The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
02.06.2016 | Men's Basketball
Senior guard Javan Felix records game-high 20 points to lead Longhorns to their seventh win in the last eight games.
AUSTIN, Texas – Senior guard Javan Felix scored 20 points to pace Texas to a 69-59 win against Texas Tech at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday afternoon. Junior guard Isaiah Taylor recorded 13 points and eight assists, and Kerwin Roach Jr. added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Longhorns (16-7, 7-3 Big 12), who have won four straight and seven of their last eight games.
Felix converted 7-of-15 field goals and added four rebounds in 37 minutes. Taylor has now posted 56 assists against just 13 turnovers in the team's first 10 Big 12 Conference contests. Roach converted 4-of-6 field goals and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line in 25 minutes.
UT earned its 20th consecutive home win against the Red Raiders. Texas Tech's last win in Austin came during the 1995-96 season.
Texas Tech (13-9, 3-7 Big 12) was stifled offensively, shooting 38.8-percent from the field (19-of-49). Keenan Evans led the Red Raiders with 14 points, hitting 7-of-10 free throws.
Felix scored the team's first eight points of the game with a pair of threes and a jumper to put Texas ahead 8-3 just 1:46 into contest. Texas Tech answered with an 8-0 run to take an 11-8 lead at the 13:51 mark.
Texas would take control in the final seven minutes of the half, with nine of its final 19 points coming off the fast break. The Longhorns finished the half on a 7-0 over the final 1:57, capped by a three-pointer from Tevin Mack with three seconds remaining, and took a 36-30 lead into the locker room.
Taylor opened the second half scoring the team's first seven points, helping the Longhorns maintain a 43-39 lead at the 15:00 mark. A Demarcus Holland steal and dunk capped a 7-0 Texas run that pushed the lead to 50-41 with 10:17 remaining.
The Longhorns increased their lead to 56-46 following a layup by Roach at the 6:36 mark. Taylor lobbed another pass to Roach for an alley-oop dunk to give Texas a 62-54 lead with 4:02 remaining. Roach put the game away with a layup to build a 67-54 cushion with 2:20 left.
Texas hit a season-high 80-percent from the free throw line (12-of-15) in the victory. The Longhorns posted a 34-24 advantage in points in the paint and an 11-4 margin in fast-break points.
Texas resumes play on Monday, Feb. 8 at No. 1/2 Oklahoma. Tip is set for 8 p.m. Central at the Lloyd Noble Center, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas 69, Texas Tech 59
February 6, 2016
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 14,951
Team Notes
UT has now won seven of its last eight games, with its lone loss in the stretch coming at No. 3/3 Kansas.
Texas has won 20 consecutive games against Texas Tech in Austin. The Horns improved to 83-55 all-time in the series against the Red Raiders, including a 47-22 mark in games played in Austin.
UT improved to 38-6 against Texas Tech since the Big 12 Conference began in 1996-97.
The Horns have won 15 of the last 17 and 21 of the last 24 meetings against Texas Tech.
UT improved to 12-1 this year at home and 203-27 at the Erwin Center in the last 14 seasons (dating back to the start of the 2002-03 season).
Texas set a team season high in FT percentage (.800, 12-of-15).
The Longhorns posted a 34-24 advantage in points in the paint and an 11-4 advantage in fast-break points.
Topped the 20-point mark (20 points) for the second time this season and ninth time in his career (122 games)
Reached double figures in scoring for the 14th time this year and 57th time in his career
Set a season high in minutes (37) and tied a season high in rebounds (4)
Reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the sixth time this season (23 games) and third time in the last four games
Tied for the team lead in rebounds (7)
Reached double figures in scoring (13 points) for the 18th time this year and 62nd time in his career (82 games)
Posted 8 assists against just 3 turnovers and tied a season high with 3 steals in 28 minutes
Has posted at least 5 assists in 14 of UT's 23 games this year
Has recorded a 117-42 assist-to-turnover ratio on the year, including a 56-13 ratio in Big 12 play
Postgame Quotes
Texas
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
On Javan Felix's game: We ran the first play for him. He's a really good shooter. When he gets an open look, we want him to take them. We want him to be aggressive.
