By Steve Habel
Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — The Big 12 Conference basketball gauntlet is not for the timid or weak of spirit and there are no gifts. If a team wants to win games, it has to go out and take them.
Case in point: No. 6 Kansas’ 66-57 victory over Texas Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 11,762 fans at the Erwin Center.
The Jayhawks wanted the game, and they took it. With the game tied[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] at 54 with 4:48 to play, Kansas scored the next eight points, taking a 62-54 lead that it would not relinquish.
“As a collective group, we let go of the rope,” Texas guard Courtney Ramey said. “We had a chance to win but they just made more plays than we did down the stretch. We got a little stagnant and took some tougher shots than we should have.”
Devon Dotson scored 21 points and Udoka Azubuike added 17 as Kansas did just enough of the right things at the right times. The Jayhawks, the best three-point shooting team in the Big 12, hit just 2 of 10 from long distance Saturday, preferring to exploit their size and physical advantage at the basket.
But a three-pointer by Dotson with 2:50 to play, the final points of that 8-0, two-minute run, might have been the game’s most important basket, staking Kansas to a lead that held up in the final minutes. Dotson added four free throws in the end game to make the final score more lopsided than the game actually was.
“Winning teams go make plays at the end of a game,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “They made more plays than we did — that’s tough pill to swallow. Our whole mentality going into the game was ‘this was a game we need to seize, to go out and grab it.’
“We have to own the good and bad things we did today and move forward.”
Marcus Garrett added 13 points for Kansas (14-3 overall, 4-1 in Big 12 play), which won its second straight game after a rare home loss Jan. 11 against Baylor. The Jayhawks owned a 40-30 advantage in points in the paint and outrebounded Texas, 40-29.
“We were able to make key stops at the end and executed down the stretch,” said Dotson, who was back after missing a game with a hip injury and played 39 minutes. “We’ve locked in defensively the past two games, cleaned up some stuff, learned a lot from the loss to Baylor.”
Jericho Sims scored a career-high 20 points and guard Matt Coleman III added 10 for Texas (12-5 overall, 2-3 in games against the Big 12), which had a two-game win streak snapped.
“Like all losses, there are things I could have done better to help us win,” Sims said. “I’ve just been trying to grow and improve and my teammates have been helping me with that.”
Kansas led, 17-13, after Dotson’s layup with 11:38 to play in the first half before the Longhorns reeled off 13 of the ensuing 14 points over the next 6:44 to take a 26-18 advantage. The Jayhawks had three missed shots and five turnovers during that stretch.
Texas carried a 31-26 lead to halftime on the strength of 8 points from Andrew Jones, 5-of-11 team shooting from beyond the three-point arc and a defense that held KU to just nine points over the final 12 minutes of the half.
“We had the advantage in aggressiveness in the first half and we built a lead, but we wanted to extend it even more,” Smart said. “The way we defended, we needed to have a bigger lead. We had the opportunities.”
The Jayhawks stepped up their game in the early minutes of the second half, taking a 34-33 lead at the 16:27 mark after an 8-0 run capped by four straight points by Azubuike.
Back-to-back dunks by Sims off assists at the rim from Coleman and Gerald Liddell tied the game a 54 with 4:48 remaining.
“In our case, the key to closing out the game was getting stops, making free throws and not turning the ball over,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “The uglier the game, the better the defense is being played. That’s the way things are in this league, and it will help the teams that make the postseason.”
The Longhorns won’t have much time to lick their wounds. Looming Monday is a key road game against No. 12 West Virginia, which lost, 84-68, on the road Saturday at Kansas State.
“There should be a sense of urgency when we go to Morgantown,” Coleman said. “It’s really not about them — it’s about us and how we respond and how bad we want it.
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