The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
14-7
Vanderbilt
12-9
Men's Basketball handles Vanderbilt 72-58 in Big 12/SEC Challenge
01.30.2016 | Men's Basketball
Roach, Ibeh post double-doubles to pace the Longhorns to home win on Saturday afternoon.
AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman guard Kerwin Roach, Jr. posted his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds to pace Texas to a 72-58 win against Vanderbilt as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge presented by SONIC at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday afternoon. Roach set career highs in rebounds, steals (4) and minutes (30) in the victory.
Senior center Prince Ibeh recorded his second straight double-double with 13 points and tying a career high with 11 rebounds. He converted 4-of-8 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws in 24 minutes. Four Longhorns finished the game scoring in double figures, as Eric Davis Jr. scored 13 points and Isaiah Taylor added 11.
Texas (14-7) shot a season-best 76.9-percent (20-of-26) from the free-throw line and tied a team season high with 10 steals. The Longhorns posted a 20-4 advantage in points off turnovers, 17-3 in fast-break points and 40-18 in points in the paint.
Damian Jones led Vanderbilt (12-9) with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Matthew Fisher-Davis added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-10 from three-point range.
Texas went on an 11-0 run over a span of 4:24, capped by a steal and dunk by Roach, to build a 14-3 lead at the 11:32 mark. After Vanderbilt closed the margin to 18-12, a three from Tevin Mack and a pair of layups from Taylor pushed the Longhorns' lead to 25-12 with 5:08 remaining in the half.
The Texas defense was dominant in the first half, holding Vanderbilt to 16 points on 28.6-percent shooting (6-of-21) from the field, the fewest points the Longhorns have allowed in a half this season. UT held a 31-16 lead at halftime.
Junior guard Kendal Yancy opened the second half scoring four of Texas' first six points, giving the Horns a 37-23 lead at the 17:52 mark. A pair of dunks from Ibeh off penetration and dishes from Taylor gave Texas a 41-27 cushion with 14:54 remaining.
After being shut out from behind the arc in the first half, the Commodores sank three of their first four 3-point attempts of the second half and trimmed the margin to 43-33 with 13:09 left on a Fisher-Davis three. Vanderbilt shot 53.1-percent from the field (17-of-32), including 50-percent from long range (7-of-14), in the second half. The Commodores cut the lead to 58-51 following a Luke Kornet three at the 5:45 mark, but the Longhorns responded with a Davis three to increase the advantage to 61-51 with 5:24 left.
Another 3-pointer from Fisher-Davis, who made all five of his three-point attempts in the second half, cut the Texas lead to 67-58 at the 1:34 mark. Senior forward Connor Lammert responded with a 3-pointer and a steal and dunk by Roach closed out the scoring.
Texas will resume Big 12 Conference on Monday, Feb. 1 at Baylor. Tip is set for 8 p.m. Central at the Ferrell Center, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas 72, Vanderbilt 58
Big 12/SEC Challenge presented by SONIC
January 30, 2016
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 13,041
Team Notes
Texas improved to 2-1 in Big 12/SEC Challenge contests. Both of UT's two wins came in home victories against Vanderbilt (December 2013 and today). The Horns lost at then-No. 1 Kentucky last year.
UT improved to 11-1 at home this year and 202-27 in the last 14 seasons (dating to the start of the 2002-03 season).
The Longhorns posted a 40-18 advantage in points in the paint, 20-4 in points off turnovers, 17-3 in fast-break points and 33-8 in bench scoring.
Texas held Vanderbilt to 16 points (season low point total in first half for a UT opponent) on 28.6% FG shooting (6-of-21), including an 0-of-6 mark from three-point range.
UT tied a team season high in steals (10).
Texas committed just 6 turnovers, marking the sixth time in the last seven games that the Horns have committed less than 10 turnovers.
The Longhorns hit 20-of-26 (.769) free throws, while Vanderbilt went 5-of-10 (.500) from the stripe.
Reached double figures in scoring (13 points) for the ninth time this season (21 games)
Posted a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) for the second straight game, second time this year and third time in his career (123 games)
Tied his career high in rebounds and FT made (5-of-6)
Reached double figures in scoring for the second time this season and sixth time in his career
Reached double figures in rebounds for the third time this year and fourth time in his career
Has averaged 15.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 27.5 minutes per game over the last two contest, converting 10-of-19 (.526) FG and 10-of-12 (.833) FT
Recorded his first collegiate double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds)
Set career highs in rebounds, steals (4) and minutes (30)
Reached double figures in scoring for the fifth time this season (21 games)
Reached double figures in rebounds for the first time this year
Reached double figures in scoring (11 points) for the 16th time this year and 60th time in his career (80 games)
Postgame Quotes
Texas
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
On the energy of the team for the early game: Yeah we made a big deal out of that. That was a huge point of emphasis. I think any time you play an early game, it's just different. You're used to playing at night. You're used to practicing in the afternoon. It's really important to come out with a level of energy and I appreciate our guys' maturity in responding to that, because we asked them last night. We needed to win breakfast. I told the guys that it was under our control whether we do that or not. I thought they did a nice job of just coming in with a level of excitement and energy.
