By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN – Texas played to its strengths Wednesday, using a keen outside-in game spurred by Javan Felix’s 16 points and Cameron Ridley’s 15 points and 12 rebounds to dominate outmatched TCU 66-43 before a crowd of 8,634 at the Erwin Center.
The win marked the 600th of coach Rick Barnes’ career (he’s now 600-308 in 28 seasons as a collegiate head coach). With the victory, Barnes becomes the 13th active NCAA Division I men’s basketball head coach to reach the 600-win milestone.
Felix shot 5-of-8 from [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]the floor and nailed four of his seven 3-point attempts in his return to the court after missing two games with a concussion. And Ridley controlled the paint and the glass, recording four of the Longhorns’ seven blocked shots.
Texas (16-8, 5-6 in Big 12 play) captured a second straight win and moved a step closer to the break-even mark in conference action. The Longhorns have won 11 straight and 15 of the last 16 meetings against TCU and remain a perfect 8-0 against the Horned Frogs during the Barnes era.
The Longhorns shot 51.4 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Horned Frogs 36-27 and shot 31 free throws and made 21 of them.
“We got some momentum back after the loss to Oklahoma State last week,” Barnes said. “Winning the game tonight was really important because of what this team has been through.
“I’m proud of the way we’ve dealt with what we’ve had to,” Barnes added. “We haven’t been a full team and healthy for very many games, but we are fighting through it.”
Felix said the concussion that kept him out two games was his third since February and had him worried for his future.
“It’s my brain, so yeah I was concerned,” he said. “During the past 10 days I couldn’t do anything that could have had contact, so I worked on my shot because that’s all I could do.”
Kendall Yancy added 12 points for the Longhorns and Isaiah Taylor hit for eight points and five assists. Taylor (with 34 minutes) was the only Texas player to have more than 28 minutes of court time.
“We were able to balance the minutes and that’s something we’ve been looking to do all year,” Barnes said.
TCU (14-10, 1-10 in Big 12 play) shot just 28.8 percent from the floor and missed 11 of its final 13 shots after climbing back to the game midway through the second half.
“We’ve seen this picture before, and it’s not pretty,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said. “If we shoot the ball well, rebound the ball well and take care of the ball well, we have a chance to win. We didn’t do any of those tonight. Texas’ length gives people problems so when we have an open shot, it puts added pressure on the shooter.”
The Horns sprinted out to a 33-16 lead at the halftime as Felix nailed three 3-pointers and scored nine points. Yancy added eight points and Ridley hit for five points and nearly ripped down the basket stanchion during a dunk attempt.
TCU scored just six points and hit on two of its last 10 shots in the final 10:43 of the half. It shot 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from the floor as the Texas defense clamped down and forced the Horned Frogs into bad shots and gave up few second chances (just two offensive rebounds).
Texas returns to the floor Saturday with a home game against Texas Tech.
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