The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
Men's Basketball tops Oklahoma, 80-69
01.13.2007 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Freshman Kevin Durant had his usual stellar game with 28 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 25 Texas overwhelmed Big 12 rival Oklahoma 80-69 Saturday.
Durant, who leads the league in scoring and rebounding, just missed his third straight 30-point game. He can blame coach Rick Barnes, who took him out with more than 4 1/2 minutes to play and Texas leading 79-52.
A.J. Abrams added 20 points for the Longhorns (13-3, 3-0), hitting five 3-pointers. Texas has hit 34 from long range in its first three Big 12 games.
Nate Carter scored 18 to lead Oklahoma (9-6, 1-2), which has lost three of four under first-year coach Jeff Capel.
The Sooners played without center Longar Longar, their leading scorer and rebounder, after he was suspended Friday for two games for throwing an elbow that caused a serious injury to a Texas Tech player earlier in the week.
The Sooners could have used something to try to stop Durant, who likely would have gone to the NBA straight out of high school if the league hadn't imposed an age minimum.
Instead, like just about everyone else the Longhorns have played, Oklahoma could only watch as Durant scored seemingly at will. He shot 10-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-8 on free throws.
Texas dismantled one of the Big 12's stingiest defenses from the start, hitting 10 of its first 13 shots. Durant banked in a 3-pointer, then had consecutive rim-rattling dunks, the second coming from a no-look, backward pass from point guard D.J. Augustin.
Then it seemed like everyone's turn to feed Durant for baskets when Abrams whipped the ball to him from about 20 feet for an easy layup.
About the only thing Durant could do wrong was get a technical foul after jawing with the Sooners' Bobby Maze after Maze fouled him after Durant stole the ball and was headed for the basket. Durant already had 18 points when Barnes took him out of the game for two minutes with Texas leading 30-17.
With Durant on the bench, three straight Texas turnovers helped the Sooners cut the lead to 34-26 before Abrams hit consecutive baskets for the Longhorns. Durant returned and his putback helped Texas take a 43-33 into halftime.
Abrams and Justin Mason hit consecutive 3-pointers to open the second half. Durant grabbed five rebounds in the first four minutes and hit two tough layups, the second on a three-point play that pushed Texas' lead to 55-35.
When Abrams hit his fourth 3-pointer, Texas led 65-38 with 13 minutes to play.
The Longhorns next go on a three-game road swing starting Tuesday night at No. 9 Oklahoma State.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas shot 68.0 percent (17-of-25) from the floor in the first half, tied for the fifth-best shooting performance in a half by the Longhorns. The school record is 80.0 percent (12-of-15) in the first half of a January 1983 game at Arkansas.
- Texas hit 54.7 percent (29-of-53) from the floor for the game. It marks a season high for the Longhorns who have hit on at least 50 percent from the field on three occasions this season.
- Kevin Durant's 20 points in the first half was two shy of the UT record for most points in a half in Big 12 Conference play. Daniel Gibson scored 22 points at Baylor in the second half of their meeting on Jan. 21, 2006.
- Texas recorded an 11 rebound margin (34-23), including a 23-13 edge in the second half. This marks the fifth straight contest (eighth overall on the year) that the Horns have registered at least a +10 rebound margin.
- Kevin Durant posted his fifth straight and 10th double-double of the year with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
- Kevin Durant opened Big 12 Conference play by averaging 33.0 points and 14.0 rebounds through the first three games.
- Kevin Durant has reached the 20-point plateau in 14 of his 16 games this season and the freshman has tallied double digits in the scoring column in every game.
- A.J. Abrams reached the 20-point plateau for the sixth time on the season.
- Texas had two players score at least 20 points for the seven times this season. A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant have accomplished the feat together on six occasions in 2006-07.
- Texas has started the season with a 10-0 record at the Erwin Center for the fourth time in the last five seasons. This season the Longhorns own a +25.7 scoring margin in games at the Erwin Center.
he Horns have won 58 of their last 60 home contests against unranked opponents.
- The Longhorns posted their 21st straight home win and are 69-4 (.945) at the Erwin Center over the last five seasons.
- D.J. Augustin has reached double figures in the scoring (10 points) for the ninth straight game each and the 12th time in 16 contests this year.
- Justin Mason equaled a career high with his seven rebounds. He previously recorded seven rebounds against Texas State.
- A.J. Abrams has made at least three 3-pointers in 14 of the first 16 games.
- Texas has had at least one player log at least 20 points in game every game this season.
- Texas has made at least seven 3-pointers in 14 of their first 16 games, including their last seven.
- The seven freshmen combined to log 60 of the 80 points (75.0%), 26 of the 32 rebounds (81.3%) and 12 of the 15 assists (80.0%).
OKLAHOMA POSTGAME QUOTES
Jeff Capel, Head Coach
On the game: First of all I want to congratulate Texas. They are a very talented basketball team. The best team we have played all year. They can score in a variety of ways and they have arguably the best player in college basketball. They shot the ball tremendously in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole. I was proud of our guys for pulling the game to a 10-point game to end the half.
On the game plan: We wanted to defend the three and keep them off the foul line. We were going to try and do a good job of that. Obviously we didn't they had half of their points from those two areas. We didn't do a good job of executing what we wanted to do.
Taylor Griffin, Sophomore Forward
On defending Kevin Durant: We wanted to be physical with him. We know he is a great scorer and that he will get his points, but we tried to do the best job on him by keeping him from catching the ball as much as we can and making him feel as uncomfortable as possible. Whoever was guarding him man-to-man had to go all out and rely on our other guys to help out.
On defending Texas as a team: All five of their players out there are scorers, and it's really tough to concentrate just on Durant because there are so many good three point shooters, slashers, and good rebounders on their team. They are a good team and it was a tough game.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Rick Barnes, Head Coach
On facing Oklahoma's defense: I think that offensively that once we got going we were fine. We were able to get some stops. We have seven or eight different guys that can make plays and get open shots. They changed their defense like we thought they would and we did get bogged down a little bit, but we were able to recover.
On Kevin Durant: He can play better defense than he did tonight. Kevin is getting better. It's the way he likes to pass the ball, he has really good passing skills. He gives you a chance to do a lot of different things. He is a really unselfish player, he is scoring, but at the same time he is passing well. He is scoring so much and that credit goes to his teammates for getting him the ball.
Kevin Durant, Freshman Forward
On the game: We played well today; we did some great things today. That's all I'm worried about. We played great man the whole game and we made some mistakes. We'll get back to practice and back to work and get ready for Oklahoma State.
On Oklahoma State: It's going to be a harsh environment there, but we've just got to focus on our game-plan. I try to tune out the crowd. They were pretty hard on me at Tennessee, but I tune it out and just focus on the game.
A.J. Abrams, Sophomore Guard
On the three-point shots: I think we've got a good balance of shot selection on this team. Whether Kevin (Durant) or Connor (Atchley) is feeling it down low, we're going to try and get them the ball down low and let them work. Having that established post-presence makes it a lot easier to get good looks from the three-point line.
On the second half: We wanted to come out and improve. In the past we've started slow and let teams hang around for awhile. We wanted to come out today with high-intensity and get after it right away.
Justin Mason, Freshman Guard
On shooting threes: Different guys will have different routines, but most of the guys will need to make about 70-100 after practice. Some will shoot a little bit more, but A.J. (Abrams) is the best we've got, one of the best in the country.
