The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 6 Men's Basketball falls to No. 24 Baylor in OT, 80-77
01.30.2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2010
Box Score 
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Freshman guard A.J. Walton, a 47 percent free-throw shooter, made three of four foul shots in the final 17 seconds of overtime and No. 24 Baylor beat No. 6 Texas 80-77 on Saturday.
Baylor led 77-76 before Walton made the second of two free throws. Texas' Justin Mason made one of two before Walton got to the line again with 10 seconds left and calmly hit both.
Texas had one last chance to tie it but Avery Bradley's 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Baylor (16-4, 3-3 Big 12) got its first regular-season win over Texas (18-3, 4-2) since 1998. Tweety Carter led the Bears with 27 points.
Texas rallied from 14 points down early in the second half. Damion James had 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for the Longhorns, but fouled out in the final minute of overtime.
Walton finished with 14 points behind 6-of-7 shooting on free throws. The Bears also scored 27 points off 18 turnovers.
Texas has lost three of four since reaching No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history.
The Longhorns could have used Walton's nerves at the line. One of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the country, Texas went 19 of 31 against the Bears.
One of those misses, by the Longhorns' best shooter, J'Covan Brown (94 percent), would have given Texas a three-point lead with 16 seconds left in regulation.
Given that opportunity to tie it with a basket, Baylor sent the game into overtime when Ekpe Udoh shot an airball on a 3-pointer but Texas left Anthony Jones all alone underneath to snag the ball and drop in an uncontested layup with 0.3 seconds left.
Udoh, 0 for 11 from the field to that point, then made Baylor's first three baskets in overtime. He hit a soft hook over Dexter Pittman and converted an easy layup when he drove the lane through a group of Texas defenders.
Brown cut the lead with a 3-pointer, then turned the ball over, leading to Udoh's dunk.
Two free throws by Walton pushed the Baylor lead to 71-67. Udoh fouled out with 1:12 left and James got Texas to 75-73 with two free throws and a dunk after he stole the ball at midcourt from Carter.
Texas had won 24 in a row over Baylor before the Bears beat the Longhorns in the Big 12 tournament last season. For the Bears, Saturday's win was just the seventh in their last 51 conference road games.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEXAS
- Fell to 1-1 in overtime on the season
- Outrebounded an opponent for the 16th time in 21 games
J'Covan Brown
- Reached double figures in scoring (15 points) for the 11th time this season
Damion James
- Made his 127th career start to become UT's all-time leader, passing Royal Ivey (126 - 2001-04)
- Played in his 129th consecutive game, tied with Justin Mason for third on UT's all-time list behind only Brad Boddicker (134 - 2001-04) and James Thomas (134 - 2001-04)
- Recorded a double-double (20 points, 19 rebounds) for the 12th time this season and the 49th time in his career (129 games)
- Grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, topping the 18 he registered on two prior occasions
- Scored 20 or more points for the 12th time this season and the 21st time in his career
- Reached double figures in scoring for the 18th time this season and the 87th time in his career
- Reached double figures in rebounding for the 12th time this season and the 60th time in his career
Gary Johnson
- Reached double figures in scoring (10 points) for the eighth time this eason and the 29th time in his career (75 games)
- Played in his 129th consecutive game, tied with Damion James for third on UT's all-time list behind only Brad Boddicker (134 - 2001-04) and James Thomas (134 - 2001-04)
Justin Mason
- Made his 122nd career start, passing Terrence Rencher (121 - 1992-95) for third place on the UT list for career starts
- Played in his 129th consecutive game, tied with Damion James for third on UT's all-time list behind only Brad Boddicker (134 - 2001-04) and James Thomas (134 - 2001-04)
Dexter Pittman
- Reached double figures in scoring (14 points) for the 12th time this season and the 30th time in his career (121 games)
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On the game: Obviously, it's a disappointing loss. When you give up 27 points off turnovers and miss free throws coming down the stretch missing a block out here or there in a game when you're not playing your best offensively is the one thing you can't do. You'll look at the numbers and see that they shot 43 percent, that's not indicative of how I do think we guarded them once we got our defense set. Some of that came from our offense turning the ball over and allowing them to get in the open court and score some easy baskets. I thought our guys played hard, I really did. I thought they made a conscious effort to stay with our game plan, especially defensively. Offensively, we were just too careless with the ball. You can't turn the ball over the way we did. Too many of them were unforced turnovers.
