By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — New Texas men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart wants people to understand that the process of building the Longhorns into the team they could be at the end of the season is going to have plenty of ups and downs.
Texas continued to show plenty of growing pains but found a way to work through them Tuesday with a gritty 80-73 overtime win against giant-killer Texas-Arlington at the Frank Erwin Center.
“Our guys really want [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]to be successful, and they really want to win,” Smart said. “Everyone needs to relax and understand that this is a process. If one or two plays or a half don’t go our way, we are not going to throw the process in the trash.”
Texas forward Conner Lammert hit a three-pointer with 1:10 to play overtime and guard Eric Davis, Jr. added another 40 seconds later as Texas outlasted the Mavericks, who already have beaten Ohio State and Memphis on the road earlier this season. The game was tied, 71-71, before Lammert broke the tie his three-pointer with the shot clock winding down and a defender in his face.
Point guard Isaiah Taylor led the Longhorns (3-3) with 21 points, all in the second half and overtime, while guard Javan Felix scored 18 points for Texas.
Center Kevin Hervey poured in 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Texas-Arlington (5-2) and guard Drew Charles added 12 points for the Mavericks, who out-rebounded Texas, 46-33.
The Mavericks held a 29-21 advantage with 2:48 to play in the first half before Texas got a jump start from guard Kerwin Roach, Jr.’s soaring dunk that posterized Texas-Arlington forward Jorge Bilbao.
“(Roach’s) dunk put a charge in our team and woke up some people in the building,” Smart said. “It’s something we really needed at that time.”
Before Roach’s dunk off the break, Texas went seven minutes without scoring.
“Roach’s dunk was the spark that woke up everyone in the building,” Taylor said.
Roach, a precocious, high-flying freshman, said he was even surprised by the dunk. Still, he rated the highlight-reel play “a 12 out of 10.”
“The team needed something and it boosted my confidence and the team’s confidence,” Roach said. “I was just looking to make a play for my team. I was in the moment.”
Texas tied the game at 38 on a three-pointer by Lammert with 16:02 to play and the rest of the game went back and forth, with neither team leading by more than five points until the end.
The game was tied, 67-67, at the end of regulation after a spirited final minute that saw plenty of contact in the lane on drives at both ends of the floor.
UTA shot just 30 percent from the floor in the second half, including just one of nine shots from three-point range.
“We took 29 threes and Texas took 31 — they just shot the ball better than we did,” Texas-Arlington coach Scott Cross said. “Texas’ size and length was a huge impact in the game.”
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