The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
Men's Basketball tops Baylor, 84-79
01.27.2007 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Freshman Kevin Durant scored 34 points and A.J. Abrams hit six 3-pointers to lead Texas to an 84-79 win over Baylor on Saturday night.
Abrams finished with 22 points and his last 3-pointer put Texas up by seven with 1:41 to play. Connor Atchely scored seven in an 8-2 Texas run that gave the Longhorns the lead late in the second half.
Texas (15-5, 5-1) has won 22 in a row at home and 18 in a row over Baylor (11-9, 1-6).
Baylor got within three on Henry Dugat's twisting layup over three defenders before Durant hit four free throws over the final 12 seconds to seal the win.
Aaron Bruce hit five 3-pointers and scored 25 to lead the Bears, who dropped their fourth straight loss.
Baylor led much of the game and Bruce's consecutive 3-pointers after Texas had rallied to tie put Baylor up 60-54. Durant hit a 3-pointer and Atchley's putback gave Texas its first lead of the second half at 63-62 with just under 7 minutes to play.
Durant was 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 13-of-15 on free throws. It was Durant's fourth 30-point game in Big 12 play. He also had nine rebounds.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas has won 22 consecutive home games and is 11-0 at the Erwin Center this season.
- Texas has won 18 straight and 43 of the last 50 meetings against Baylor dating back to the 1982-83 season.
- Under Rick Barnes, Texas is a perfect 18-0 against Baylor.
- Texas is 70-6 (.921) against in-state foes in the Rick Barnes era.
- Texas' 2.5-1 assist to turnover ratio (15-6) is a season best.
- Texas' six turnovers are a season low.
- Texas had two players score at least 20 points for the eighth time this season. A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant have accomplished the feat together on seven occasions in 2006-07.
- Texas has had at least one player reach the 20-point mark in all 20 games this season.
- Texas has made at least seven 3-pointers in 18 of 20 games this season.
- Texas' freshmen accounted for 50 of 84 (.595) points, 21 of 30 (.700) rebounds and 13 of 15 (.867) assists.
- Over 11 home games, Texas has outscored its opponents by an average of 87.6-63.6 points.
- Texas has made at least one 3-pointer in 530 consecutive games.
Connor Atchley
- Atchley's nine points are a career high in Big 12 play.
- Atchley has recorded at least one block in eight consecutive games.
- Atchley has at least two blocks in three of the last four games.
- Atchley's two assists tied his career high, which he has reached six times.
A.J. Abrams
- Abrams reached the 20-point mark for the seventh time this season.
- Abrams has scored in double figures in 11 consecutive games and 18 of 20 this season.
- Abrams has made at least three 3-pointers in 17 of 20 games this season and at least five in seven contests.
- Abrams has made at least one 3-pointer in 23 consecutive games dating to last season.
D.J. Augustin
- With 11 assists to just one turnover, Augustin has registered 51 assists to just 13 turnovers in the first six Big 12 contests (3.9-to-1 ratio).
- Augustin reached double figures in assists for the third time this season and second consecutive game.
- Augustin's 11 assists is the second-best total of his career (13 at Tennessee on Dec. 23).
- Augustin has recorded at least six assists in 14 games this season.
Kevin Durant
- Durant reached the 30-point mark for the fourth time this season. All four have come in Big 12 play over the last seven games.
- Durant's 15 free throw attempts and 13 makes are both career highs. They also mark an individual season high for the team in each category.
- Through six Big 12 games, Durant is averaging 32.7 points and 13.0 rebounds.
- Durant reached the 20-point mark for the 17th time in 20 games.
- Durant has scored in double figures in all 20 games this season.
Justin Mason
- Mason's three steals tied his career high, which he set versus Missouri (1-10-07).
BAYOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Scott Drew, Head Coach
On the game: Right now, I am a happy coach. We hadn't been playing Baylor basketball, and I had my appendix out and I am just happy to be able to move around again. As far as today, I was really proud of our guys because it is always hard to play at Texas, and like most games we had a chance to win. I was disappointed we didn't, but we did a lot of good things.
On playing hard today: I think the team had been disappointed in how we had been playing, and the coaching staff needed to have a heart to heart and get back to playing Baylor basketball. Sometimes you have to knock before you enter, and that is what we are doing.
Kevin Rogers, Sophomore Forward
On working on rebounding: That is just a main focus of ours to get in there and rebound. Usually if we rebound well, we have a chance of keeping up with some of the big guys in the Big 12 and we put ourselves in a position to win those games.
Aaron Bruce, Junior Guard
On being energetic today: I think we had been disappointed in the way we were playing and functioning as a team. I think we worked really hard this past week on becoming more of a unit and helping each other on offense and defense. People just played their roles a lot better today.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Rick Barnes, Head Coach
On the Baylor game: We talked a little bit about conference play; it's never going to be easy. I think Baylor's a good team. They're a talented team. They've come off a couple tough losses, and you fully expect a team with its back against the wall to come out and be highly charged. They can shoot the ball and they get good play from their inside players and put a lot of pressure on your defense.
Early on, we settled for three's a little bit too much on offense. We allowed them to be a little aggressive when they had the ball. Connor Atchley and Damion James were very good for us in terms of what we needed from them. A.J. made some big shots for us. We took care of it at the free throw line.
On halftime adjustments: I don't think we weren't playing hard, because I thought we were getting really hard play from our guards. Aaron Bruce is a very hard guy to defend because he never stops moving. They can make threes, they made about nine tonight and that's about what they're averaging this season. That's very tough for our perimeter guys and they need help from our post guys, and they weren't getting it early on. I think what we're learning is how hard it is, and we expect this young team to get better defensively.
Kevin Durant, Freshman Forward
On the second half: Coach Barnes got us fired up in the locker room at halftime, and that made us come out and play better. We just needed to pick up the pace and play with more heart, and I think we did that in the second half tonight. Baylor is a great team and we just had to play better defense to stop them from shooting the ball so well.
On the character of the team: The way we played tonight showed that we are not a one-man team. When I went out in the second half for a couple of minutes, we were down by one and a couple minutes later, we were up by four. Connor (Atchley) played well tonight and got a couple of rebounds and made big shots.
Connor Atchley, Sophomore Forward
On his play tonight: I don't think I did anything different tonight than what I have done all season. I tried to set good picks for A.J. and Kevin to let them get open shots, and I crashed the boards like coach wanted me to.
A.J. Abrams, Sophomore Guard
On his shooting: The guys were setting me good picks all night and on the last three that I shot, D.J. was driving, and I just came in behind him and hit the shot. We were trying to get some time off the clock before trying to make a shot and I just got what came to me.
