The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
9-618-10/ Big 12
Kansas State
4-1115-13/ Big12
No. 25/25 Men's Basketball wins at K-State, 71-70
02.22.2016 | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Isaiah Taylor scores 13 of his team-high 19 points in second half.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior guard Isaiah Taylor scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to lead the No. 25/25 Longhorns to a 71-70 victory at Kansas State on Monday night. Taylor went 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line while adding a team-high four assists in the win.
Senior guard Javan Felix scored 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and freshman guard Eric Davis Jr. added 10 points to round out the three Longhorns scoring in double figures. Texas (18-10, 9-6 Big 12) shot 46.9-percent from the field (23-of-49) and went 16-of-19 at the free-throw line while turning the ball over only six times.
K-State (15-13, 4-11 Big 12) was led by Justin Edwards, who finished the night with 20 points and eight rebounds. The Wildcats posted a 36-27 advantage on the glass and a 38-22 margin in points in the paint.
Davis connected on a pair of threes to put the Longhorns ahead 14-7 at the 13:52 mark. The Wildcats fought back to tie the game at 16 with 10:41 left, but back-to-back jumpers from Shaquille Cleare and Taylor gave Texas a 20-16 lead at the 9:02 mark.
Both teams battled foul trouble in the first half, but Texas converted 12-of-14 of from the line in the opening 20 minutes. The Longhorns held K-State without a basket over a 5:03 stretch to extend its lead to 26-22 with 6:17 left, but the Wildcats claimed a 27-26 lead following a layup from Edwards at the 4:59 mark. Felix scored seven straight points for the Longhorns, and Kendal Yancy hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half to give Texas a 38-35 lead at the break.
A Felix jumper extended the lead to 40-35 and a Prince Ibeh layup stretched the cushion to 47-40 with 16:19 remaining. Kerwin Roach Jr. hit a 3-pointer to give the Longhorns a 50-42 advantage at the 13:16 mark, marking UT's largest lead of the night.
A Wesley Iwundu free throw narrowed the margin to 62-61 with 4:01 left, but Texas answered with a pair of jumpers from Taylor and Cleare to push the lead to 66-61 at the 2:39 mark. After the Wildcats clawed back to within one (66-65), Taylor sank a clutch 3-pointer to give the Longhorns a 69-65 cushion with 43 seconds left.
After Taylor hit a pair of free throws to give Texas a 71-67 lead with 32 seconds remaining, Barry Brown hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining to trim the margin to 71-70. Felix was sent to the free throw line with 14 seconds left and missed the front end of a one-and-one. K-State had one final possession, but a Dean Wade 3-pointer fell short and Taylor grabbed the loose rebound to seal the win.
The Longhorns return home for their final home-stand of the season. Texas hosts No. 3/4 Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 27. Tip is set for 1 p.m. Central at the Erwin Center, and the game will be televised nationally on CBS. UT then will play its final home game of the season on Monday, Feb. 29 against No. 2/2 Kansas at 8 p.m. Central.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
#25/25 Texas 71, Kansas State 70
February 22, 2016
Bramlage Coliseum (Manhattan, Kansas)
Attendance: 11,629
Team Notes
Texas has now won the last four meetings against the Wildcats, recording regular-season sweeps in each of the last two seasons.
Tonight's contest snapped a streak of five consecutive true road contests against AP Top 15 opponents (Jan. 20-Feb. 13).
The Longhorns hit 52.2 percent (12-23) from the field in the second half. Texas limited K-State to 43.8 percent (14-32) shooting in the final 20 minutes, including a 1-of-6 (.167) mark from three-point range.
UT recorded its second-highest FT percentage (84.2, 16-19) of the season. The Horns hit 84.6 percent (11-13) at Iowa State (Feb. 13).
Texas committed just 6 turnovers on the night. This marked the eighth time in Big 12 play (15 games) that the Longhorns have committed fewer than 10 turnovers.
Reached double figures in scoring (10 points) for the sixth time in Big 12 play and 12th time this year (28 games)
Reached double figures in scoring (13 points) for the 17th time this year and 60th time in his career (127 games)
Reached double figures in scoring (team-high 19 points) for the 22nd time this season and 66th time in his career (87 games)
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
Head coach Shaka Smart
On escaping on the road…
"I think we won by one. I know Kansas State had a shot at the end, if the ball goes in they win. We have been on the other end of that too. I do not care if we win by one or by one hundred. We came up here to win, certainly was not our best game but our guys battled. It is challenging that on both sides, so many fouls were called. You have to adjust out there as a team, and I thought in the second half our guys settled in and played with a little more discipline. You have to give Kansas State credit. They made some big plays on offense."
On bouncing back from Saturday's lost to Baylor…
"Saturday we were out of character in terms of who we really are, but we are still becoming who we really are. It was a good step to go on the road in this league and win, I do not care who you are playing. Kansas State is a good team. We only beat them by three at home. Isaiah (Taylor) had a lot of aggressiveness in the second half, and we needed every one of his free throws. He shot one hundred percent from the line. That was huge."
On the play of D.J. Johnson…
"He is terrific. I really liked him on tape before we played him the first time. I think at that point he was coming off the bench. As a coach, sometimes when guys check in a game you are like good I am glad he is in the game, then there are other guys like Johnson who you want to keep out as much as possible. He is a load. I thought he was terrific in the Kansas game the other day and it seems like, for Kansas State, he is becoming more of a go-to-guy around the basket. They got a heck of a group coming back next year when you look at how many guys they got coming back. They have obviously been in a lot of close games this year, but I think their program is really moving in a great director with all those guys they have coming back."
Guard Isaiah Taylor
On making plays with bigs in foul trouble…
"I just think that we showed our depth tonight. Prince [Ibeh] was in foul trouble, Connor [Lammert] was in foul trouble. Tevin [Mack] came in and played some big minutes for us. Shaq [Shaquille Cleare] played some big minutes for us and got a clutch bucket for us down the stretch. I just think that we showed that we are a deep team. We played hard tonight just to get the win."
On 3-pointer late in the game…
"We called a play and I came off the stagger. I had it at the top of the key. Shaq set the screen. I really had no intentions of using the screen. I just told Shaq to move out of the way. I know that when I have a one-on-one opportunity a lot of teams load to the ball. When they load to the ball, they really just have to choose their poison. I think a minute and a half or two minutes before that possession, Conner hit a clutch three when I passed it to him. So I just rose up and fortunately, it went in."
