Texas men’s basketball completes sweep of Kansas State with 70-59 road win

By Steve Lansdale

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Sophomore guard Courtney Ramey set career highs with 26 points and five steals to lead the University of Texas men’s basketball team to a 70-59 road victory over Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum.

The victory improved the Longhorns’ record to 16-11 overall, and 6-8 in games against Big 12 opponents, while K-State fell to 9-18 overall and just 2-12 against conference teams.

Ramey, who hit[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] 10 of 16 field goals, including 4 of 9 from behind the three-point line, was one of three Longhorns to reach double digits in scoring. Fellow guards Matt Coleman and Andrew Jones score 12 points apiece.

For the Longhorns, the victory was their second in a row after breaking out of a four-game losing skid.

“I just think our team spirit is at a high right now,” Ramey said. “You know, a lot of people are counting us out because we’ve got a lot of injuries, but we believe in each and every one of our players. We’re all Div. I athletes, and we know we have a great chance of doing what we want to do at the end of the year, and we’re just going to keep attacking.”

Of his 26 points, Ramey scored 21 in the first half, during which the Longhorns jumped out to a 42-23 lead at the intermission. The Horns shot a sizzling 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half, and 52.3 percent for the game. More importantly, they were stingy on the defensive end, allowing the Wildcats to connect on just 34.5 percent of their shots.

“I think the thing that got us going was (at) the defensive end — that’s playing with physicality,” Ramey said. “When you’re physical on defense, it just comes natural on offense, and hitting shots only builds your mental fortitude of attacking. We wanted to attack them first, hit them first, knowing they’re on their home court (and) they were going to try to hit us first.”

The victory gave Texas its first regular-season sweep of Kansas State since the 2015-16 season and narrowed to four the difference in the all-time series between the schools; K-State leads the series, 22-18.

Texas head coach Shaka Smart said the back-to-back victories by the Longhorns, who were playing without starting forward Jericho Sims, is an indication of increased maturity and improved maturity.

“Our guys have really taken ownership of what we’ve asked them to do, starting with (Ramey),” Smart said. “He has really taken a leadership role and done a great job, first and foremost in practice and in our preparation, owning the message that the coaches have given them, and then in the game. We asked them to play with grit. It’s hard to come in here and win if you don’t have a level of grit to you.

The Longhorns have little time to celebrate the victory. West Virginia visits the Frank Erwin Center Monday for a 6 p.m. game that will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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