For the first time in several years, anticipation over a Texas basketball game abounds.
On Saturday Texas welcomes Kansas to the Erwin Center for a 3 p.m. tilt featuring the two teams presently playing the Big 12’s best basketball, according to ESPN. Both teams enter the game 16-4. Texas, ranked 25th, has won five straight league games, three against ranked teams, and has all but put the disaster that was the 2012-13 season behind it. Kansas streaks into the game ranked sixth nationally – Texas’ fourth consecutive ranked opponent – and [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]unbeaten in conference play. The Jayhawks have won seven in a row and 10 of their last 11.
Since the formation of the Big 12, Kansas and Texas have been the two most consistent teams. The Jayhawks have won or shared 10 conference titles in a row, but the Longhorns rank second in the league in total conference wins. Kansas has an overall mark of 238-45 in conference play, outpacing Texas, which sports a 188-95 conference mark.
The teams have played some highly-competitive games, though KU holds a 17-6 lead in the series when the teams have met as conference foes. Here’s a brief look back at some of the more memorable battles.
In his only season at Texas, Kevin Durant played Kansas twice, both times putting on clinics that saw the Longhorns fall frustratingly short. In Lawrence, Durant scored 25 first-half points as the Longhorns jumped out to a 51-35 lead, but Kansas came back behind Julien Wright and an ankle injury that slowed Durant after halftime. Wright’s block of D.J. Augustin’s potential tying three-pointer in the closing seconds gave Kansas a 90-86 win.
The teams met again in the Big 12 Tournament championship game, and Durant shined again. Texas let a 32-10 first-half lead get away, and Kansas claimed an 88-84 overtime win. Durant scored 22 of his 37 points after halftime, but didn’t score in overtime.
Another memorable Texas-Kansas game came back in 2002, when then-freshman T.J. Ford starred in a game that remains one of the most exciting in Erwin Center history. Kansas came in ranked second nationally with a lineup that included NBA players Drew Gooden (28 points), Nick Collison (15 points, 12 rebounds), Kirk Hinrich and Wayne Simien (17 points, 10 rebounds), but oft-overlooked Jeff Boschee, a high school All-America himself, stole the show in Kansas’ 110-103 overtime win.
Texas’ last win over Kansas came in memorable fashion at Allen Field House in 2011, when J’Covan Brown powered Texas to a 74-63 come-from-behind win, snapping Kansas’ 69-game home winning streak in the process. Kansas, 17-0 coming in, opened the game on fire, taking an 18-3 lead. But Texas chipped away and chipped away. Texas trailed 42-32 early in the second half when Brown went to work. He keyed a 17-3 run to give Texas a 49-45 lead and scored 17 of his 23 in the second half.
Texas has been particularly tough against Kansas in the Erwin Center despite losing its last three at home to Kansas by an average of just six points per game. The Longhorns’ last home win against Kansas came in 2008. Damion James emerged from first half foul trouble to score 12 points and grab 13 rebounds after halftime, Connor Atchley scored 16 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting night with four three-pointers, and Texas held on for a gritty 72-69 game against the third-ranked Jayhawks, who’d eventually win the national championship.
Can what should be a sell-out crowd expect another down-to-the-wire battle? Texas certainly brings enough confidence and momentum into the game to compete, but on paper Kansas provides some tough challenges as the teams match up.
Backcourt: Kansas guards Naadir Tharpe, Wayne Selden Jr., Frank Mason and Andrew Wiggins (17.7 points, 7.3 rebounds in conference) vs. Texas guards Javan Felix (15.6 ppg in conference), Isaiah Taylor (11.3 ppg), Demarcus Hollard, Kendal Yancy, Damarcus Croaker and Martez Walker.
Tharpe (9.2 points, 5.4 assists) makes Kansas’ offense go, and Selden has been a consistent outside threat along with Wiggins when he plays on the wing. Texas’ perimeter rotation has been effective, and Taylor comes into the game off his best as a Longhorn (27 points vs. Baylor). The big question will be how Texas chooses to defend Wiggins, a 6-foot-8 player who is equally deadly from outside and in close. He’s Kansas’ second-best three-point shooter and has made more free throws (95) than all but one of his teammates have attempted (Embiid’s 97). If Texas stays with its three-guard lineup of Felix, Taylor and Holland, expect the Longhorns to play the zone that has been effective so far. Otherwise, freshmen Croaker (6-foot-2), Yancy (6-foot-3) and Walker (6-foot-4) could draw the assignment of guarding Wiggins when Holland (6-foot-2) needs a break.
Frontcourt: Kansas wing/posts Wiggins, Perry Ellis, Joel Embiid, Jabari Traylor and Tarik Black vs. Texas wing/posts Jonathan Holmes, Cameron Ridley, Prince Ibeh and Connor Lammert.
Embiid is the conference’s tallest player, and possibly its most athletic, as Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said this week. The Jayhawks’ “other” freshman averages 11.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and makes 65 percent of his shots, and he’s comfortable defending from the rim out to the three-point line. He and Ridley lead the conference at nearly three blocks per game. Ellis has continued the emergence that began in last year’s Big 12 tournament and averages 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and makes 55 percent of his shots. Traylor and Black give the Jayhawks two more bruisers, and Wiggins can more than hold his own working inside. Texas’ post players have been effective when they’ve avoided foul trouble. At 6-foot-9 and 285 pounds, Ridley (11.9 points, 8.9 rebounds in conference) will provide Embiid with a physical challenge he hasn’t seen yet. Challenging Kansas’ post players – the Jayhawks shoot 51 percent as a team – without fouling is a must for Ridley and Holmes, Texas’ leading scorer at 12.6 per game, especially. Ibeh and Lammert can provide quality minutes off the bench, but if Texas must rely on them to attack Embiid, Ellis and company for extended periods of time, the Longhorns could be in trouble.
A loss to the nation’s sixth-ranked team would in no way be a season-killer, but Texas isn’t in to moral victories. The Longhorns believe they can compete for a conference title, as Brian Davis wrote in the Austin American-Statesman following the win at Baylor, and at this point the road to the Big 12 title goes through the Jayhawks.
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