On Baylor's final possession in regulation: We got them to shoot the kind of shot you want them to shoot and we gave up an offensive rebound. In that situation you've got to finish that possession and the game's over.
On the team's free throw shooting down the stretch: It is what it is. You're going to be in those games. Does it get frustrating? It does, and I think it does for the players, too. I wish I could come up with a remedy for it and tell you but I've never been able to figure it out and I don't think any coach can figure it out.
Senior Forward Damion James
On the play in overtime where he received his fifth foul: We were trying to trap the ball and I was hoping to make a play. He got out ahead and I had to do what I had to do. It's tough.
On where the team stands right now: We're alright. Coach (Barnes) said he likes where we are right now. The turnovers hurt us toward the end. It's my fault. I've just got to be a better leader of this team.
Senior Center Dexter Pittman
On the game: There are some things we've got to work on and get better as a team. We could have done some things differently. I think we played hard. It was a good fight and Baylor's a good team. I'm not taking anything away from them.
On only getting one rebound in the game: It's kind of tough when you're down there and you've got three guys around you. I tried to not go out of control and get fouls called on me. I just tried to tip the ball to one of my teammates at the top instead of just going up and grabbing it. We've got a great rebounder on our team in Damion. I just box my guy out and I know he's going to come get it.
Freshman Guard J'Covan Brown
On his missed free throw at the end of regulation: It was kind of frustrating. When we were in the huddle Damion said, `Let's get this win.' I walked to the free throw line with confidence. When I released it, it looked perfect. It was just short. I was mad at myself because usually I don't miss those in that situation. The second one felt the same way and it went in.
On if he progressed as a player today: We had a meeting yesterday and coach told us to put two feet in or two feet out. That was my goal today, to come out and be the player I know I can be. I just want to take a step every game.
BAYLOR QUOTES
Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening statement: It's tough to win here, and we understand what a great team they are. I am very fortunate. As a coach, you get into coaching to coach teams in games like this. Today we really saw the heart of our players. Tweety Carter was amazing. Us coaches put the ball in players' hands and expect them to make us look good and today he sure did.
On Tweety Carter handling Texas' defenders tonight: Tweety's been playing outstanding basketball all year long. Anytime you read Big 12 in a category like assists, usually those guys are lottery picks. That shows you what kind of company Tweety is in with that kind of statistic. He's done a great job with our team all year long and today he was able to do it against Texas so more people saw it. It's a bigger stage.
On A.J. Walton's play: A.J. wasn't a freshman at the line at the end. He was in his sophomore year. He really came up big. He's been working on his shot, working on his free throw. A.J.'s a winner. He's been in big games going back to his high school days, and he's going to make those shots.
Sophomore Forward Anthony Jones
On making the last second shot that put the game into overtime: What I was expecting was Tweety [Carter] to take his man like he had been doing all game. Take him to the hole and he was either going to get a foul or finish. He passed it to Ekpe [Udoh] and I didn't think Ekpe was going to shoot it, but like coach said, always go to the board no matter what. Nobody blocked me out and the ball just fell into my hands.
Senior Guard Tweety Carter
On regrouping after Texas second-half run: Coach says it's always a game of running. We know that it's a great Texas team, number six, they aren't going to let us just blow them out. They came out and they got on us. In the second half they cut the lead down and the turnovers, but when you win you still think about those turnovers, but when you get a big win like this, you kind of let it go a little bit.
On tonight's game: This was a great win for us, but it doesn't stop here. We've got to stay focused and we can compete with anybody on any given day. We just have to come out and play like we played tonight.
Freshman Guard A.J. Walton
On playing in this atmosphere as a freshman: I think it was great. I was nervous at first, but like Tweety [Carter] said, we talk everyday about the game progressing and just calming down and have fun. Don't listen to anybody, just have fun, so I just went out there and gave it my all and did what I needed to do for the team.
On his thoughts in the last ten seconds of the game: There was only one thing I was thinking, the Lord knows what I want. So, I just stepped to the line, cleared it out and just knocked out the free throws.
