Texas Men’s Basketball mauled by Baylor 81-72 in Big 12 race

Just when you thought Big 12 College Basketball could not get more exciting, Baylor beats Texas and Kansas beats West Virginia and now Kansas is No. 1 in the Big 12.

Texas coach Rodney Terry’s words held true. In the Big 12 if you are on top it may be only until the next game.

WACO, Texas — For most of the first half (13:15) Texas led Baylor by as much as 14 points. Dylan Disu scored Texas’ first basket and then went on to be the game-leading scorer with 24 points on the night. Baylor’s success in beating Texas 81-74 was because they stopped the top three regular scorers (Carr, Rice, Allen) from reaching their normal points. 

This season, Marcus Carr averaged 17 points per game, but scored 11 while Sir’Jabari Rice scored his average 12 points, Timmy Allen went over his average of 10.8 points, and Brock Cunningham only took two shots and missed both.

Had Carr and Cunningham hit their average the score would have favored Texas by two.

The loss does not rest on two players. Texas had 15 turnovers of which Baylor capitalized and scored 20 points. Baylor had more rebounds 37-25, more bench points 29-12. Texas bench points are usually in the high 20s on average.

The game was physical, but no more than usual.

Interesting Facts

Five Texas players did reach double digits. Timmy Allen scored 12 points and marks the 111th time in his career to score double figures. Marcus Carr with his 11 points marks his 111th time in double figures in his career, and had a game-hgh six assists.

Dylan Disu scored 24 points hitting 10-15, tied career high, from the field. In 103 games played, this is the third time Disu passed the 20-point mark.

Double figures are routine for both Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice. Hunter’s 13 points was the 15th time this season in double digit. Rice scored 12 points that puts him in double digits for the 18th time this season and 76th in his career.

Texas overall are now 22-7 and marks the Longhorns best 29-game start since the 2010-2011 season when they went 24-5. Rodney Terry was also the assistant coach at the time.

In the Big 12 Conference, Texas’ 11-5 record is also UT’s best 16-games since the 2010-11 season where they were 13-3, again when Rodney Terry was an assistant coach at Texas.

Two Big 12 regular season games remain. Texas travels to Fort Worth to play TCU on Mar. 1 (Wed) with a 8 p.m. tipoff.

In what may be a gigantic ending to the regular Big 12 season, Texas plays Kansas in Austin, Texas at the Moody Center Mar. 4 (Sat) with a 3 p.m. tipoff. If Texas wins at TCU and Kansas falls to Texas Tech, though they are playing at Kansas, then there was be a Big 12 tie for the last game to decide the winner.

Otherwise, Texas will have to beat Kansas to have a tie for the Big 12.