The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
6-6
Kent State
8-5
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent State | 25 | 38 | 63 |
| Texas | 29 | 29 | 58 |
Men's Basketball falls to Kent State, 63-58
12.27.2016 | Men's Basketball
Allen registers fourth double-double of the year with season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds.
AUSTIN, Texas – Freshman forward Jarrett Allen recorded his fourth double-double of the year with a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, but the Longhorns fell to Kent State, 63-58, on Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center. Sophomore guard Kerwin Roach Jr. added 13 points in a career-high 32 minutes played to join Allen as the only two Texas players to score in double digits for the Longhorns.
Texas (6-6) forced a season-high 21 turnovers which it converted into 15 points. Kent State (8-5) scored 24 points off a season-high 18 turnovers by the Longhorns. Kent State, which entered the game as the nation's top offensive rebounding team, posted a 53-34 rebound margin, including a 22-11 edge on the offensive glass.
Kent State sophomore guard Jaylin Walker scored a team-high 24 points. Deon Edwin posted 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Jimmy Hall added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Golden Flashes claimed an early 8-3 lead off a jumper from Hall at the 14:59 mark. Texas evened the score at 10-10 after a tip-in from Roach, then grabbed its first lead of the night (13-10) following a 3-pointer from freshman guard Jacob Young at 11:02. Young's shot from beyond the arc was the lone 3-pointer made by either team in the first half. Allen followed with a layup for a 15-10 lead with 9:55 remaining in the half, capping an 8-0 run for the Longhorns.
An Alonzo Walker jumper trimmed the Texas lead to 26-23, but Tevin Mack and Allen linked up for an alley-oop and sophomore guard Eric Davis Jr. tacked on a free throw to give the Longhorns a 29-25 cushion going into the break. UT held Kent State to 26.5% FG shooting (9-34) in the opening 20 minutes, including an 0-of-8 effort from beyond the arc.
Texas led by as much as six (37-31) early in the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Edwin and Jaylin Walker evened the score at 37-37 with 13:34 left to play. Jaylin Walker drained another three at 11:46 to give the Golden Flashes their first lead, 42-39, since early in the first half. Jaylin Walker and Alonzo Walker added two more points apiece to help Kent State build a 46-39 lead with 9:17 to play, capping a 9-0 run.
A Roach 3-pointer at 4:09 ignited an 11-6 run that culminated in an Allen layup with 1:19 remaining, trimming the deficit to 57-56. The Golden Flashes lengthened their advantage to 61-56 after consecutive scores from Hall and Jaylin Walker with 19 seconds to play. Another Allen layup brought the Longhorns to within three, but the Golden Flashes forced a Davis missed jumper and Jaylin Walker closed out the scoring with a breakaway dunk in the final second.
Texas will open Big 12 Conference play with a matchup at Kansas State on Friday, Dec. 30. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Central in Manhattan, Kan., and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNEWS.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Kent State 63, Texas 58
December 27, 2016
Austin, Texas (Frank Erwin Center)
Attendance: 10,658
Team Notes
- Tuesday's contest marked the first meeting between Texas and Kent State.
- The Longhorns fell to 483-114 all-time in home games at the Frank Erwin Center. The Horns dropped to 211-31 at the Erwin Center in the last 15 seasons (since start of the 2002-03 season). Texas fell to 6-2 this season and 20-5 at home in the Shaka Smart era.
- Kent State posted a 53-34 rebound advantage, including a 22-11 edge on the offensive glass.
- UT limited Kent State to 25 points on 26.5% FG shooting, including an 0-of-8 effort from three-point range, in the first half.
- Texas reached double figures in steals (10) for the second straight contest (11 vs. UAB) and third time this season.
- The Longhorns committed a season-high 18 turnovers (Kent State converted into 24 points off turnovers).
- Recorded a double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) for the fourth time this season (12 games).
- Reached double figures in scoring for the seventh time this year.
- Reached double figures in rebounds for the fourth time this season.
- Set a season high in points (previous: 16, twice).
- Recorded 3 blocks in 10 minutes played. Has recorded at least one blocked shot in 9 of his 11 games played.
- Tied his season high in rebounds (7) – also had 7 vs. Alabama (Dec. 2).
- Reached double figures in scoring (13 points) for the seventh time this year (11 games) and 16th time in his career (44 games).
- Set a career high in minutes (32). Previous high was 31 vs. UT Arlington (Nov. 29, 2016).
Postgame Quotes
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
Opening Statement: First of all, Kent State deserves a lot of credit. They played hard. They came in statistically as the top rebounding team in the country, and they did a great job of being that tonight. We didn't do a good enough job rebounding. I actually think that was not the most detrimental component of the game to us. We turned the ball over in situations where it's really hard to defend against. When you turn the ball over and the other team gets a layup or a dunk, there's not much you can do defensively. In a low-scoring game like tonight where both teams are shooting in the 30's percentage-wise, for them to get 24 points off turnovers, that's the biggest difference in the game to me.
