By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas guard Javan Felix gave an indication early Saturday against Texas Tech that he was ready to take the game by the throat by scoring the Longhorns’ first eight points in the opening three minutes.
“It felt like it was going to be my day when I woke up this morning,” Felix said. “No … no just kidding. Coach (Shaka Smart) asked me beforehand if I wanted to take a three to begin the game, and I did, and I hit it, and that got us off to a good start.”
It was never that easy — or that decisive — for either Felix or the Longhorns the rest of the way.
Felix ended up with 20 points [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]and point guard Isaiah Taylor added 13 points and eight assists as the surging Longhorns outlasted upset-minded Texas Tech, 69-59, in Big 12 Conference play. The win was UT’s fourth straight and likely booked the Longhorns for a trip into college basketball’s top 25.
The Longhorns shrugged off a ragged first 15 minutes and early foul trouble on Taylor and center Prince Ibeh to post their seventh victory in their past eight games, and to avenge a loss earlier in the season to Texas Tech.
Part of UT’s struggles occurred because Taylor couldn’t be as aggressive as normal when he picked up two fouls in the first four minutes. Smart said Taylor is distributing the basketball at a high level. Smart knows his team is at its best when the Longhorns’ mercurial distributor is on the floor and in the flow.
“Isaiah is getting better at making the reads — he does a great job of surveying the floor, almost like a quarterback in football surveys the field,” Smart said. “When he’s on his game, he might be one of the best I’ve ever coached.”
“I am always looking to make the penetration, the easy read and the easy kickouts,” Taylor said. “It’s part of being a point guard, to find the open guys with the best shots.”
Guard Kerwin Roach, Jr. added 12 points for Texas (16-7 overall, 7-3 in Big 12 play). The Longhorns scored 34 points in the paint despite getting almost nothing from their post players — Ibeh went without a point (or even a shot) and backup center/forward Shaquille Claire managed just four points.
“We limited the touches for the Texas post players, but when we doubled in there it opened lanes and shots for their outside shooters,” Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith said. “You have to pick your poison sometimes, but we were undersized inside and that affected the way we tried to play them today.
The Red Raiders (13-9, 3-7 in Big 12 play), who lost their fourth straight game and for the eighth time in nine games since beating Texas Jan. 2, were led by guard Kennan Evans’ 14 points. Forward Aaron Ross added 11 points for Texas Tech.
Both teams started slowly but Tech continually had the answer to every question Texas posed through the first 18 and a half minutes of the first half. The Red Raiders never solved Felix, who scored UT’s first eight points and had 14 in the first half.
Texas outshot Tech, 50 percent to 38 percent, in those initial 20 minutes and hit five three-pointers to the Red Raiders’ two, but couldn’t create separation. It was a 7-0 run over final 1:57 that allowed the Longhorns a 36-30 lead at halftime.
“Our guys really battled, but Texas did a good job,” Smith said. “We battled back and got ourselves in a position to win. It’s a tough loss for us.”
Tech got to within one point, at 40-39, on a layup by guard Justin Gray with 15:26 to play, but never got that close again.
Six of UT’s final eight regular-season games are against teams ranked in the top 17, beginning with a trip Monday to take on top-ranked Oklahoma.
“We’re feeling good and we are confident as a team,” Taylor said when asked about playing the Sooners. “We aren’t satisfied. I’m hungry, the coaches are hungry and my teammates are hungry. We have some tough games ahead, but we are ready.”
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