The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
11-6, 3-2
Oklahoma State
9-8, 1-4
Men's Basketball holds off Oklahoma State, 74-69
01.16.2016 | Men's Basketball
Freshmen guard duo of Davis and Roach combine for 23 points in home victory.
AUSTIN, Texas – Junior guard Isaiah Taylor posted a team-high 18 points, while the freshmen guard duo of Eric Davis, Jr. and Kerwin Roach, Jr. combined for 23 points off the bench to pace Texas to a 74-69 victory against Oklahoma State at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday night. Taylor converted 5-of-9 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws while adding four assists against just one turnover.
Davis finished with 12 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes for the Longhorns (11-6, 3-2 Big 12), while Roach added 11 points and two steals in 21 minutes. It marked Roach's first double-digit scoring effort since he had 14 at Stanford on Dec. 19, a span of five games.
Leyton Hammonds led Oklahoma State (9-8, 1-4 Big 12) with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Tavarius Shine scored 14 points, while Jawun Evans added 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
A Taylor jumper opened the scoring at 17:52, but the Cowboys took an early 3-2 lead into the first media timeout at the 15:59 mark. After starting the game 0-of-4 from behind the arc, Texas hit three straight 3-pointers to spark a 13-2 run that put the Longhorns up 15-6 with 11:35 remaining.
Texas extended its lead to 26-16 at the 4:56 mark following a layup from Taylor after an Oklahoma State turnover. The Longhorns forced seven first-half turnovers and outscored the Cowboys 10-0 on points off turnovers. Texas closed the half on a 14-7 run over the final 4:26 to build a 40-25 cushion at the break. UT hit 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.
Roach forced another Oklahoma State turnover and finished with an emphatic dunk to give the Longhorns a 47-27 lead with 17:01 remaining. Texas increased its lead to as much as 23 points (51-28) following a pair of free throws from Roach at the 15:16 mark.
A jumper from Evans pulled the Cowboys to within single digits (59-51) at the 5:42 mark, and a Jeff Newberry jumper cut the lead to 61-55 with 4:40 remaining. Oklahoma State cut the margin to as few as three points (65-62) on an Anthony Allen layup at the 2:47 mark.
After Javan Felix hit 1-of-2 free throws, Davis added a layup with 40 seconds left to increase UT's lead to 68-62. Evans converted a three-pointer to trim the gap to 70-67 with 14 seconds left, but Taylor sealed the win by converting 4-of-4 free throws in the final 13 seconds.
Texas hit 71.9 percent from the free throw line (23-of-32) in the victory. The Longhorns outscored the Cowboys in points off turnovers (14-7) and fast break points (12-5).
Texas continues Big 12 Conference play, when it travels to play No. 11/10 West Virginia on Wednesday, Jan. 20. Tip is set for 6 p.m. Central at the WVU Coliseum, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas 74, Oklahoma State 69
January 16, 2016
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 13,241
Team Notes
UT improved to 27-13 all-time against Oklahoma State in games played in Austin. The Longhorns have won 10 of the last 12 meetings against the Cowboys at the Erwin Center.
Texas committed just 8 turnovers during the game, marking the third straight contest that the Horns have had less than 10 turnovers. UT has committed just 19 total turnovers in its last three games.
UT improved to 9-1 at home this year and 200-27 at the Erwin Center since the start of the 2002-03 season (last 14 years).
Texas recorded a 34-23 advantage in bench scoring, a 14-7 advantage in points off turnovers and a 12-5 advantage in fast-break points.
All 10 Texas players scored at least 2 points and all 10 players recorded at least 1 rebound.
Texas converted 23-of-32 free throws, while Oklahoma State went 15-of-21 from the stripe.
Reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the seventh time this year (17 games)
He tied his career high in FT made (4-of-4) and was one shy of his career high in rebounds (5)
Recorded a game-high 3 blocks. It marked the fourth time this year that he has blocked at least 3 shots in a game
Had 8 rebounds in 30 minutes played. It marked the fourth time in the last six games (since injury to Cameron Ridley) that Lammert has grabbed at least 8 boards and the fourth time in last six games that he has played at least 30 minutes.
Reached double figures in scoring (11 points) for the third time this season (17 games) and first time since Dec. 21 at Stanford (span of five games)
Reached double figures in scoring (18 points) for the 14th time this season and 58th time in his career (76 games)
Postgame Quotes
Texas
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
On holding on to the lead in the second half: I felt defensively we hit a little lull, energy-wise. We started the second half with good defensive energy and fouled a lot. But the defensive energy was good and we were able to extend the lead from 15 up to 23. And then I thought we hit a lull where we were not guarding with the same energy. Oklahoma State had something to do with it. They made some nice plays and went zone on us, and we were stagnant offensively. It is amazing how defense and offense are intertwined.
On if there was a conscious effort during late part of the game to attack more: There was. There were some gaps in the zone. We talked to our guys about attacking, and they did a good job. Isaiah [Taylor] hit the gaps a few times. We made the right pass a lot of times, and then hit a guy with the open shot. We just didn't knock them down.
