Men’s basketball falls to Texas Tech; now Longhorns await postseason announcement

By Steve Habel/Senior Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – There was a point in Thursday’s 73-69 Texas loss to No. 14 Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament that it looked like the shorthanded Longhorns may have caught enough lightning in a bottle to pull off the upset.

That ultimately futile notion was stoked by the hair-on-fire shooting performance of Texas guard Jacob Young and the steady hand of point guard Matt Coleman. But in the end the talented and deep Red Raiders, especially Keenan Evans, made the plays that counted the most at the Sprint Center to allow Tech to capture the victory and advance.

“We left a lot on the table,” Coleman [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]said afterward. “Coming into Kansas City it was a tournament we felt like we could win, so I feel like we came up short. Our focus was Big 12 championship, and my main focus was winning because I felt like as a team, as a group we could win this.”

Evans had other thoughts. He scored 25 points that included two baskets and a pair of free throws in the final two minutes as the Red Raiders (24-8), seeded second in this event, moved on to play No. 18 West Virginia in Friday’s second semifinal. No. 9 Kansas will play Kansas State in the other Big 12 semifinal.

Texas Tech led by as many as 14 points in the second half before the Longhorns clawed back, with a dunk by Mohamed Bamba with 2:32 to play cutting the advantage to 64-61. Evans then hit a jumper and two free throws to give the Red Raiders some breathing room, and they made the plays they needed down the stretch.

“Texas Tech deserves a lot of credit,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “But there’s a lot of things we will look at when we watch that tape and we’ll say, ‘if we would have done this a little better or this a little harder or been a little more connected in this area, we would have won.’”

The Longhorns now play the waiting game to see if they make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team (which is likely) and where and whom they will play in the Big Dance.

“We have had a really good year, (with) a ton of ups and downs in terms of adversity we’ve been hit with, and our guys have responded with great resolve, great togetherness, great fight,” Smart said. “When you come out of this league, obviously you go through the fire and we have and we’ve got a ton of great experience and a ton of great wins.

“We put ourselves in good position, as I’ve said all along when I get asked. I’m not on the committee, but certainly the way that we’ve played over the last couple of weeks, you know, we look like an NCAA tournament team.”

Young poured in a career-high 29 points (his previous high was 14) to lead all scorers, while Texas (19-14) also got 20 points from Coleman. Bamba, who had missed the past three and a half games with an injured toe, hit for 10 points for the Longhorns.

Young refused to say he’s become the Longhorns’ secret weapon but he’s played best at the end of the season when the team needed him to step up.

“I don’t see it like that,” Young said. “I see it as my teammates pushing me up to be who I am and do what I do, and that’s what they know me for is making shots and being a fighter. That’s basically it. I couldn’t do it without my teammates. Tonight, I got in my zone and never got out of it. I told myself I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing and just keep trying to fight.”

Jarrett Culver, with 12 points, was the only other player in double-figure scoring for Texas Tech. Culver also took 11 rebounds for the Red Raiders, who outshot Texas 47.3 percent-43.1 percent (including a 9-of-16 showing on its three-pointers) and out-rebounded the Longhorns, 37-28.

“We have high, high confidence,” Evans said. “We’ve got everybody back. We’re getting healthier by the day. We all know what we can do and what we’re capable of, and we’re trying to play together and play for one another and we know that this is our last go-’round. So we’re just trying to make the most of it.”

The Red Raiders scored the game’s first nine points and never looked back, getting balanced scoring led by the seven points apiece from Culver and Evans in the first half and carrying a 35-28 lead into halftime.

Coleman led the Longhorns with 10 points in the half while Young hit for 9.

Both teams struggled from the floor, with the Red Raiders outshooting Texas 39.3 percent-35.4 percent in the first half and forging a 22-15 advantage on the glass. The Longhorns missed their first nine shots from the floor and didn’t score until a jumper by Kerwin Roach II at the 14:42 mark of the opening half.

The Red Raiders took an 11-point lead, on a dunk by Evans with 13:45 to play. But the Longhorns answered with back-to-back three-pointers as part of nine consecutive points from Young and pulled to within 53-49 with 11:03 remaining, setting up another down-to-the-wire finish.

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