The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Washington
Men's Basketball falls to Washington 77-71 in China
11.13.2015 | Men's Basketball
Isaiah Taylor tied a career high with 27 points, while Cameron Ridley set his career high with seven blocks in the defeat.
SHANGHAI, China – The Shaka Smart era at Texas began with a loss against the Washington Huskies on Saturday (Friday evening back in the U.S.) in Shanghai, China. Texas fell, 77-71, from Mercedes-Benz Arena in the Pac-12 China Game.
Isaiah Taylor led the Longhorns with 27 points (tying his career high) while hitting 7-of-16 field goals and a career-best 12-of-15 free throws to go with seven rebounds. Despite being limited to just 16 minutes due to foul trouble, Cameron Ridley added six points, 10 rebounds and a career high with seven blocked shots.
Andrew Andrews paced the Huskies with 23 points. Malik Dime had a double-double for Washington with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Longhorns struggled to put the ball in the basket in the first half and converted just 15-of-25 at the charity stripe. Texas closed out the first half with a 12-5 run over the final 3:38 to tie the score at 34-34 entering the break.
In the second half, Washington jumped out to the lead again and built it to as many as nine points (56-47). Trailing 57-50 at the 10:16 mark, Taylor responded by scoring 11 of the next 13 points for Texas to pull the Horns within one point (64-63). Then, with 4:48 to play Javan Felix made a pair of free throws to put Texas on top 65-64.
That lead was short-lived as Washington quickly answered with consecutive baskets by Dejounte Murray and Dime. The Huskies would not trail for the remainder of the contest.
Texas shot just 26.0 percent from the field (19-of-73) on the day, including a 2-of-15 (.133) mark from beyond the arc. Texas and Washington combined to shoot 88 free throws during the contest. The Huskies posted a 62-51 edge on the glass.
The Pac-12 Game was the first regular-season basketball game held in China, professional or collegiate, and was presented by the Alibaba Group.
The Longhorns return to action when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday, Nov. 21 in a Battle 4 Atlantis first-round game. Tip is set for 7 p.m. Central at the Frank Erwin Center, and the game will be televised nationally by Longhorn Network.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Washington 77, Texas 71
November 14, 2015 (Nov. 13 in USA)
Mercedes-Benz Arena (Shanghai, China)
Attendance: 7,188
Team Notes
The game marked the debut of head coach Shaka Smart. Smart is the 24th head men's basketball coach in UT program history.
The contest marked the first regular season game (professional or collegiate) in China.
Texas lost a season opener for the first time since the 2001-02 season (88-74 loss to Arizona on Nov. 17, 2001 in Austin). UT had a streak of 13 season-opening victories snapped in the defeat.
Set his career high in blocked shots (7) in just 16 minutes.
Reached double figures in rebounds (10) for the 20th time in his career (103 games).
Tied a career high in scoring (27 points) and set a career high in FT made (12-of-15). He previously had 27 points at Baylor on Jan. 25, 2014. His previous career FT made was 11 (at Kansas State on Feb. 7, 2015). His seven rebounds were one shy of his career high (8 at West Virginia on Jan. 13, 2014).
Topped the 20-point mark for the ninth time in his career (60 games). Posted double figures in scoring for the 45th time in his career.
