The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Tech
Men's Basketball defeats Texas Tech, 71-67, in OT
02.25.2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2012
Final Stats
| Box Score
LUBBOCK -- Julien Lewis has heard it from his coach and his Texas teammates: Work to get inside to score and take the open shot.
Longhorns coach Rick Barnes said Lewis did those things Saturday but sometimes got ahead of himself. The freshman scored 15 points and hit the go-ahead basket in overtime to lead Texas over Texas Tech 71-67 on Saturday.
"He's got to take his shot, but we can still put it inside," Barnes said. "He's getting into too big a hurry when he drove, and anytime you have a guy that is as athletic and agile as him that's slipping, he's playing too quick."
The Longhorns led by 14 in the first half but were lucky to come away with a win. They trailed 67-61 in overtime before J'Covan Brown hit two free throws and Lewis hit a three to pull within 67-66.
Texas Tech turned the ball over the next four possessions, while Texas (18-11, 8-8 Big 12) got a layup from Lewis to go up 69-67. Myck Kabongo and Brown got three free throws combined down the stretch.
"We never got a shot at the basket the last minute (and) 45 (seconds)," Texas Tech coach Billy Gillispie said. "Four turnovers in a row when you have the lead. You can't do that to win."
Jaye Crockett scored 16 points, and Jordan Tolbert and Javarez Willis each had 15 to lead Texas Tech (8-20, 1-15).
Willis hit a jumper with 16 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 59. Lewis turned the ball over on Texas' ensuing possession, but the Red Raiders couldn't convert.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Red Raiders, who looked to be out of the game at halftime after making only 9 of 24 from the field.
Lewis, a freshman, hit on 6 of 13 from the field and had seven rebounds.
Brown said he wanted Lewis to take open shots when they were there.
"I was mad with him, but he came back," he said. "I just told him be ready for the ball."
Both teams went to the line often. The Longhorns hit 76.7 percent (23 of 30) of their free throws, while the Red Raiders hit on 21 of 29, 72.4 percent.
Texas Tech got back in the game midway through the second half when it started getting the ball inside. Using a 10-2 run, the Red Raiders went ahead 44-43 when Terran Pettaway tried to put back a rebound and Texas was called for goaltending.
Down the stretch in regulation, the Red Raiders hit 7 of 8 free throws but got just the Willis field goal in the last 4:29, which sent the game into overtime.
Willis said he and teammates know they should have won.
"We had a six-point lead with like 2:10 to go (in overtime), and then we foul, give up a three, came out of a timeout and fouled again," he said. "Basically that's just giving up the game. We knew we should have won that game."
Texas got outscored inside (32-28) and outrebounded (35-34) but got 23 points off Texas Tech's 20 turnovers.
Texas led 33-22 at halftime. The Longhorns came from eight points down and used a 22-2 run, including four points each from Lewis and Jaylen Bond, two points from Kabongo and a three-pointer from Brown, to lead 25-16.
There were long stretches - one five minutes and the other seven - where the Red Raiders went scoreless. They turned the ball over six times and ended up getting just two points in the final 12 minutes before the break.
Texas Player Julien Lewis
On being down six in overtime We kept fighting out there, we kept playing hard. We weren't giving up. Each possession we were thinking about how we couldn't give them the extra shot like we did when we were going into overtime. v On turnovers We've got to fix all that you know. We've got to come to practice each day and work hard. Fix everything, and watch film over what we did wrong and convert from it and get ready for the next game.
Texas Player J'Covan Brown
On escaping a close game It was a great win for us. Tech came out second half ready to play, and we weren't. But next time we've got to be ready, don't let the lead dictate, we've just got to come out and keep playing hard. They put up a great fight, but we are still together and found a way to come out with a win. v On last possession It was a great job by Julien, Julien pushed Willis to the half court line. If he wouldn't have jumped up he'd have been back court. It was a great job by Julien, and I knew it. When I got the pass I stumbled a little bit, and I was like `whoa'. Then I found a way to get it and Julien was down court. That was the momentum right there.
On this game being a must win Every game is a must win for us. These guys work hard every day in practice, so we've got to find ways to put the energy we put into practice onto the court for 40 minutes. We are out there in practice for two hours or three hours, going hard and making each other better. But when you get on the court, it is another team. We've got to make the other team work just like we make each other work.
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
On the win I would definitely say that it was an escape not a win. You've got to give Tech credit, they've fought all year long. But I've got to say this, from a coaching staff standpoint, we did not think this game would be easy. We had chances in the first half, we could have scored 40-50 points but we didn't. In the second half we came out and they got back in the game. You look at 17 turnovers, and 12 of them come from your guards, which you can't have. And they go triangle-and-two or box- and-one, which we talked about. And we got impatient, we didn't move, we just slowed down and quit playing. Then one guy would go try and do something with it and never looked at the post guys like we needed to. Now, at the start of the game we did what we wanted trying to put fouls on certain guys. But I think that fact is it wasn't going to be easy. Give them credit for coming back, but I think give our guys credit too. They are looking at it and scored the last 10 points of the game where we had to come up with some really good defensive stops.
