Texas 71, Texas Tech 67

In a must-win situation, the Texas Longhorns barely eked out a 71-67 overtime victory against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock Saturday afternoon. Leading by 4 with only 21 seconds left in regulation, the Longhorns tried their darndest to give the game away. Back-to-back turnovers gave Texas Tech's Jaye Crockett a chance to win the game, but fortunately his open 20-foot jumper missed its mark as the buzzer sounded. The Red Raiders jumped to a quick 6-point lead during the overtime period, but 4 straight turnovers of their own handed the game to the Longhorns. Julien Lewis led Texas in scoring with 15 points, followed by 14 from J'Covan Brown, and 12 a piece from Clint Chapman and Myck Kabongo. Attempting to build its resume for an NCAA Tournament appearance, the Longhorns frankly played an ugly game against a bad Red Raider team. Securing the win certainly helps their cause, but Texas just might have proven that even if it gets the bid it's shooting for, it might be wasted on a young team that is certainly not yet ready for prime-time.

Baylor 77, Texas 72

Monday night at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns suffered a heartbreaking 77-72 loss to the Baylor Bears. Up by 10 points at halftime, the Longhorns once again proved themselves unable to close a contest against a ranked opponent. Baylor's Quincy Acy played the game of his life, hustling his way to 22 points and 16 rebounds. With J'Covan Brown hitting on 6 of 9 3-point attempts and Clint Chapman and Sheldon McClellan putting on a dunk-fest, Texas still couldn't manage to outscore Baylor. So what were some of the things that caused the Longhorns to lose this one?

1. The Longhorns are horrible at defending the 3-point shot. It's been something that has been plaguing them all season and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Myck Kabongo is especially weak at pressuring on the perimeter, and when Baylor's Brady Heslip hit a trio of 3-pointers within the 1st 5 minutes of the 2nd half, it signaled the end for Texas.

2. How many times can the ball possibly pass through the hands and legs of either Alexis Wangmene or Clint Chapman without them holding on to it? These guys are seniors and they still wind up looking like amateurs every other time a pass or rebound comes their way. Texas yielded 14 offensive rebounds to Baylor and I would guess that at least half of those were at first looking like either Wangmene or Chapman would grab them only to have them snatched away. Really Chapman, how do you play 21 minutes and not collect a single rebound?

3. Down the stretch, the Longhorns half-court offense went into its usual funk. I don't know what coach Rick Barnes does at the end of games, but just about every time out his players end games by standing unproductively still on the offensive end, leaving it to single players to drive 1 on 5 against their opponents. In this game, late turnovers by Myck Kabongo and J'Covan Brown killed any momentum the Longhorns had going.

4. Other teams just want it more. Last night, Baylor was the team that scratched and clawed and connived its way to victory. Bears coach Scott Drew isn't really known as a tactician, but paired against Rick Barnes, he looked like Sun Tzu. How the Longhorns manage to collapse at crunch time, time and time again, has to fall on a coach incapable of motivating his team to be more calculated when it most counts.

Now with a Big12 Conference record of 7-8 and an overall record of 17-11, Texas is at this point on the outside looking in at its NCAA Tournament possibilities. Beating Baylor at home was essential and now that Texas has failed at it, it will take an unlikely win at Kansas and/or a deep run in the Big12 Tournament to put the Longhorns over the top.

   

Oklahoma State 90, Texas 78

Saturday afternoon in Stillwater, the Texas Longhorns were defeated by the Oklahoma State Cowboys 90-78. Cowboys guard Keiton Page completely owned the Longhorns, scoring 40 points on the game, including hitting on all 20 of his 20 free throw attempts. The Texas defense had an infrequent off performance overall, allowing Oklahoma State to shoot 51% from the field to go along with being out-rebounded, out-blocked, and out-stolen. Longhorn point guard Myck Kabongo led Texas with 22 points on 8-12 shooting, inlcuding 3-4 from the 3-point line. J'Covan Brown and Sheldon McClellan added 20 points and 15 points respectively. Meanwhile Longhorn bigs Clint Chapman, Alexis Wangmene, and Jonathan Holmes each found themselves in foul trouble, with Chapman and Holmes ultimately fouling out before all was said and done. Texas really could have used a road win here in order to better its chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament. But considering a prior 4-game win streak, it would have been greedy to expect the Longhorns to have won such a tough match-up in Gallagher-Iba Arena. Next up for Texas is a Monday night game at home against #14th-ranked Baylor.

Texas 69, Oklahoma 58

Tuesday evening in Norman, the Texas Longhorns defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 69-58. It's the 4th win in a row for the Longhorns who improved their Big12 Conference record to 7-6 and their overall record to 17-9. J'Covan Brown scored 19 points, including 15 in the 2nd half, to lead Texas back from a 5-point halftime deficit. Freshmen Myck Kabongo and Sheldon McClellan scored 13 points a piece and for the 2nd game in a row, the Longhorns vastly outscored their opponent from the free throw line. As Oklahoma only went 5-8 from the charity stripe, Texas hit on 24 of 29 free throws. The Longhorns offense has been exhibiting a renewed aggressiveness to go along with the team's well established prowess at rebounding and defense. Coach Rick Barnes deserves much credit for righting the ship as of late, making the necessary adjustments to finish games strong enough to secure victories. Texas next plays at Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon the 18th.

