The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State (First Round)
Men's Basketball defeats Oklahoma State in Big 12 tournament, 66-59
03.14.2008 | Men's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- D.J. Augustin wiped out Oklahoma State's halftime lead with a single shot. A few minutes later the quick and crafty point guard had obliterated all of the Cowboys' hard-earned momentum and put No. 6 Texas on the road to a 66-59 victory Friday in the Big 12 tournament.
Damion James had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Augustin powered a 14-0 run starting the second half for the top-seeded Longhorns (27-5), who also sprang an uncharacteristic zone defense that seemed to confuse the Cowboys.
"We had to slow the whole team down," said Augustin, who led the conference in assists for the second straight year and was second in scoring. "We needed to get stops on defense and not let them get easy baskets. They have a lot of great players. I think we did a great job helping each other and playing pretty good defense."
Ibrahima Thomas had 19 points for Oklahoma State, which trailed by as many as seven points in the first half before taking a 33-32 halftime lead on Terrel Harris' 3-pointer at the buzzer.
But the Cowboys (17-15) faltered as Augustin took over after intermission. After hitting a 3-pointer on Texas' first possession, he coaxed a third foul against Oklahoma State point guard Byron Eaton and sank both free throws. Then a few seconds later he seized a Cowboys pass that was deflected to him by a teammate and dished to A.J. Abrams for a layup. With the Cowboys having trouble against the 2-3 zone, Abrams scored again a moment later and then Augustin boosted the lead to 44-33 with his fifth 3-pointer.
The Cowboys went almost 8 minutes at the start of the second half without a field goal. Nevertheless, the zone does not come easy for a team that's known for its man-to-man defense, agreed coach Rick Barnes.
"It's hard for us right now because we've been a pretty good man team," Barnes said. "We just felt like we were getting what we needed out of it."
After regaining the lead and momentum, the Longhorns went back to their man defense.
"At the 7-minute mark, I thought we had gotten into a walk-it-up game with them and we don't want to do that," Barnes said.
It was the Longhorns' fifth straight victory over Oklahoma State.
"We lost again to another great basketball team," Cowboys coach Sean Sutton said. "They found a way to make plays down the stretch and that's what great teams do."
Texas took a 56-43 lead on Connor Atchley's bucket and seemed ready to cruise home. But Harris made a 3-pointer and the Cowboys, ice cold from beyond the arc all day, then quickly drilled three more from long range during a 12-2 spree that cut the Longhorns' lead to 58-55.
James then sneaked inside for a layup and Justin Mason, following an Oklahoma State turnover, made it 62-55 with 2:17 left.
"Defensively, we didn't have the intensity we showed the first half and let them get off to an easy start," Oklahoma State's Obi Muonelo said.
Top-seeded Texas, the regular-season co-champions with Kansas, will meet the winner of the Colorado-Oklahoma game in Saturday's semifinals.
Oklahoma State will go home and hope for either an NCAA or NIT bid.
"I haven't thought about that," Sutton said. "Our total concentration was on winning this tournament. I felt like the way we've been playing, we'd need a good effort against Texas. But I thought we'd win the game."
Muonelo had 13 points for Oklahoma State, which was only 9-of-31 from beyond the arc.
Much of the first half was a shooting contest between James and Thomas.
James, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, drilled his first five shots, including his first three 3-pointers. But Thomas, a 6-11 freshman, practically matched him shot for shot, making five of his first seven field-goal attempts and both his 3-pointers.
Atchley had seven rebounds and four blocks for the Longhorns.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas is 35-30 (.538) all-time in league tournament games, including a 14-11 (.560) mark in the Big 12 Championship.
- Texas has reached the semifinals in nine of its 12 trips to the Big 12 Championship.
- Texas is 8-1 in Big 12 Championship quarterfinal action in the Rick Barnes era.
- Texas has won five straight over Oklahoma State and 24 of the last 34 dating back to 1976-77.
- Texas has blocked 49 shots in the past seven games (7.0 bpg).
- Texas opened the second half with a 14-0 run and held Oklahoma State scoreless for the first 7:28 of the half.
- Texas is now 17-0 this season when holding its opponent to under 40 percent from the field.
Connor Atchley
- Recorded at least one block in his 13th consecutive game
- Blocked four or more shots for the sixth time this season
- Has blocked two or more shots in nine of the last 10 games
- Has recorded 30 blocks last 10 games.
- Pulled down seven or more rebounds for the 10th time this season
D.J. Augustin
- Matched his career high with five three-pointers (at Villanova, 1-20-07), also tied the UT record for made threes in a Big 12 Tournament game
- Reached the 20-point mark for the 17th time this season and the 24th time in 67 career games
- Scored in double figures for the 29th time this season and the 54th time in his career
- Has made at least two three-pointers in 22 games this season
- Has made at least one three-pointer in eight consecutive games and 29 of 32 games this season
- In his last seven contests, has averaged 23.7 ppg
- Led Texas in scoring for the 19th time this season
- Has led Texas to a record of 26-1 when leading with four minutes to go
Damion James
- Moved to eighth on UT's single-season rebounds list with 343, passing LaMarcus Aldridge (339, 2005-06)
- Reached the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season and fifth time in 67 career games
- Scored in double figures for the 21st time this season and the 33rd time in his career
- Matched his career high with three 3-pointers and did so in the first half
- Registered his 15th double-double of the season and the 19th of his career
- Recorded at least seven rebounds for the 27th consecutive game
- Reached double figures in rebounding for the 18th time this season and the 28th in his career
- Led Texas in rebounding for the 29th time this season
- Has recorded 114 rebounds in the last 10 games (11.4 rpg)
- Has blocked at least one shot in 10 consecutive games
- Has made at least one three-pointer in eight of the last nine games
Justin Mason
- Set his carerer high in assists with eight (Arkansas, 12/20/06)
- Dished out at least four assists for the eighth time this season
- Led Texas is assists for the sixth time this season
