The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Colorado
Men's Basketball knocks off Colorado, 67-56
03.11.2009 | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2009
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| OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Dexter Pittman dominated inside with a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds, leading Texas past Colorado 67-56 Wednesday in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
At 6-foot-10 and about 300 pounds, the oversized Pittman had his way against Colorado's interior defense. He started out 9-for-10 from the field with four dunks and even hit his first five free throws.
Colorado (9-22) didn't have an answer inside and could never break through against the 2-3 zone deployed by the Longhorns (21-10), going 4-for-17 from 3-point range. Dwight Thorne II scored 15 to lead the 12th-seeded Buffaloes, who set a new school record with their 22nd loss of the season.
Texas' Damion James added 11 points and 11 rebounds for his 15th double-double. A.J. Abrams, Texas' leading scorer and the Big 12's career leader in 3-pointers, added 10 points while matching his season-low with only six shots. It was only the sixth time this season Abrams didn't take at least 10 shots in a game.
Instead, it was Pittman leading the way inside as Texas avoided becoming the second straight fifth-seeded team to lose in the first round of the tournament. Colorado upset Baylor in the opening round last year, but never led this time around.
Texas will face fourth-seeded Kansas State in the quarterfinals Thursday. The Wildcats beat Texas in overtime in their only meeting this season, giving K-State the tiebreaker for the first-round bye in the conference tournament.
It was only the second time in Rick Barnes' 11 years as coach that Texas didn't have a first-round bye.
Pittman bowled over Jermyl Jackson-Wilson for an open layup to start a run of eight straight Texas points midway through the first half that pushed the lead to 10. His third dunk of the game gave the Longhorns a 29-18 advantage, their largest of the first half.
The Buffaloes stayed in it from the foul line, going 11-for-12 on free throws, and closed to within 35-29 on Casey Crawford's layup just before halftime. After Pittman opened the second half with another dunk, Thorne answered with 3-pointer to get Colorado within five.
Pittman then set up Justin Mason for a layup, and James tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Abrams to extend Texas' lead. The Buffaloes were never again closer than seven, and the Longhorns' lead swelled to 47-34 after Mason's driving layup with 14:06 to play.
Pittman thwarted a brief comeback bid by the Buffs with a three-point play and a layup that restored the 13-point lead.
Levi Knutson finished with 11 points off the bench for Colorado. Cory Higgins, who scored a career-best 34 points when the Buffaloes took Texas to overtime in February, was limited to five points on 1-for-11 shooting.
Texas got a brief scare when top reserve Gary Johnson aggravated his injured left ankle while fighting for a loose ball with 5:11 left. Johnson had missed three games because of the injury before returning for the regular-season finale against Kansas on Sunday, but was able to walk off the injury and return to the game a few minutes later.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas is 16-12 all-time in the Big 12 Championship, including a 2-1 record in first round games
- Texas has advanced to the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal round in 12 of its 13 appearances
- Texas is 3-1 all-time against Colorado in Big 12 Championship play and leads the overall series 13-8, including an 12-3 lead in the Rick Barnes era
- Had two players with double-doubles in the same game for the third time this season (James, Pittman vs. Appalachian State, Jan. 2; James, Pittman, at Texas A&M, Feb. 16)
- Outrebounded its opponent for the 26th time this season and is 17-9 in those games
A.J. Abrams
- Moved into a tie for third on the Big 12 career games played list at 140 with Nick Bradford (Kansas, 1996-2000)
- Moved into fourth place on the UT career scoring list with 1,900 points, passing Ron Baxter (1,897, 1977-80)
- Moved to sixth on the Big 12 Championship career scoring record list with 135 points, passing six players, including Paul Pierce (132, Kansas, 1997-98)
- Moved to sixth on UT career steals list with 172, passing Albert Burditt (170, 1991-94)
- Set the UT single-game record for steals in a Big 12 Championship Game with five and had four in the first half
- Five steals also matches career high (previous: twice)
- Scored in double figures for the 23rd time this season and the 91st time in his career
Connor Atchley
- Matched his season high with two steals (Tulane, Nov. 18, 2008)
- Had multiple blocks for the 14th time this season
Dogus Balbay
- Started his ninth straight game and has recorded 52 assists to just 15 turnovers in those games
Damion James
- Registered his ninth double-double in the last 13 games, his 15th of the season and the 36th of his career
- Reached double figures in scoring for the 28th time this season and the 66th time in his career
- Reached double figures in rebounding for the 17th time this season and 47th time in his career
- Pulled down at least seven rebounds for the 23rd time in 30 games this season
Dexter Pittman - Set his career high with 26 points (previous: 25, vs Missouri, Feb. 4, 2009)
- Matched his career high with nine field goals (previous: nine vs Missouri, Feb. 4, 2009)
- Set his career high with 28 minutes (previous: 26 vs. Appalachian State, Jan. 2, 2009)
- Set his career high with eight made free throws (previous: 7, three times)
- Scored at least 20 points for the third time this season and in his career
- Scored in double figures for the fourth straight game, the 13th time this season and 16th in his career
- Had double figures in rebounds for the fourth time this season and the fifth in his career
- Pulled down at least six rebounds for the fifth time in the last seven games
- Set his season high with two assists
- Scored nine of the team's first 19 points in the game's first nine minutes
- Scored 15 of the team's first 31 points in just over the first 15 minutes in the first half, also pulled down seven rebounds in that span
- Made his first five field goal attempts and first five free throw attempts
- Over the last four games has averaged 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds
