The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
Texas falls to No. 4/4 Missouri 67-66
01.30.2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2012
Final Stats |
| Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Michael Dixon scored 21 points, including the game-winning layup with 31 seconds left, as No. 4 Missouri beat Texas 67-66 on Monday night.
Ricardo Ratliff and Phil Pressey added 13 points each for Missouri (20-2, 7-2 Big 12).
J'Covan Brown scored 20 for Texas (13-9, 3-6), which lost for the fifth time in six games, all to ranked teams. Two of those defeats were to the Tigers.
Dixon's winning shot came seconds after Brown had given Texas its first lead since the opening minutes.
Freshman Myck Kabongo had a chance to win it in the final seconds for the Longhorns, but he short-armed a baseline jumper and Missouri's Marcus Denmon grabbed the rebound.
Dixon's heroics came after he nearly cost his team the game.
Texas had rallied from 13 down early in the second half to pull to 65-62. Dribbling the ball at midcourt, Dixon was whistled for a flagrant foul when he swung an elbow and hit Julien Lewis in the face. Lewis made both free throws to cut the lead to one and Brown's leaning bank shot put Texas up 66-65.
Dixon then did what Missouri had done all game: He drove at the basket and his high, banking layup over Jaylen Bond dropped in to put Missouri on top.
After working the ball upcourt, Texas tossed the ball around the perimeter but chose to go to Kabongo instead of Brown - their leading scorer who scored 34 points the last time these teams met on Jan. 14 - for the final shot.
Kabongo finished with 10 points and Lewis had 12 for the Longhorns. Texas outrebounded Missouri 38-26, but a ragged offense didn't have an assist on offense in the first half and the Longhorns were just 2 of 12 on 3-pointers.
Missouri seemed to have the game in control when it opened the second half with a flurry. Dixon was the catalyst, making three straight baskets over Brown and Kim English made a 3-pointer to push the Tigers' lead to 36-29.
Brown, who has struggled badly shooting at home, started finding his touch and kept Mizzou from pulling away. Brown and Phil Pressey matched each other's 3s and Brown added a driving layup and a free throw cut the Tigers' lead to 46-43 with just under 11 minutes to play.
The Longhorns trailed 50-48 with a chance tie or take the lead when Pressey picked the ball from Kabongo, who had opted not to shoot an open 3-pointer and then was whistled for a flagrant foul. Pressey made both free throws.
Missouri had another chance to slam the door on Texas but couldn't. Ricardo Ratliff made a tough layup, then finished a three-point play after a steal by English. A 3-pointer by English with 4:43 to play put the Tigers ahead 63-53 before Texas rallied again behind Brown and Kabongo.
The Tigers gave first-year coach Frank Haith a win in his first trip to Austin since his days as Texas assistant from 2002-2004. The Longhorns twice advanced to the NCAA tournament round of 16 and made the Final Four in 2003 in that span and the home crowd gave Haith an enthusiastic round of applause when he was introduced before the game.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- Texas outrebounded Missouri by a 38-26 count, including a 16-6 margin on the offensive glass.
- Texas outscored Missouri in second-chance points, 22-6.
INDIVIDUAL
J'Covan Brown
- Scored 20 points or more (20 points) for the 12th time this season and the 20th time in 91 career games
- Reached double figures in scoring for the 20th time this season and the 53rd time in his career
Jonathan Holmes
- Tied his career highs in blocks (three) and rebounds (nine)
Myck Kabongo
- Reached double figures in scoring (10 points) for the 13th time in 22 games this season
Julien Lewis
- Reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the ninth time in 20 games this season
TEXAS COACH QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rick Barnes
On losing a second close game in just a few days: We had two games here, against both Kansas and Missouri, when we needed to get a stop on the other end, and we didn't get it. It's tough when you're trying to get over the hump. It seems like plays like that don't go your way. But that play at that point in time, it was a tough play. But, I don't think it ever gets down to just one possession. I could go back to the second half when [Missouri] spread the floor and started driving the ball. They were going at [junior guard] J'Covan [Brown] really hard. [Junior guard Michael] Dixon - you look at his stat line, he went 9-for-10 (field goals), 2-for-2 (three-point field goals), 1-for-1 (free throws) for 21 points. We just kept digging a hole there. And then we came down and went through a period offensively where the execution wasn't what it needed to be.
