The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Kansas State
No. 7 Men's Basketball falls to Kansas State, 75-70
02.28.2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2011
Box Score | | Box Score 
| Notes | Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Rodney McGruder scored 22 points, Jacob Pullen scored 20 and Kansas State muscled past No. 7 Texas 75-70 on Monday night, the Wildcats' fifth straight win and first on the road over a Top Ten team since 1994.
Pullen exemplified the tough, physical nature of the game, scoring 16 points in the second half despite falling hard on his right wrist as Kansas State (21-9, 9-6 Big 12) sent the Longhorns to their second straight loss and third in four games.
"Everybody wrote us off. They cast our season down the drain," Pullen said of the Wildcats' 1-4 start in the conference. "People say we're a good team again but we can't let things like that get into our locker room and we can't let down our guard. Our morale is to the sky."
Texas is heading in the opposite direction.
An 11-0 start in conference play had the Longhorns among the top contenders for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Now they're trying to regroup and not worry about how far they may fall.
"We're better than what we're playing and that's the concern," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "You've got to stay disciplined with what you do. Kansas State did exactly what we thought they'd do and that was try to push us out of our offense."
Texas (24-6, 12-3) met its defensive match against the Wildcats, who held the Longhorns to 34 percent shooting. Freshman Tristan Thompson scored 26 points for the Longhorns but his teammates shot just 14 of 54 from the field. Kansas State shot 50 percent two days after Texas gave up a 22-point lead and let Colorado shoot 53 percent in a road loss.
Curtis Kelly scored 15 points for Kansas State, doing much of his damage in the first half when Pullen was struggling to score. McGruder was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers.
Thompson was the only Longhorn who could match Kansas State's physical play. He grabbed 10 rebounds and had several dunks but got little help on offense. Jordan Hamilton scored 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting and was a non-factor for most of the game. J'Covan Brown scored 11 points but didn't make a field goal until hitting two long 3-pointers in the final minute.
"They pressured us as well, but we just missed our shots," Texas guard Cory Joseph said.
Texas, which was used to blowing out teams at home, knew it was in for a fight when Kansas State's Jamar Samuels, who is 6-foot-7, decked 5-10 Texas guard Jai Lucas in a collision near midcourt in the early going.
But Thompson was the only one who really responded with three early dunks and tough rebounding. He scored 12 of Texas' first 20 points and Kansas State's best counterpunch was the inside scoring of Kelly and 7-footer Jordan Henriquez-Roberts.
Thompson's fourth dunk of the first half put Texas up 29-24. At that point, his six field goals were more than the rest of his team. Thompson's tough shot over Kelly put Texas up by five before a 3-pointer by McGruder pulled Kansas State within 33-31 at halftime.
Kelly made two consecutive baskets over Thompson to start the second, then blocked Hamilton as Kansas State quickly grabbed the lead. Hamilton also rimmed out a 3-pointer, his 10th miss in 11 shots.
"I try to be aggressive," Kelly said. "They're big and aggressive and try to attack me and I go back at them."
Pullen then made three consecutive baskets that put Kansas State ahead 50-42 with 12:06 to play.
Kansas State managed to maintain that lead for the next 5 minutes, but started piling up critical fouls. Samuels and Henriquez-Roberts both picked up their fourth, sending much of the Wildcats' interior strength to the bench.
The Wildcats simply went outside for points. McGruder slipped away from Hamilton for his fourth 3-pointer and a 60-51 lead.
Kansas State seemed to have the game wrapped up when McGruder dunked on a fast break with 47 seconds left. Brown's two long 3-pointers from the right wing gave Texas some life before Pullen and the Wildcats put the game away from the free throw line.
"Some of the breakdowns are baffling to be honest with you," Barnes said. "I can't tell you why because we've proven we can be really good defensively and offensively."
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas owned a rebounding edge for the 25th time in 30 games on the season
- Texas finished 7-1 in Big 12 homes games this season
- Texas is 88-16 (.846) in Big 12 home games in the Rick Barnes era and 182-24 (.883) overall at home during his tenure
- Texas is 8-6 against Kansas State in the Rick Barnes era
J'Covan Brown
- Reached double digits in scoring (11 points) for the 13th time this season and the 28th time in his career
Jordan Hamilton
- Reached double digits in scoring (14 points) for the 29th time this season and the 47th time in his career
Gary Johnson
- Reached double digits in rebounding (10 rebounds) for the sixth time this season and the 12th time in his career
- Has now tallied 1,118 career points, placing him 25th in Texas history
Tristan Thompson
- Recorded a career high 26 points
- Posted a double-double (26 points, 10 rebounds) for the sixth time this season
- Recorded three blocks, tying him with Kevin Durant for the second-most blocks (67) by a freshman in UT history. Chris Mihm recorded the most with 90 in the 1997-98 season.
