The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 11/12 Men's Basketball tops Baylor, 78-72
01.27.2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2009
Box Score 
| Box Score | 
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Texas coach Rick Barnes was talking about how hard his team fought, expounding on all the things the 11th-ranked Longhorns had to do to win.
Still, Barnes really shouldn't have been all that surprised with the outcome.
In his 11 seasons, the Longhorns have never lost to Baylor.
Texas made it 23 consecutive victories in the series Tuesday night, when A.J. Abrams scored 19 points while matching the Big 12 career record for 3-pointers in a 78-72 victory over the Bears.
"We knew both teams would dig in and play as hard as we can play," Barnes said. "Defensively, I thought we were really good. Offensively, we go through spurts where we struggle. ... This was as complete a win as we've had as a team."
And yet just another victory for the Longhorns (15-4, 4-1 Big 12) against the rival located less than 100 miles north on Interstate 35. Baylor last won in the series in 1998.
"Like all Baylor fans, we're tired of being on the short end," said coach Scott Drew, now 0-12 against the Longhorns.
Baylor (15-5, 3-3), coming off a 19-point loss at Oklahoma that was its 29th straight loss in that series, was within a basket of the Longhorns with 1:23 left when LaceDarius Dunn hit two free throws.
But Abrams then dribbled inside the 3-point line with a minute to play and hit a jumper for his last points of the game. Abrams then fouled Tweety Carter on a 3-pointer shot, but Carter missed all three free throws--having already missed his only other two in the game.
"You've just got to take what the defense gives you," Abrams said. "I had open shots in the first half from 3. Obviously they were going to make adjustments and you've got to change."
Abrams matched the Big 12 record with his 338th career 3-pointer, his third of the game coming 14 1/2 minutes into the game. He didn't make another one, leaving him tied with Jeff Boschee, who played at Kansas from 1999-2002.
"He's been a great player for four years," Drew said. "He does a great job coming off screens. ... We did a pretty good job, but lost him a couple of times in the zone and that hurt us."
The game was tied 13 times, but the 13th and final lead change came when Gary Johnson was credited with a basket after Kevin Rogers was called for goaltending with 4:20 left to make it 64-62. Dogus Balbay had a breakaway layup on the next possession after a Baylor miss.
Curtis Jerrells, who is from Austin, led Baylor with 14 points in his 100th career start. He is only the third 100-game starter in Bears history, starting every game.
Rogers added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Dunn had 12 points and Quincy Acy 11.
Damion James, coming off a 28-point game against Texas A&M on Saturday, had 14 points despite shooting 6-for-20. James missed his first seven shots, but had 12 rebounds.
When James finally scored with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half, that tied the game at 21. Less than a minute later, after Dunn made a free throw, James made a tough 12-foot jumper in traffic to put Texas up the rest of the half.
Johnson's basket opened the second-half scoring and put Texas up 29-24. The Longhorns then were scoreless for more than 3 minutes and Baylor built its biggest lead of the game.
The Longhorns had a 24-second span when they had three turnovers, only one fewer than they had in the first half. That came during a 10-0 run that pushed Baylor ahead. (Texas finished with only 10 turnovers).
A steal by Jerrells led to a slam dunk by Acy, who was fouled and added the free throw. Carter then stole the ball from Abrams, his second turnover in a matter of seconds. Carter missed his breakaway jumper, but Acy's had a putback dunk.
Carter added a 3-pointer on the next possession for a 33-29 Bears lead, and Rogers' free throw after that provided their biggest advantage.
Abrams is already the Texas career leader for 3-pointers made and attempted (850). Travis Mays is second on the Longhorns list with 246 made 3-pointers from 1987-90.
With 120 3-pointers in 2006-07 and 118 last year, Abrams has the top two single-season marks in conference history. He has 54 this season. Missouri's Clarence Gilbert also had 118 in 2001-02.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Improved to 23-0 against Baylor in the Rick Barnes era
- Limited an opponent to under 40% FG shooting for the 12th time in the first 19 games, improving to 162-15 (.915) in the Rick Barnes era when accomplishing the feat (11-1 this year)
- Improved to 91-9 (.910) against in-state foes during the Rick Barnes era, including 60-8 (.882) against the three Big 12 Texans
- Logged a higher FT percentage than an opponent for the 15th time in 19 games
A.J. Abrams
- Played in his 128th career game, one shy of tying Brad Buckman (129 - 2003-06) for sixth place on the UT career list
- Tied the Big 12 career record for 3-point field goals with his third of the game at the 5:45 mark of the first half, equaling Jeff Boschee (338 - 1999-2002)
- Scored 10 or more points for the 13th time this season and the 81st time in his career
- Moved into 14th place on the list for most career points in Big 12 history with 1,712, passing Oklahoma State's Desmond Mason (1,702 - 1998-2000)
- Became the sixth player in school history to reach the 1,700-point plateau for a career
Dogus Balbay
- Played a career-high 31 minutes, topping the 28 minutes he played at Oklahoma
- Tied a career-high with eight points, equaling the mark he set at Oklahoma
- Has logged 33 assists in the last nine games after totaling just eight assists in his first nine games
Damion James
- Scored 10 or more points for the 18th time this season and the 56th time in 92 career games
- Registered his seventh double-double of the season and the 28th of his career
- Tied P.J. Tucker (2004-06) and James Thomas (2001-04) for fifth place on UT's list for most career double-doubles with 28
- Grabbed 10 or more rebounds for the seventh time this season and the 37th time in his career
- Moved into 26th place on UT's career scoring list, passing Albert Burditt (1,059 - 1991-94) with 1,061 points
- Led Texas in rebounding for the 10th time this season and the 50th time in his career
- Became the seventh player in school history to reach the 800-rebound plateau for a career, ending the game with 806 boards, two shy of tying Brad Buckman (808 - 2003-06) for sixth place on the UT career list
Varez Ward
- Set a career-high with six free throws, topping the three he made against Texas Southern
- Logged his highest point output since scoring 12 against Texas Southern on Dec. 16