On our offensive end, I thought one of the things that happened was when the ball wasn't going in as much, there was a level of tension or being worried about whether the next one was going to go in. You've just got to go out there and play. You have to go attack. We had some possessions where we went and did that, but we had some possessions where we were too tentative.
Again, Kent State deserves a lot of credit. I thought [Jimmy] Hall did a great job on the glass and was really aggressive. [Jaylin] Walker and [Deon] Edwin as guards were the more aggressive perimeter guys, especially in the second half.
On the rebounding effort: Well we didn't handle it very well tonight. I think we can, but there just wasn't enough of a sense of urgency for that tonight. It's really disappointing because our guys practice with pretty good energy, especially for practicing on Christmas night, and then yesterday we practiced twice with the second one being about skills and shooting. We got a lot of shots up, but we didn't play with the same aggressiveness and competitiveness in the game as we had in practice. Obviously, that's not good enough. That's why we practice.
On why practice didn't carry over to the game: I think practice is simpler because there is nobody there and stats don't matter. All you have to do is try to follow the plan and attack. If you're on the gray team, make the gray team win. If you're on the orange team, make the orange team win. We need to do that in the game. We have too much focus on things outside of that. It needs to just be about making Texas win. Part of that is understanding it's a team game and lifting up the guys around you.
I think one of the things that happened tonight, and Kent State did a good job of this, is attacking when guys were frustrated. A team can sense that, and they gain aggressiveness. I told the guys that after the game. We are going into conference play, and competition goes up. Intensity goes up. How competitive you are and all those things go up. We're going to have to learn very, very quickly a lesson about what the other team is taking from the way we come across.
Texas Sophomore Guard Kerwin Roach Jr.
On why the team is 6-6: Honestly, our preparation has been fine. We just have to go out and execute. I feel like leading up to this game, we practiced hard. We just didn't execute. We came out aggressive early in the beginning and then when we got down. We just didn't respond and that just can't happen.
On the feeling about why Kent State had a high number of rebounds: We had times where we were just reaching when we just had to go in there and grab it. We played some good defense, but it was just our second shot defense.
On what the team is going to have to do to get ready for conference play and what might have to change: I feel like we've just got to get our minds right. When we get our minds right, we can just go and do anything. We're a good team, we're versatile but we've just got to respond. There was a lot of times when we just didn't have our minds right during the game.
On what the team's "up and down nature" can be attributed to: Just not being in the right place. Going into it, it was good going into the first half and we were up going into halftime. Coming out we just didn't have the same spark they did, so it was just things like that which we let bother us in the game.
On whether he needs to take more of a leadership role among the guards: Probably so. I can talk all I want to them, but showing them is a different thing, and I feel like that's what I probably have to do.
Texas Freshman Forward Jarrett Allen
On what he's going to have to do keep making an impact on the game after a strong performance: I'm just going to have to demand the ball more in those situations. Like you said, I was just dominating in the second half so I'm just going to have to do it more.
On if Kent State was doing anything in particular to frustrate the Texas offense: It was just executing. I mean, they played good defense but that's on our part, too.
On anticipating conference play: I'm excited for Big 12. Everybody's been talking to me about it. It's going to be a new experience. Coach Smart said it's going to be a new experience for all of us freshmen, so I'm just excited to see what's in store.
On how he and the other freshmen will mentally prepare for conference play: We just listen to the seniors, the people who have been there before. We listen to their experiences and we just try to build on that.
Kent State Head Coach Rob Senderoff
Opening Statement: Obviously a big win for us playing a team like Texas with the tradition they have, the history they have, the coaching staff they have, and the players they have currently. It's a great win for us. We battled through some adversity throughout the game. The last two games we struggled to score. We did again tonight, but we kept at it defensively throughout the entire 40 minutes. Our guys stuck together through ups and downs throughout the game, and we were fortunate to make more plays. It was a great win for us.
On the rebounding: Going into this game, we were the number one offensive rebounding team in the nation. It's obviously really hard when you're playing a big, strong, physical team like Texas. Our mentality going in was we determine the offensive rebounds. We determine how hard we go. We determine whether we get them or not. That's been our mentality all year. Tonight, we were fortunate enough to get some. We got some early in the game that gave our guys a lot of confidence that we can do this the whole game. When we come into every game, that's our number one thing we talk about. That's our identity as a program.
Kent State Sophomore Guard Jaylin Walker
On what was said at halftime: We were talking about rebounding hard and feeding. If you have an open shot, take it. If not, move the ball and put it inside the paint. That was our talk.
On the rebounding effort: Our coach pushes us hard to be not a soft team on the court. We have to be aggressive on the boards.
On the team mentality when the leading scorer went out with foul trouble: We tried to keep it up and play our best without our star player. We just tried to keep it up for him until he returned in.
