The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
19-11, 10-7
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Kansas
26-4, 14-3
No. 23/22 Men's Basketball falls to No. 1/1 Kansas
02.29.2016 | Men's Basketball
Felix records team-high 13 points and Ibeh grabs career-high 12 rebounds on Senior Night.
AUSTIN, Texas – Senior guard Javan Felix scored a team-high 13 points, but a high-powered Jayhawks offense was too much as No. 1/1 Kansas defeated No. 23/22 Texas, 86-56, on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 16,540 at the Frank Erwin Center presented by TEXAS Extended Campus. Felix went 6-of-12 from the field and added two steals in the loss, while senior center Prince Ibeh added a career-high 12 rebounds.
Kansas (26-4, 14-3 Big 12) shot 64-percent from the floor (32-of-50), including 68.8-percent from beyond the arc (11-of-16). Perry Ellis led the Jayhawks with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Kansas held Texas (19-11, 10-7 Big 12) to 0-of-9 shooting from the field while scoring the first nine points of the game, forcing UT coach Shaka Smart to take a timeout at 16:09. It took the Longhorns 6:32 to get on the board following a jumper from Felix, after Kansas had scored the first 15 points of the contest.
Later in the half, Kansas used a 10-0 run over a stretch of 2:14 to extend its lead to 28-9 with 8:52 remaining. The Jayhawks shot 65.5-percent (19-of-29) from the field in the first half and took a 47-23 lead into halftime.
Texas will conclude the regular season on the road against Oklahoma State on Friday, March 4. Tip is set for 8 p.m. Central at Gallagher-Iba Arena, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
#1/1 Kansas 86, #23/22 Texas 56
February 29, 2016
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 16,540 (sellout)
Team Notes
Texas fell to 4-1 this year at home against AP Top 20 opponents, including a 3-1 mark against AP Top 10 opponents at home.
UT dropped to 6-4 against AP Top 20 opponents and 6-6 against AP Top 25 opponents this season.
The Longhorns fell to 0-9 all-time against AP No. 1 opponents.
This marked the first time in program history that Texas played consecutive teams in the AP Top 3 in back-to-back home games (UT defeated No. 3 Oklahoma on Feb. 27).
Tonight's contest marked the final home collegiate home game for 6 UT senior players: Javan Felix, Demarcus Holland, Prince Ibeh, Connor Lammert, Danny Newsome and Cameron Ridley.
UT completed its 2015-16 home season with a 14-3 record.
Tonight's game marked the third straight sellout and fourth of the home season. UT also had home sellouts against No. 3/3 North Carolina (Dec. 12), No. 25/22 Baylor (Feb. 20) and No. ¾ Oklahoma (Feb. 27).
Reached double figures in scoring (team-high 13 points) for the 19th time this year and 62nd time in his career (129 games)
Posted 8 points and 5 rebounds in his final collegiate home game. This marked his highest scoring output since he had 8 points vs. UTSA (Dec. 8) and his most rebounds since he had 6 boards vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Nov. 21).
Reached double figures in rebounds (game-high 12 boards) for the sixth time this year and seventh time in his career (132 games)
Set a career high in rebounds
Postgame Quotes
Texas
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
On the disappointment tonight: It was very disappointing. Kansas was terrific. They really played well. Their guys shot the ball well and attacked. They were aggressive. I thought that they were really free and loose and aggressive. Part of that was that our defensive energy and fight was nowhere near where it needed to be.
On the perimeter defensive performance: I always want to give the other team credit. Kansas, they really attacked and played well. The way that we won the Oklahoma game in the last five minutes, when we went on a 22-0 run, that's how we have to be against a high-level basketball team, and to be able to compete with a team like Kansas, who is No. 1 in the country and has won the Big 12 for all these years in a row. We were not that team and maybe there are a few reasons for that. It is disappointing, but we just have to find a way to learn from it and keep it from happening again.
On the ability to handle a win: I think from our end, that was one of our biggest issues tonight. We did not handle Saturday well. I was concerned about it and I addressed it with the team yesterday. Obviously, I didn't do a very good job, but that was a really big win on Saturday. It was an emotional game. It was a great run at the end of the game. We didn't handle the aftermath of that that way that we needed to and that went in to us being less than our best coming into the game. If you are less than your best and you are playing against the No. 1 team in the country, you are in trouble.