On missing 10-straight threes: Well if they are good shooters, we want those guys to take those shots. Those are what we call high-shot quality attempts. Javan [Felix], it just wasn't his night shooting the ball from outside. But if he is going to get good looks, that has been a better way for us to shoot this year. We have to encourage them to stay positive, and you can't let your offense affect your defense. I thought we looked a little bummed out tonight when the ball wasn't going in, and that affected us somewhat.
On sense of hesitancy or overall change in mood: We had a lot of aggressiveness for much of the game there, and then I thought we hit a stretch of hesitancy. It is a result of letting up a little bit. Oklahoma State is a Big 12 team. We can't put it in cruise control. I told our guys in the locker room, the teams that want to become great, those teams make a decision no matter what the scoreboard says, we are going after these guys. We are going to have a great energy and take advantage of every possession we have now. I thought we did it and hit a stretch there where our guys played to the scoreboard a little bit and we can't do that.
Texas Players
Freshman Guard Eric Davis Jr.
On his drive and basket in the final minute: That is something that I took upon myself. I felt like I had a better shot going to the lane and at least trying to get fouled. My mindset was really going in there to get a foul or a bucket.
Junior Guard Isaiah Taylor
On going to the rim versus taking the jumper: Getting to the rim is what I do. In terms of getting these guys open shots, that is what I try to do. I believe in these guys. Tonight they were not going in as much as they did versus Iowa State, and that is fine.
On start of the game and getting the lead early: I think we managed together. We got stops on the defensive end and got a couple of turkeys--that is what we call three stops in a row. I think that we translated that into the offense.
Senior Forward Connor Lammert
On the lead evaporating in the second half: When you get good shots as a shooter, you have to keep shooting them. Whenever you can't hit shots and you are in a slump, you want to get the ball to the guys that can really attack. You want them to try to get to the free throw line and make some easy baskets. I know I can speak for myself and Javan [Felix], we are very confident in our shots and we know that those are going to fall.
On 23-point lead coming down to three and what Coach was saying: He got on us. I think with about seven minutes, he was telling us to keep our composure. We weren't doing what we needed to do on the defensive end. So that is double trouble. We stayed aggressive and made stops when we needed to, but it is something we definitely need to learn from. If we did that on the road, it may be a different story. We are fortunate to get this one tonight.
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State Head Coach Travis Ford
Opening Statement: Congrats to Texas. They played a good game. They jumped on us in the first half and went out up 15 at halftime. I just don't think that our team played with much emotion. We were kind of just trying to tread water in the first half. We never made a run. We never had anything positive happen in the first half for us, nothing to get us going. We weren't firing on all cylinders by any stretch, for whatever reason. Second half, for the last ten or twelve minutes of the game, we decide to wake up a little bit, compete, have a little passion and a sense of urgency, and made it a basketball game. I have to give Texas credit, they played well from the get go.
On the competitiveness of the team: I am not questioning their competitiveness at all, what-so-ever, because it can happen. These are human beings in there. We don't want it to happen. We try to prevent it. We do everything in our power to get our team ready, but I have done this a very long time and I have seen this happen. I don't like it and I am not happy with it. My team in the locker room knows that right now. They understand, you are down 23 and then ten minutes later you are down three. What is the difference? It is just a sense of urgency. We just didn't have it since the beginning. I am disappointed that we didn't have it. I haven't seen this necessarily be a trend. Now, there has been a trend of us getting down and coming back. I can't count on my fingers how many layups we missed the first half and that's deflating, that wears on you. I know they scored 40 points in the first half, way too many, especially for our defense. We are pretty good defensively, normally. Our numbers speak for themselves, but it was more about our offense than our defense. Their 40 points came from us just not putting the ball in the hole. When you are not into it the way you need to be mentally, then you are not where you need to be. And that's when you don't get those bounces. Things don't go your way and that was a reflection of it. They made a bunch of threes in the first half. We hung around them for a while and we kept telling our guys in the timeouts, we are hanging around somehow, but then they went on a run and started making threes. Our offense just couldn't keep up in the first half because for whatever reason, we couldn't put the ball in the hole.
Oklahoma State players
Sophomore Guard Tavarius Shine
On the slow start of the team: We just weren't playing hard enough in the first half. We stepped it up in the second half, but that really was our downfall. That's what really predicted the game. We didn't come out right in the first half.
Junior Forward Leyton Hammonds
On channeling the intensity from late in the game: We have focused on it in practice. We have a high start early in practice hoping that a high start would show up in games. We just have to play like we are down 30 from tip off when the clock says 00:00. You just play like you are already down and hopefully that will help us come out to a quicker start.
On when they believed they could come back: Once we started getting on that run and we started cutting that lead down. When we got it under 10, I felt like we could. That was our whole plan, to just get it under 10 and just keep playing until we eventually came back. It didn't happen, but we felt confident that we were just going to keep pushing and pushing. Just like you said in the beginning, that slow start just doomed us.