On Texas' last possession of the game: On the last play, we had two things ready. One for man (man-to-man defense) and one for zone [defense]. And the one for the zone, we didn't move or cut the way we needed to. But we knew. During the timeout, we said, "You've got to be ready for a zone." And what we wanted to do, we didn't do as hard and effective as we had to do it.
On Missouri senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe: I thought tonight we did a really good job defending [Ratliffe] inside. What we wanted to do was get him into foul trouble. We didn't take advantage of that early. We had a lot of shots around the rim. If you really watch, they're doing everything they can. Ratliffe is doing everything he can do not to foul. But again, tonight he played 24 minutes. He still had 13 points. He gets everything if he has an angle. He's one of the reasons they shoot such a high percentage. He's got a great finish around the rim. They're a tremendous offensive team. They're playing with an older group of guys that a year ago really struggled.
TEXAS PLAYER QUOTES
JUNIOR GUARD J'Covan Brown
On how the team will regroup after several close losses: For myself, looking at [Michael] Dixon, I basically gave up half of his points. It starts with me. I have to go out there and be a better defender than I was today. It starts with me. These two guys [Myck Kabongo and Julien Lewis] right here work hard defending. When the other team saw I had two fouls, they tried to go at me, and they did a great job.
On the locker room morale after another close loss: It is always disappointing when you are losing. We are going to stay together and we are going to smile. At the end of the day it hurts, because you want to win. All I think about is how I can help these young guys win. Like I said, it starts with me. I have to find a way to get wins.
FRESHMAN GUARD Myck Kabongo
On the last play of the game: J.B. [J'Covan Brown] did a good job of finding me. You just have to capitalize on those things.
On the urgency to shoot and a lack of assists in the game: I think we could have had more assists. We got to the line a lot. I think we had great plays to get to the free throw line. We got to the free throw line more than they (Missouri) did. One of the things we wanted to do coming into this game was to have more free throws than them and we did what we were supposed to do on that part.
On the frustration of losing another close game: Speaking for my teammates, it shows that we have fight. Everyone in that locker room wants to win so badly. Unfortunately, for some reason, they aren't turning into wins right now. One thing I know about our team and this group of guys is we are not going to back down. We are going to make a run and we are going to go back in the gym and work hard. We are not going to back down. We just have to learn from our mistakes.
MISSOURI QUOTES
HEAD COACH FRANK HAITH
Opening Statement: I was a great win for us. I felt we showed some toughness down the stretch. You have to give Texas credit. We had a 10-point lead with three minutes left to play. We had some bang-bang plays that did not go too well, but with a hard fight, they came back.
On Michael Dixon: He played outstanding. It is unfortunate that he had a few plays in the stretch that were not so great. In the first half, I felt like he had good rhythm offensively, but with two fouls, we had to set him. In the second half, I wanted to get him back in the game because I felt he had a nice pop and focus from the offensive standpoint. He really did a nice job executing. His play helped us get some separation.
On what he told the team after losing the lead: In the heat of the battle, there is no time to stress. I want our guys to trust each other and believe we were going to win the game; that is what we were stressing. In the timeouts, we stressed it was `win time'. We were going to win the game. We have to focus on plays to help us win the game.
JUNIOR GUARD MICHAEL DIXON, JR.
On containing Texas' J'Covan Brown: He is a really good player. He is hard to guard. Coach (Haith) just tried to help us to get down on him in order to contain him. We were fortunate enough that he missed a few shots.
SOPHOMORE GUARD PHIL PRESSEY
On his emotions after the flagrant foul was called: In the heat of the battle a lot of things happen. When you are on the road, you just have to look at the next play. That is what we did, and fortunately we won.
SENIOR GUARD KIM ENGLISH
On executing late in the game: Coach (Haith) and we as a team have been stressing growth from the Oklahoma State game. This week we stayed true to what we talked about all week late in the game. Two things have to be constant- defensive stops and offensive execution. Our defense was not at its best in that time frame, but we still executed down the stretch. In the end, we got a defensive stop on the last possession of the game. I guess we grew.
On whether he was surprised that J'Covan Brown did not take the final shot: He was guarded well on that last play. We did not want him to shoot it. We changed defenses, and me and Marcus (Denmon) were trapping him in our zone. Once he gave it up, we did not want J'Covan to get the ball, because he is deadly.
