By Steve Habel, Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — There was nothing pretty about the Texas men’s basketball team’s free-throw shooting Tuesday against Iowa State, as the Longhorns missed nine of their 25 shots from the charity stripe heading into the final seconds.
So how can the suddenly calm-as-a-cucumber demeanor of freshman center Jarrett Allen when he went to the line to shoot what ended up being the deciding points with seven seconds to play in Texas’ 67-65 victory over the Cyclones in Big 12 Conference play at the Frank Erwin Center be explained?
“I knew I could do it and I had to relax,” Allen said after the win, Texas’ third in a row at home on its final possession. “I didn’t want to let my teammates down.”
Allen scored 17 points and pulled [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]down nine rebounds and the Longhorns (10-14, 4-7 in Big 12 play) needed every one of them to grab the victory.
The Cyclones pushed past a horrendous first 18 minutes in which it trailed by as many as 17 points to claw back to within 55-54 with 6:10 to play. Deonte Burton’s three-pointer with 47 seconds remaining completed the comeback and tied the game a 63.
Shaquille Cleare corralled an offensive rebound and laid it back in with 29 seconds to give Texas a 65-63 lead before Burton’s jumper 14 seconds later tied the game again at 65.
UT’s Andrew Jones missed on a jumper with eight seconds to play, but Allen was fouled trying to grab the rebound and made both ends of the one-and-one free throw opportunity.
Texas had three fouls to give and used two of them before forcing the Cyclones’ Matt Thomas into a contested three-pointer that bounced up, and then off, the rim as the buzzer sounded to end the game.
“That was a good team we just beat — Iowa State just beat Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “We started the game with good energy, and we got a little sloppy when we got the big lead. Iowa State is as hard a team to defend as any in our league and they are senior-laden and very experienced and don’t get rattled. Our guys did a good job of doing the right things at the end to win.”
Cleare hit for 12 points for the Longhorns (10-14, 4-7 in Big 12 play) and Jones added 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Thomas scored 17 points to pace Iowa State (14-9, 6-5 in Big 12 play) while Burton had 13 points, Naz Mitrou-Long had 12 and Monte Morris scored 10.
Texas jumped on Iowa State out of the gate, scoring the game’s first six points before building a 13-3 lead at the 15:53 mark. The Cyclones missed four of their first five shots and had three turnovers in the that initial four-plus minutes and Texas scored 10 of its 13 points in the opening stretch in the paint.
As bad as things were at the start for the Cyclones, they only got worse through the middle of the first half. Iowa State hit only two of its first 17 shots (11.8 percent) and was outrebounded by the Longhorns, 19-9, over the first 12-and-a-half minutes and trailed, 22-8.
“You get to play with approach goals, and one of those for us is to be attacking and aggressive,” Smart said. “We have to learn to play when we have a lead and to be just as aggressive as we are when we are behind.”
But Iowa State fought back via a 9-0 run over a 1:34 stretch that was highlighted by a dunk from Burton and run-out layup by Mitrou-Long that cut the Texas lead to 30-22 with 1:57 remaining in the half, and when Thomas hit his third three-pointer of the half with 1:08 to play, the Cyclones had crawled to within 31-27 and all the early trouble were forgotten.
“We threw the first blow, but we knew Iowa State is a veteran team and they would come back,” Cleare said. “We just made the plays at the end that made the difference to win.”
Jones’ three-pointer at the buzzer to end the half allowed Texas a 35-29 lead at intermission. He led the Longhorns with eight points in the half, while Thomas paced the Cyclones with nine points. Texas outshot Iowa State 48.1 percent to 30.8 percent in the first 10 minute of play.
The Cyclones got to within one point, at 55-54 on a dunk by Darrell Bowie, at the 6:10 mark. But Allen’s putback dunk with 5:04 to play put another charge into the Longhorns, creating a small cushion heading to the end game.
“We didn’t play great and Texas scored too many times in transition because that makes them tick,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. “We weren’t moving at the pace we needed to.
“On the road we need to be detailed and tough and we weren’t. We didn’t deserve to win this game tonight. Credit our guys for fighting back — I thought that final shot was going to go in.
Texas is now 10-4 at home but 0-7 on the road. Four of the Longhorns’ final seven regular-season games are away from the Erwin Center, including their next two contests — Saturday at Oklahoma and Feb. 14 at Oklahoma State.
“Every game you win and every obstacle you overcome is important and are a part of building a team as well as building things long-term,” Smart said. “Being able to handle whatever happens and play through to the next thing is critical.”
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