On the motivation drawn from tonight: It is interesting. Some people are motivated by success and some people are motivated by failure. There are special players, teams, people who are able to find motivation in anything. There is no question that we should be highly motivated, but try to be motivated and bummed out at the same time. You have to get past that and realize that no one is going to feel sorry for you as a team, as a player, or as a coach. You have to focus on what the things are that you can do better. Our team tonight bore no resemblance to the way we have been when we played at a high level. I am not just talking about defense, I am talking about everything, all around. It starts with me. We have to figure out how to be who we want to be more consistently. Pretty soon here if you are not that, you get sent home.
Texas Players
Senior Guard Javan Felix
On the loss: We didn't come out and guard tonight, plain and simple.
On handling senior night: No, we weren't overwhelmed. We just didn't defend well. We were aggressive on offense, but we just didn't defend and you can't do that.
On defensive play against outside shooting: That's part of it, but the other part of it is us guarding the ball. We can't let them break the defense down like they did tonight. They have good players and they are a good team, but to have a chance to win the game, you have to be better on ball.
Senior Forward Connor Lammert
On the loss: It's tough. We want to take a second to recognize the fans--they've been very supportive. For us seniors, they have been supportive all four years and we have to respond. We have a big game Friday and we have to respond.
On early shooting trouble: We knew one would fall, because we were getting good shots. Sometimes it just goes like that. Again, we didn't defend well. We did a good job of not letting our offense control our defense. We took good shots, we just didn't defend well.
On bouncing back from loss: In the past when we have had rough games, we have responded well. We just have to come in tomorrow and look at things. You have to give Kansas credit--they are a great team. They did some great things tonight and they were hitting their shots. We are going to come in with energy tomorrow, I know that, and get this taste out of our mouth.
Senior Center Prince Ibeh
On guarding Perry Ellis: He is a good player. He causes some issues in the offense they run, but we just have to do a better job than [we did] tonight.
On the loss on senior night: It's tough. The most important thing for me is to not dwell on it. It's not the end of the season. All the goals that we set at the beginning of the season are still available to us and that's the most important thing.
Kansas
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
On concerns about team still being hungry: Well, this was one game, but they were alleviated early. Yesterday, I was shocked how much energy we had in the short practice. Today, we had a really good shootaround. It meant something to the guys tonight and they were on point and focused. We're fortunate, too. They missed shots and we made shots early to get a lead and then basically took the crowd out of it. Our guys played tonight. For about 25, 28 minutes, that was about as well as I think we can play.
On Frank Mason's contributions: Yeah, he's great. But Perry [Ellis] was unbelievable. Frank was great. Wayne [Selden Jr.] was solid. I thought Devonte' [Graham] had another good game and was really solid. We didn't rebound the ball well and we obviously missed free throws. But to come down here against a really good defensive team and miss 18 shots, we just made the extra pass and were fortunate when we got open looks, that we made them in the first half. When they got open looks in the first half, we were fortunate they didn't knock them down.
On watching the team click: To me, the 15-0 [run] or the 18-6, we got off to a good start, but big deal. But it was good. Every coach will tell you, "you get off to a good start, try to get the crowd out of it", but that doesn't happen very often. This is one of the few times it actually happened and in large part, because our first shot defense was really good. And the open looks they got, we were fortunate they didn't make them. If we play them again, it'd be a coin flip game. But tonight, we were about as good as we've been all year.
On the team's ball movement: I thought it was great. I thought the ball stuck some of the first half, because they switched a lot on ball screens, so guys were kind of sizing their man up and playing "take 'em" there. So it probably didn't move like it can move. But as far as making the extra pass, playing out of ball screen traps, all those things, we did a really nice job with that.
Kansas players
Kansas Senior Forward Perry Ellis
On the win: We just wanted to come out and play aggressively and show the great team that we are. We came out and defended well and their shots weren't falling early in the half.
On their confidence after big lead: It was high. Everyone was getting energized and pumped up. Everyone was getting into it and that really helps on the court.
Kansas Sophomore Devonte Graham
On holding onto a large lead: At halftime, Coach [Self] talked about that the whole time, how we give up leads after the half and we needed to come out and play defense. They had a bunch of offensive rebounds, but we still made them take tough shots. We contested every shot and played our butts off on defense.
On winning the Big 12 title outright: That was motivation. After last game, we were celebrating and we didn't want to come out flat and think the league was over. We wanted to come out and win it outright.
On guarding Isaiah Taylor: I tried to make him uncomfortable. He missed some tough shots--floaters that he usually makes--he was missing. We did a good job of keeping strong help when he drove to the lane and little stuff like that.
