By Riley Zayas
AUSTIN, Texas — In a game that Texas men’s basketball head coach Shaka Smart and Texas Tech’s Chris Beard both called a tale of two halves, the Longhorns saw their hopes of victory dashed in the final seconds of a closely contested Big 12 showdown in Austin against Texas Tech, as they fell, 62-57, at the Frank Erwin Center.
The Horns raced out of the gates and mounted a 12-point lead, only to collapse down the stretch, losing their second straight game and falling to 14-9 on the season, and just 4-6 in the Big 12. Texas Tech improved to 15-8 overall, and 6-4 in Big 12 games.
“We clearly didn’t make as many plays as we needed to today,” a disappointed Smart said after the game. “We need [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]some guys to step forward, but I thought we did a phenomenal job of really owning our message and theme coming into the game. We just didn’t have that same level of aggressiveness the second 20 minutes.”
The UT defense kept the Longhorns in it long enough for the offense, led by guard Andrew Jones, who had a team-high 18 points, to get into rhythm and take control of the first half. Texas took a 31-19 lead into the half. That 12-point lead was thanks in large part to Jones, who scored 16 points in the first half and made threes on two straight possessions. In fact, it was Jones who made what could be called the play of the first half, as he intercepted a pass and took it down the floor with Red Raider defenders in pursuit. He then made a near-impossible shot tossing the ball up behind his head and drawing the foul, completing the three-point play that gave way to a 7-0 run, and a 16-8 Texas lead.
However, the post-halftime bug, characterized by cold shooting and fouling, reared its ugly head once again, as Texas allowed the Red Raiders to mount a comeback throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, and erase the 12-point halftime lead.
Four minutes into the second half, Matt Coleman III became just the 38th player in Longhorn hoops history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark when he drove to the lane and past two Red Raider defenders for the bucket, extending the lead to 35-26.
However, in a draw of unfortunate luck, Texas lost two of its premier post players early in the second half, as both Kai Jones and Jase Febres went down with leg injuries, and had to be helped off, with neither able to put weight on the injured leg. Those were tough blows as each had brought down multiple rebounds — Jones with two and Febres with three — at that point.
As a result, much of the duties in the post were put on Jericho Sims’ shoulders, a role he struggled with at times, scoring just two points and fouling out with 3:16 left to play.
Instead of Sims, it was Royce Hamm, Jr., who made the most of his increased minutes. His shining moments were on the offensive end, as he threw down multiple dunks, while his tema-leading three blocks helped out on defense.
With less than two minutes remaining, UT guard Courtney Ramey hit a key three to take back the lead for the Longhorns, 57-56, although Tech responded by charging down the floor and getting a layup to gove Tech a 58-57 lead with just 1:37 left to play.
Following a Red Raider miss, Coleman drew a foul on the defensive rebound, giving Texas a chance to reclaim the lead. But Coleman’s layup was blocked, and Texas was forced to foul the best free throw shooter in the league, Davide Moretti, with just 15.3 left to play. Moretti, despite having an off game, knocked down both free throws, extending Tech’s lead to three, at 60-57. After Coleman had another shot blocked, Moretti was fouled and made two free throws, giving Texas Tech the 62-57 win.
Smart identified his squad’s second half fouling problem as one of the major reasons for the loss. The Longhorns sent Tech to the line just once in the first half, but allowed the Red Raiders 21 chances from the charity stripe in the second.
“We defended so well in the first half, I think only allowed one free throw, and then in the second half they got in the bonus fast,” Smart said. “They really scrapped what they were doing on offense and just started putting their head down and driving the ball. We knew it was coming, but we didn’t stand up to it enough.”
The Longhorns contained Moretti throughout much of the game. Coming into the contest, he was averaging 13.4 points per game, but he scored just seven Saturday
“He’s a veteran. We trust him completely, so late in the game we like him to be our free throw shooter, and more times than not, it works out for us,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “Great poise by him tonight when it wasn’t his night offensively. He did the things we needed from his leadership position.”
Despite back-to-back losses in which they lost the game in the second half, Coleman said that no faith has been lost in the Longhorn locker room, even as doubt begins to surface about their chances of making the NCAA tournament.
“We haven’t lost any faith,” Coleman said. “We just have to keep taking it one game at a time.”
“Our guys are aware of how we stand and what we need to do,” Smart added. “You have to be the best you can in the moment and put yourself in a position to win the game. In this league you get a lot of opportunities, but when it’s a good opportunity, it’s also a really good team.”
Opportunities they will have in the coming weeks, as top-ranked Baylor is next on tap on Monday night.
“Today was an emotional game,” said Smart. “I thought there was a lot of emotion out there. That’s how it works in this league: you got to turn the page and we got to figure out where those guys are at and move on. If I don’t respond, I can’t expect our guys to respond. It’s my job to show them who we’re going to be and how we’re gonna be.”
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