  

Texas 75, Kansas State 64

Saturday afternoon at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns captured what may go down as their most defining contest of the season with a 75-64 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats. Down 42-27 early in the 2nd half, the Longhorns went on an incredible 48-22 run to close the game and pull their conference record up to a respectable 6-6. J'Covan Brown played an amazing 2nd half, scoring a pair of clutch 3-pointers and wowing everyone with his ability to drive the lane in spectacular fashion, on his way to 23 points for the game. Informed by referees before tip-off that they'd be calling things tight, Texas coach Rick Barnes advised his players to continually drive Kansas State defenders toward the rim in order to pick up fouls. And the strategy paid off in spades with the Longhorns going 35-48 from the free throw line. Senior Alexis Wangmene enjoyed a career outing, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, while freshmen Myck Kabongo and and Sheldon McClellan chipped in admirably with 24 points between them. This, the Longhorns' 3rd straight conference win, puts Texas in a much better position to make the NCAA Tournament. With only 6 games remaining on the schedule, 3 more wins should seal the deal.

     

Texas 70, Texas A&M 68

Monday night in College Station, the Texas Longhorns defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 70-68 in their last scheduled Big12 Conference match-up before the Aggies leave for the SEC. J'Covan Brown dropped 20 points and 7 assists on the A&M defense, leaving no doubt that when ESPN's Brent Musburger calls Brown an "assassin" that he knows what he's talking about. Shooting 4-4 from the 3-point line and hitting the pair of last-minute free throws that sealed the victory, Brown shined brightest in the clutch, scoring or assisting 10 of the Longhorns' final 12 points. But the game ball might actually need to be given to Jonathan Holmes, who provided a much-needed spark off of the bench by scoring 9 points in a 5-minute stretch midway through the 2nd half. Fellow freshmen Sheldon McClellan (15 points) and Jaylen Bond (8 rebounds) also made important contributions and coach Rick Barnes actually drew up a few nice looking offensive plays to close out a tightly-contested ballgame. Suddenly with an overall record of 15-9, Texas can feel a little better about its post-season hopes. With 7 games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Longhorns might still manage to slide into the NCAA Tournament by winning as few as 3 of them in a conference stacked enough to support sending even its mediocre teams to the Big Dance.

   

Texas 74, Texas Tech 57

Saturday evening at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns cruised to a 74-57 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Senior Clint Chapman had a stellar night, scoring 20 points, grabbing 9 rebounds, and blocking 5 shots in 32 minutes of play. J'Covan Brown and Sheldon McClellan each scored 17 points as the Longhorns led the Red Raiders the entire game. Up by as many as 25 in the 2nd half, effective defense and rebounding made the contest a rare cake walk for Texas, now 4-6 in Big12 Conference play. The Longhorns next play Texas A&M in College Station on Monday night.  

Missouri 67, Texas 66

Monday night at the Erwin Center, the Texas Longhorns again put themselves in position to win an important Big12 Conference game against a ranked opponent, but ultimately the Missouri Tigers escaped Austin with a 67-66 victory. Down by 1 point, the Longhorns had the ball with a bountiful 27 seconds remaining in the game. Bringing the ball up court after a full time-out, the Texas offense became visibly flustered by the surprise 2-3 zone defense installed by Missuori coach Frank Haith. Freshman Myck Kabongo managed to fire up a makeable jumper with 5 seconds on the clock, but the potential game-winning shot missed its mark. Why Horns coach Rick Barnes didn't use another time-out once it was recognized that his called play was mismatched against the zone remains a mystery to many fans and commentators alike. And how a team can look so entirely discombobulated on such a consistent basis when trying to close out games has become the thorn in the side of this team's progress. Wasn't the Arizona collapse in last year's NCAA Tournament enough to teach Barnes a lesson? Can't the Longhorns run a viable, well-organized, well-executed play when the game is on the line?

J'Covan Brown led the Longhorns with 20 points scored on 7-18 shooting from the field. Julien Lewis chipped in with 12 points and Myck Kabongo added another 10. Jonathan Holmes got the start in yet another forever-unsettled Barnes line-up shake-up only to balance a fine rebounding night (9 total, including 4 offensive) with an inordinate number of turnovers (5) for a player who is not a primary ballhandler. Sheldon McClellan was again nowhere to be found (2 points on 1-4 shooting from the field) which is a recent trend that has really been hurting his team. McClellan always puts up a great effort, so it's not his heart that is in question, just his ability to put the ball in the basket with any consistency. The Longhorns are now 13-9 on the season, including an ugly 3-6 in-conference record. While Texas has proven time and time again this season that it can run with the big boys, the Longhorns have yet to prove that they can actually beat any one of them.