By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — A late-game Kansas State run and lack of execution in the endgame proved too much for Texas to overcome as the Wildcats defeated the Longhorns, 67-64, Wednesday in Big 12 Conference play at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.
The loss dropped the Longhorns’ record this season to 15-9 overall, and 5-6 in games against Big 12 opponents. K-State improved to 17-7 overall, 6-5 in Big 12 play.
Dean Wade hit for 16 points as all five Kansas State starters scored in double figures, but it was the plays the Wildcats made in the final two minutes that allowed them to bounce back from a 38-ppint loss Saturday to No. 19 West Virginia.
After doing just about everything correctly Feb. 3 in their victory over then-No. 12 Oklahoma, the Longhorns had little energy or spirit and even less hunger and it cost them when Kansas State made its inevitable surge with about seven minutes to play.
“One of the things that winning teams say to themselves is[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)], ‘that was good, but we want more,’” Texas coach Shaka Smart said in reference to the Longhorns’ win over Oklahoma. “We didn’t display that tonight. Kansas State was hungry and aggressive and we didn’t match that tonight.
“After we got up early, some of our guys thought we were good and we weren’t good. We have to play a 40-minute game and we didn’t.”
A driving layup by Barry Brown with 1:00 to play pushed Kansas State’s lead to 66-61, but the Longhorns answered with a 30-foot three-pointer by Eric Davis, Jr. with 44 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 66-64.
Two fouls on the ensuing Kansas State possessions — just UT’s second and third team fouls of the second half — gave the Wildcats the ball with 18.6 seconds to play and the shot clock off. The Longhorns had to foul three more times before they could send Kansas State to the free throw line and when they did Brown missed the front end of a one-and-one.
After UT’s Matt Coleman tried to force a lob inside but instead turned over the ball, Kansas State’s Wade was fouled and made just the first of two free throws, allowing the Longhorns a chance at a tying three-pointer. But Texas never got a shot away as time expired.
“Our spirit wasn’t there all the way, and we just didn’t have enough energy throughout the game,” Coleman said. “That comes from within, and Kansas State had it more than we did.
“No matter what’s going on, I need to be the spark for this team. The message afterward was that Kansas State wanted it more than us – we didn’t do the small things we needed to win the big things.
Cartier Diarra added 13 points for the Wildcats while Brown and Xavier Sneed hit for 11 points and Makol Mawien scored 10 points for Kansas State.
“We made the shots down the stretch and got the ball in four times late in the game under pressure, and that’s not easy,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “We’ve been though some close games, so we knew how to handle the situations we had tonight.”
Texas forward Mohamed Bamba led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and guard Eric Davis, Jr. tallied 13 points off the bench for the Longhorns.
“We had low energy but we tried to rally around each other,” Bamba said. “No games in this league are easy, but when you drop one at home it really hurts.”
Kansas State outshot the Longhorns, 53.8 percent-41.9 percent, in the first half but the game was tied, 34-34, at halftime. The game was tied four times and had five lead changes in the first half.
Texas took five more shots than the Wildcats over the first 20 minutes of action and made one less than Kansas State while converting more chances from the free throw line (4-2) and grabbing more rebounds (18-14) than the Wildcats.
Bamba led all scorers with 15 points at the half on 5-of-7 shooting while Wade paced Kansas State with 11 points despite playing just 14 minutes because of foul trouble.
The Longhorns led, 54-50, after a Coleman jumper with 7:12 to play, but then missed their next five shots and committed two turnovers allowing Kansas State to forge a 9-0 run that pushed the Wildcats to a 59-54 advantage.
“It hurts a lot,” Smart said. “I hope it hurts the guys as much as it hurts me. We have to find a way to get the next one, which just happens to be on the road.”
Texas returns to action Saturday at TCU. The Longhorns beat the Horned Frogs, 99-98, in double overtime when the teams played for the first time this season Jan. 10 at the Erwin Center.
“There’s going to be a lot of truth and honesty when we sit down and look at the film tomorrow,” Smart said. “It’s February and things are tough, but we are big boys and this is what we signed up for. We didn’t have to be perfect tonight, but we needed to play better and better together.”
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