On aggressiveness The coaches, we kept wanting our guys to be more aggressive. We were not going to guard their big guys, they came up. But we wanted to keep everyone else from catching it. Once they got back in the game, Billie chose to make it a possession game by getting into long possessions. That is why we were able to really get at in the back court. We maybe could have done a little bit more in half court. But overall, we just told our guys `You've got to play.' You've got to make plays you just can't sit back. They came out and just simply started driving the ball. Tolbert really was just driving it. They got on the glass at crucial times. Again, it is not going to be easy. It hasn't been easy anywhere. This is a team that was at Iowa State and played with them in a tough environment. I think you've gotta give Tech and their players a lot of credit they played hard.
On building off a close win I told the guys it was good. Because I do think that we change offensively. We told Julien Lewis, when they are going box-one and triangle-two he had shots. And he has got to take them. But we could still put it inside. He is getting in too big of a hurry.
On next two games I don't think they've got the vision to look that far ahead. I don't think they are looking past 8 o'clock tonight. Our guys have played hard too, it was a game where when we needed some stops we did.
Texas Tech Player Quotes
Sophomore Javarez Willis
On the turnover in overtime that gave Texas the lead
"Just being undisciplined, in practice we've ran that play and he's (Coach Gillispie) told us not to play it so far to the half court line and that's exactly what we did and that's exactly what happened. We should've let him pull it out and attack and I don't think I should have gone to the ball."
On if they feel like they gave Texas the game
"I think we were up by six with two minutes and 10 seconds left or something like that and we fouled, gave up a three came out of timeout and fouled again so basically that's just giving up the game."
On losing the game to Texas
"We knew we should've won that game, we had that game, and it just hurt because we've been fighting every single day, we fight every single day just to get a win and we let it slip between our hands."
Sophomore Jaye Crockett
On if they feel like they gave Texas the game
"Yeah, that's exactly what we did we just gave it away and made it too easy. We just worked so hard and we just didn't finish, easy turnovers like throwing it away and they had open layups that weren't even contested, it was just too easy."
On if he intended to pull up when he took the shot at the end of regulation to win the game
"Yeah, by the time I got there I was like I'll just pull up, I mean I wish I could do it all over I had enough time to take it to the hole that just wasn't a smart move on my part."
On if Tech relaxed during overtime with a six-point lead
"I wouldn't say we got relaxed but we got comfortable, just having the lead and not being the underdog and having to fight back and they were fighting and we were in a zone, I think we were in a box and one, so it looked more relaxed than us being in zone but I don't think we relaxed we just got comfortable with that lead."
Texas Tech Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement
"Tough loss, good game to watch if you're a fan, lot of exciting plays, a lot of good plays made, but they got us at the end we just never got a shot at the basket the last minute and 45 and four turnovers in a row when you have the lead, you can't do that and win."
On the loss against Texas
"It's disappointing, it `s very disappointing but the whole deal that got us was lack of discipline, we'd make a jump pass from Bean (Javarez Willis) to Jaye (Crockett), we play too close to the half court line on the last turnover between (Terran) Petteway and Bean, we foul out of a timeout, we're up six and foul to give them two easy baskets when they're having a hard time scoring and they weren't rebounding and that's the strength of their team, transitional rebounding, and we had the game exactly like we wanted it and we foul them and give them one and that's all we stressed in the timeout and that's a lack of discipline and anytime you have a lack of discipline it's the coaches fault and I take full responsibility for us not getting a shot at the basket at the last minute and 45 when we had a four point lead and for us fouling those are coaches' mistakes not players' mistakes and it was an unfortunate loss for us but we are getting better every single time and tougher, they were tough enough to win today and they made great plays and made a lot of plays out of nothing and we haven't done that that much this year and they're a very good team and very well coached and they deserved to win."
On the turnovers by Tech in overtime
"I always give credit to the other teams but they had to have a lot of help from us."
On Tech's defense against J'Covan Brown
"Yeah we were in triangle two or box one and did a real good job in that and he got a couple of shots but didn't get real great looks and he's a very good player and a very good scorer, leading the league in scoring, and I thought we did a fantastic job on him, but most importantly I thought we did great job as far as for the most part when the shots went up in the second half we got defensive rebounds and that gave us a shot to win. We made a high percentage of our shots in the second half until the overtime, and only made one in the overtime, but J'Covan Brown is a very good player and they have a very good scheme and they've got great offensive rebounders and they've got some guys tonight that missed some shots they normally make and that helped us as well."