- Recorded at least 20 points for the fourth time this season
- Converted a career high eight field goals
- Reached double digits in scoring for the 24th time this season
- Reached double digits in rebounding for the seventh time this season
- Recorded at least three blocks for the 11th time this season
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On tonight's game: I'm concerned about the way we are playing basketball. In terms of letting teams shoot 58 percent in the second half on you. Even with all that, it's a five point game. We make a free throw and don't let them run at us and it's a two point game. We are better than what we are playing and that is the biggest concern. It's really pretty simple. It's execution on both ends. You have to stay disciplined with what you do. Kansas State did exactly what we thought they would do. They would come out with pressure and push us out of our offense which they did because we didn't execute they way you have to when you play a team like that. Defensively we just had too many breakdowns where we have to stay with them not try to make sensational plays but just make solid plays.
On the teams focus: I think our guys have prepared. Some of the breakdowns are baffling to be honest with you. I can't tell you why because we have proven at times this year that we can be really good defensively. We have proven that we could be really good offensively.
Freshman Forward Tristan Thompson
On if Kansas State changed in the second half: In the first half compared to the second half they just continued doing what they were doing, pressuring us trying to get us off our cuts, trying to get us out of our offense, and you got to give them credit, they're a good team and they got the best of us today.
On what went wrong in the second half: I think that just the second half we kept doing what we were doing in the first half but they took it up a notch and we didn't match their intensity.
Freshman Guard Cory Joseph
On Kansas State's defensive pressure: We just missed our shots. They pressured us as well, but we just missed our shots.
On Jacob Pullen in the second half: He's a good player. He hit some tough shots and he just had it going.
KANSAS STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Frank Martin
Opening Statement: I am very proud of the guys in that locker room. They have never stopped believing in the spirit of our team. Regardless of what situations came about, whether we created them ourselves, whether we played someone that was better than us on a given night, those kids' spirits were never broken. I'm really proud of our staff - my assistants, our trainer, our operations guy, and all the guys that deal with our kids every day. They stayed in those kids minds and stayed positive with them to let them understand that if you don't get wrapped up in the moment and you stay the course. It's a long season and everything is going to be all right. For a young team who I questioned their leadership early in the year, I could not be prouder of the leadership that those guys have given the younger kids over the last six or seven weeks.
On halftime changes: Texas is a good defensive team. They made a couple of mistakes in the second half that left us open for shots and guys jumped up and made them. Texas is real good defensively. We are not talking about a team that doesn't guard. They are as tough defensively as anyone that we play. I'm just proud of our guys that we didn't settle, we didn't turn it over, we didn't take bad shots early in the shot clock. I'm just proud of our guys.
Senior Guard Jacob Pullen
On the way the team responded in the second half: We just understand the game now. We were a young team at the beginning of the season and now we understand that it's two halves of basketball. We didn't panic at halftime. We came out and we knew where we wanted to get our shots. We started out with Curtis (Kelly) and Rod (McGruder) got some shots in and I just tried to fit my way into the game. I just tried to stay aggressive at certain points of the game when I knew we needed some buckets.
On Kansas State's recent success against Top 25 teams: We're a good basketball team. Everybody wrote us off. They really just called our season down the drain and for us it's nothing but motivation. Even if people decide now to say we're a good team again, we can't do what we did in the beginning of the season and let things like that get into our locker room and get us to let down our guards and stop working as hard as we've been working over the last few games. Overall our team morale is to the sky and Frank (Martin) as a coach believes in us. He's giving us freedom to make calls, see how the game is going and do what we think is right.
Sophomore Guard Rodney McGruder
On his success from behind the arc in the second half: My teammates told me to be ready to shoot. I was ready and I hit a couple and it just kept coming to me. I got that confidence going after the first one went in.
Senior Forward Curtis Kelly
On his play versus Tristan Thompson tonight: I tried to be aggressive. I saw that they were aggressive and that they were trying to attack me on the offensive end. I tried to go back on the defensive end and try to remain out of foul trouble. In the second half it didn't go my way. I think I tried to focus in on trying to play defense on Tristan Thompson. I think I was successful more in the second half than the first.
On the difference in the second half: I was pretty confident about the game. I felt like we were making shots. I felt like we were playing good defense. We just had to pick it up on the offensive boards and get to some loose balls. If we control Tristan a little bit more [in the second half] I thought we were going to come away with the game. The biggest thing was the offensive rebounds. They went at us with offensive rebounds in the first half. The second half we eased it down a little bit and it worked out for us. We went up and maintained the lead. I feel like this team has come a long way. Through all the trials and tribulations this team has gone through, I feel like now we are in sync. We still have a long way to go.