On the intensity of the game today despite being a non-conference opponent: Well it's different to play a non-conference game. But, it's kind of nice to have a little bit of a break from the league. It's not much of one, because we play again in a couple days, but our guys did a nice job of approaching this like they would any other game. We didn't talk a whole lot about it being a non-league game. We didn't talk a lot about the 'Big 12/SEC Challenge'. We let everyone else worry about that. We just wanted to win the game and move forward and get better.
On encouraging the guards to play aggressively: What happened was, just schematically, Vanderbilt decided to switch pick and roll. So if you have a bigger guy guarding you--and they certainly have some really big guys--we wanted to try to get in the paint, draw some help and then make a pass from there. We made some really good passes, but we didn't shoot the ball particularly well. I thought we got quite a few good looks. We got to the foul line, which is good.
On how much of Kerwin Roach's potential was seen tonight: He's coming. He's making progress. I'm real excited about him, because he's always worked ever since he got here at his game. I think he's aware there are certain areas that he needs to continue to grow in, and he's okay with that. I think sometimes we need to get up really close to some of the areas we need to improve instead of getting away from them, and he's really good at that. He's understanding, 'hey I want to work on this, and I want to work on that.' Over these past three or four games, he's had the combination that I love to see out there. He's had a clear head, just a great look on his face and is also playing with confidence. You put those things together with his talent and what he's improved and worked on, that's a recipe for him doing really well.
Texas Players
Texas Junior Guard Isaiah Taylor
On the feeling of playing an SEC team: I think this was a fun game for us today. We played at Kentucky last year and lost that game, so we had to get this one back for Texas and the Big 12. I think as a whole, the Big 12 prides itself in being the best conference in the country. Today is one of the days where we proved that.
On the mindset of the guards headed into today: Today we just wanted to be aggressive and run and attack. Coach told us not to get bummed out and to stay positive. They're going to make some shots. They have some skilled players. They hit some tough shots in the second half. Being on this team, the camaraderie, everybody stayed positive, and we were able to get some buckets on our end, too.
On how close Coach Smart is to installing his system: I think as the season has been going along, we have been getting a lot better at pressing and being aggressive. We are getting people where we want them, speeding things up in the press, and getting some turnovers. That's just something we focus on in practice every day, and are getting better at every day.
On Prince Ibeh: Prince has been great for us. He's been our defensive anchor. He is someone we can depend on for guarding his assignments and other players. I think he did a good job today.
Texas Freshman Guard Kerwin Roach, Jr.
On playing the passing lanes: We did a really good job scouting, and I just recognized the plays they were running. I told myself, "I can get through some of these."
On finishing the fast break dunks: I just wanted two points.
On the team's energy level for the morning game: They told us to come in ready to play with energy at breakfast time, so that's what we did. It definitely translated to the court.
Texas Senior Center Prince Ibeh
On his free throw shooting improvement: I've been focusing more, and it's been translating over to the games.
On his playing time even with fouls: I would just say he (Coach Smart) trusts me more to choose the right aggressiveness level and play smart. That's just what I focus on when I'm in that situation.
On having the first possession shot: It's not a design. We're just looking for the first opportunity, what our offense runs, and what we are going to go with.
Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt Head Coach Kevin Stallings
On if Texas forced turnovers: In some instances they did, and it was our carelessness. When you look at the game, we turned it over 13 times, which is not a terrible night. You'd like to keep it to 12 or 11 or under. We weren't that far off with what our goal might be for that. I think the difference was their ability to get to the foul line and that's something that we've been really terrific at. We've out-free thrown our opponents by a large margin, especially lately. We get to the line 10 times and don't shoot it well in the 10 times we get there, and they get to the line 26 times and shoot very well. So I think that was the difference in the game - their ability to draw fouls and capitalize and our inability to draw fouls and not capitalize. They're very quick and have speedy quickness in their guards and they get downhill on you and draw fouls. That's one of the things that makes them good.
On the Vanderbilt turnovers: We turned them over for baskets, that's the worst thing: live turnovers for baskets with careless passes. And when you throw it to them and they're going 1-on-0 it's hard to guard them if nobody's back. We had lots of guys that didn't play the way we needed them to; I thought Matt [Fisher-Davis] was really good in the second half, but Damian [Jones] was better in the second half. We didn't do enough, especially earlier in the game. We got outplayed significantly in the first half and then it made it too much of an uphill climb for us in the second half. We had some chances, we cut close and then we would foul and, again, they shoot 20 free throws in the second half, which wasn't a good recipe for winning.
On playing a different conference: I think that it's a good opportunity for different programs, better for some than others. So we didn't take advantage of the opportunity. We're disappointed about that, and certainly Texas--I thought Texas played well on both ends and they were very disruptive to us in the first half and then in the second half we didn't guard them as well. Just disappointing from our standpoint, but we got a lot of ball left.
Vanderbilt Sophomore Guard Matthew Fisher-Davis
On the lack of threes in the first half: [It surprised me] a little bit. We got a lot of open shots and couldn't knock them down.
On the turnovers: I felt like a lot of them were unforced. Our guys got sped up mentally and were kind of careless with the ball.
