championship teams have guys that come in and contribute from the bench,” Terry said. “They’ve really embraced their roles and they’ve been stars in their roles for us. And I think that’s the biggest difference, to be honest with you, in terms of where we are right now and what we have a chance to do in the future.”