Men’s basketball’s late burst proves too much for No. 3 Oklahoma

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — A couple of storylines were known before the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners played Saturday before a capacity crowd at the Frank Erwin Center.

Texas will not win the Big 12 Conference regular season championship — that already was clinched by Kansas, for the 12^th straight season. In addition, the Longhorns don’t have the nation’s best player — that award very well could go to Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield.

But Texas might be the Big 12 team that’s playing the best at the right time and certainly is a squad no one wants to play in the postseason, as evidenced by the 25^th-ranked Longhorns’ 76-63 win over No. 3 Oklahoma.

The Longhorns got 18 points from [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]point guard Isaiah Taylor and scored 22 straight points during a run beginning with just seven and a half minutes to play to rally past Oklahoma, despite 30 points from Hield.

“Obviously, we are team that’s gotten better and that’s piqued some people’s attention,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games, and a lot of times the game is there to win or lose at the six-minute mark.

“Oklahoma is a great team and they’ve had our number in the recent past, so this is a big win. Our guys never got bummed out — our energy and focus, those things together, allow things like a 22-0 run to happen. Our guys were really connected the whole game.”

Texas trailed, 58-51, after a jumper by Hield with 7:29 to play, but then burst into overdrive while Oklahoma went scoreless for almost seven minutes. By the time Hield scored again for the Sooners with 37 seconds to play, Texas held a 73-61 lead and the game was in the books.

“We didn’t handle the late-game situation very well,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “The end was kind of a blur, quite frankly. We didn’t have many good possessions during that late stretch. Texas whipped us on the boards, especially late in the game. We have to play 40 minutes of great basketball every game, and we only played about 35 today.”

UT has had games in which it have been mysteriously AWOL — such as a 58-57 road loss to TCU and a dumbfounding 78-64 home setback Feb. 20 to Baylor when the Longhorns played perhaps their worst game of the season.

But among UT’s other losses are a three-point defeat at Oklahoma, a nine-point loss at then-No. 3 Kansas, when the Longhorns were within five points with a minute to play, and a 10-point loss at then-No. 14 Iowa State that was a three-point game with less than two minutes remaining.

The Longhorns are now 4-2 against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10, with both of the losses on the road. Texas is 4-0 this year at home against AP top 20 opponents, including a 2-0 home mark against AP top 10 opponents. That includes victories over No. 3 North Carolina, No. 10 West Virginia and No. 17 Iowa State.

Guard Javan Felix and forward Connor Lammert added 14 points apiece for the Longhorns (19-10 overall, 10-6 in Big 12 play), while guard Kerwin Roach Jr. added 12 point and guard Eric Davis Jr. scored 10 points. Center Prince Ibeh led both teams with 10 rebounds.

“A lot people doubted us as a team coming into this game, but if we play like we did today and keep working hard, we can beat anyone in the country,” said Taylor, who also had five assists and did not commit a turnover. “We were able to get stops, we were making our free throws and making plays and you could feel the swell of the crowd from their support.”

Hield scored 33 points for Okahoma (22-6 overall, 10-6 in Big 12), but had only 10 in the second half. It was the ninth time this year that Hield scored 30 points or more. Guard Jordan Woodard added 15 points for the Sooners.

“We decided midway through the second half to put two guys on Hield because he had to be stopped,” Smart said. “He is something else.”

Texas got the first five points of the game from Lammert, but the rest of the first half belonged to the Sooners … specifically, Hield.

Hield, presumed by some as a frontrunner for national player of the year honors, scorched Texas for 23 points in the half on 8-of-12 shooting and looked like the best player in the college basketball. He was 4-of-7 from three-point territory in the first half, and his inside baskets included a dunk, a nifty reverse layup and a putback after an offensive rebound. Hield also led both teams in rebounds in the opening half with five.

Even with all Hield’s superlatives, the Longhorns managed to stay within three points, at 40-37, at halftime. Texas shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, with Lammert and Davis leading the Longhorns with eight points apiece.

Oklahoma cruised through the first 12-plus minutes of the second half, answering every Texas charge with one of its own. But then it all came apart as the Longhorns made all the plays and Oklahoma couldn’t stop the reversal of momentum.

“We didn’t execute at the end,” Hield said. “We are a veteran team, but we didn’t play with the poise we needed to. It’s hard to believe we can go so long without scoring, but that’s an indication of how well Texas was playing too.”

Texas doesn’t have long to celebrate its big win over OU: No. 2 Kansas comes to the Erwin Center Monday for UT’s Senior Night.

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