Men’s basketball season ends on half-court heartbreaker, 75-72

By Steve Lansdale

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Just like that, the Texas men’s basketball team’s season was over.

After guard Isaiah Taylor tied the score at 72 with less than three seconds to go, it appeared the game was headed to overtime. But as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson took an inbound pass, cut across the grain of the Texas defense and calmly launched a shot from about 49 feet, a good stride behind the stripe at the middle of the court.

Even Jesperson seemed to realize the remote chance of the shot finding its target, drifting toward the far sideline … until the ball hit the backboard and bounced in as time expired. Jesperson was mobbed by his NIU teammates, and the Longhorns’ season was over as they fell, 75-72, in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Texas finished the season[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] with a record of 20-13, while NIU improved to 23-12.

Taylor was outstanding, scoring a game-high 22 points, hitting three of four shots from behind the three-point arc and nine of 11 free throws. Two other Longhorns scored in double figures: guard Eric Davis, Jr., scored 13 points, while guard Javan Felix added 12.

UT enjoyed advantages in several categories that often indicate which team will end up wining a game. The Longhorns pulled down 32 rebounds, while NIU had 30 ,which helped lead to a 12-4 advantage on second-chance points,. Texas outscored its opposition, 27-22, in the paint. The UT bench outscored the NIU bench, 23-13.

Taylor also had a game-high six assists, which gave him just one fewer than the entire Northern Iowa team.

The game marked the end of the collegiate careers of six Longhorns: centers Price Ibeh and Cameron Ridley, forwards Danny Newsome and Connor Lammert and guards Felix and Demarcus Holland.

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