Men’s basketball’s six-game winning streak ends in 79-77 home loss to Texas Tech
AUSTIN, Texas — Guard Mac McClung buried a jump shot with 2.2 seconds left to lead No. 15/15 Texas Tech to a 79-77 win over No. 4/4 Texas Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center.
The loss was the first in the last five games against Big 12 opponents for Texas, which fell to 10-2 overall and watched its six-game winning streak come to an end. The Red Raiders improved to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in conference games.
Junior guard Andrew Jones went 7-of-11 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, en route to a team-high 20 points. Jones led four Longhorns who scored in double figures: senior forward Jericho Sims shot 5-of-7 while scoring a season-high 16 points, and guards Courtney Ramey and Matt Coleman added 15 and 13 points, respectively. The backcourt pair each connected on half of their three-point attempts: Ramey shot 4-of-8 and Coleman 3-of-6 from long range.
The Longhorns led, 48-38, at halftime, but were outscored, 41-29, after the intermission. The simple culprit: shooting. Texas Tech shot 45.5 percent (15 of 33) in the second half , while Texas cooled off considerably, shooting just 33.3 percent (8 of 24) from the floor. UT also shot just 58.1 percent from the free throw line.
The loss was the Longhorns’ first in five games that have been decided by three or fewer points, and drops UT to 3-2 against ranked in the Associated Press top 25 when they play Texas.
To say Texas had its chances to win the game, which was tied just twice and included five lead changes, would be an understatement. The Longhorns led for a total of 36:59, while the Red Raiders held the lead for just 36 total seconds during the contest.
The Longhorns lost despite their best three-point shooting performance of the season. UT connected on a season-high 13 shots from behind the arc, and its 52.0 shooting percentage from beyond the arc was its best this season.
The Longhorns will try to get back in the win column when they host Kansas State (5-8 overall, 1-4 against Big 12 opponents) at 7 p.m. (Central time) Saturday, Jan. 16 at the Erwin Center in game that will be carried on the Longhorn Network.
