By Steve Habel, Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas – There are some teams that just find a way not to win, even when they are playing well; the Texas men’s basketball team is such a squad. After losing for the seventh time in 10 games by three points or fewer this season, it’s time to finally ask what the Longhorns have to do to get over the top.
It also might be time to accept that the Longhorns just have that answer.
It came down to keeping Kansas State off the offensive glass in the end game Saturday afternoon, but D.J. Johnson’s tip-in with 1.6 seconds to play and his ensuing free throw [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]lifted the Wildcats to a 64-61 victory over Texas in Big 12 play at the Frank Erwin Center.
Barry Brown’s running one-hander with 39.1 seconds to play gave the Wildcats a 61-59, lead but it was answered by Jarrett Allen’s layup for Texas at the 19-second mark. With the game clock winding down, Kansas State’s Kamau Stokes missed a jump shot, but Johnson (who had nine points in the game) tipped in the rebound while being fouled.
The Wildcats had just four offensive rebounds in the game, but the fourth one was a killer.
“Our defensive intensity was not there and we have to find our why,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “This was a game that came down to who wanted to win it, who wanted to make the plays down the stretch. We need everybody on this team to raise their level of play another notch, especially at the end of the game.”
The Wildcats (17-10, 6-8 in Big 12 play) were led by Wesley Iwundu’s 16 points (12 of which came in the first half) and also got 15 points from Brown and 14 from Stokes. Kansas State ended a three-game losing streak and had lost six of its past seven games before heading to Austin.
“We needed someone to make a play and we got it from Johnson,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “This was necessary win for us. Texas made some hellacious shots, especially some threes up against the shot clock, but I’m sure Texas is sitting there saying the same thing about us. We knew it was going to be tough today, and it was.”
Texas (10-17, 4-10 in Big 12 play) got 13 points from Kendal Yancy and 12 from Allen. The Longhorns have dropped three straight games.
“It’s a building year, big-time,” Smart said. “I didn’t think we’d be 4-10 in the Big 12. I’m certainly disappointed at our record, and as a coach I have to look at things we can do differently and what we have to do to improve.
“We’re trying to create a culture and our guys have made a lot of strides in the past few months. We are playing a ton of close games and we’ve lost most of them, but it’s something that we can grow from, that we have to grow from. To our guys’ credit, they’ve come ready to work every day. There is a level of fatigue there but we have to find a way to win. That’s the bottom line.”
Eric Davis’ Jr.’s desperation three-pointer at the end of the shot clock at the 10:28 mark of the first half pulled Texas to even for the first time in the game at 16. Another three-pointer, this time by Kerwin Roach II, gave the Longhorns their first lead of the game at 31-30 with 4:14 to play in the half and the two teams traded baskets throughout the rest of the half before Iwudu’s three at the 1:13 mark granted Kansas State a 39-36 lead at intermission.
Iwudu led all scorers with 12 points in the half as the Wildcats shot a blistering 76.2 percent from the floor (16-21) that included a 7-of-8 showing from beyond the arc.
Yancy paced Texas with eight points in the first half as the Longhorns shot 50 percent from the floor.
Things became a bit contentious with 12:35 to play in the second half with the Wildcats ahead, 48-39. Kansas State’s Austin Budke committed a hard foul on Texas’ Allen while Allen was shooting by swiping at the ball and connecting with Allen’s head, knocking him to the floor in the process.
Allen shoved Budke when he got up and Budke was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and disqualified from the game. Two Texas players also were disqualified for leaving the bench.
The short melee woke up the Longhorns, who scored the next seven points over the ensuing minute and a half to crawl to within 48-46. But Stokes’ three-pointer halted the surge and put Kansas State back in control until the final four minutes.
Andrew Jones hit a three-pointer to pull the Longhorns even, at 57-57, and after a Stokes jumper at the 3:06 mark, rattled the rim on a throw-down dunk to tie the game again, this time at 59.
Three of Texas’ final four regular-season games are against teams ranked in the top 10.
“The frustration will end as soon as we win a game, as soon as we start rolling,” Yancy said. “We are coming to the end of the season, so we need to focus on winning the rest of our games. Some of our younger guys are a little bit tired, but they are working to respond.”
The Longhorns have little time to fret over another close loss as they travel Monday to West Virginia in search of their first road win of the year. After that, Texas welcomes No. 3 Kansas next Saturday before closing the regular season with a road game at Texas Tech and at home game versus fourth-ranked Baylor.
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