On Isaiah Taylor's improvement over the season: He's passing the ball at a high level. He's always done that, but he's even taken it up a notch, which is really good. I think he's getting better at making the read. The game happens fast and when you come off a screen or attack a zone, there are a lot of different guys to read. He does a great job surveying the floor, almost like a quarterback. When he plays with poise, he's really, really good at making that read, as good as anyone I've coached. He's doing a nice job of that.
On how important Taylor is to the offense: We're a much different offense when he's not in. He's a playmaker. We have certain guys you want in at the end of plays. He's a guy you want at the beginning of the play. We're much different when he's out.
On Monday's game at No. 1 Oklahoma: We're playing the number one team in the country on their home floor. It's a great opportunity and at the same time, a great challenge. I would hope our guys are really excited. I'm excited.
Texas Players
Texas Junior Guard Isaiah Taylor
On his increase in assists: It hasn't been a different focus at all. My teammates are knocking down shots. Javan [Felix] had a great shooting game. At Baylor, Prince [Ibeh] was finishing dunks and Connor [Lammert] was hitting shots. That was the same thing that happened today. I think Connor hit a clutch three, and Javan had one early. I want to help my teammates.
On making a conscious effort to drive to the rim: It doesn't have anything really to do with my floater. This is just how teams are playing me. A lot of teams are low to the ball so much, and the kick-out is a smart play. I'm just making the easy read. I know one time late in the shot clock, Connor's man helped him off the corner and it was just an easy read.
On being able to dish to the second look: This is just looking at the defense and making the easy read. When I drive to the paint, I just look to everybody else and look to the second defender. We know that Texas Tech likes to run through passes, so it is easy to make that third.
On winning four games in a row: We are feeling good. We are confident as a team right now, but we are not satisfied and we are not going to ease up. This team is hungry. My teammates are hungry. The coaching staff is hungry. We know that we have a tough stretch of games coming up, and we are looking to go in and just compete in every game.
Texas Senior Guard Javan Felix
On what it means to have a good game: It just shows how well-rounded our team is and how far we have come as a team. It is always good to attack from different areas and help the team.
On how he and Isaiah [Taylor] are able to play off of each other: I know that Isaiah got in foul trouble early, so I went to the one. And then when he came back in, he played the one, mostly for the rest of the game. Sometimes even when he is in the game, I will get the ball out in transition and look to kick out.
Texas Freshman Guard Kerwin Roach, Jr.
On Isaiah's ability to find him on the court: Yeah, he's doing a great job of finding his teammates. I'm doing a great job of just staying prepared. Everybody's doing a great job of staying prepared and staying ready to make a plays.
On if he's surprised that he keeps getting open for "alley-oops": They are just really focused on Isaiah. Isaiah draws so much attention and they really want to protect the ball screen, so that's pretty much why.
Texas Tech
Texas Tech Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening Statement: Well, again, I thought our guys really battled. We're pretty thin through the front court without Norense Odiase and then having to play without Matt Temple, when he was playing pretty well. To go down, I don't think it's fractured, they told us, but he's done some damage to his eye. So hopefully he's okay. Texas did a good job. I thought we were right there. It was a one-two point game. We battled back, got ourselves into position. Again, it was another tough loss for us and we didn't execute in certain situations.
On Temple being out and Rokas Ulvydas filling in: Rokas is still developing. I don't know how long Matt will be out. I'm not sure if he's out. We'll see how that goes, but Rokas has been improving a lot. He's learning the plays and he'll have to play though, if Matt's not available.
On playing defense against Prince Ibeh: Well we did a good job doubling him when he had the ball and limiting his touches. That was the key to keeping the ball out of the post and I thought our bigs and our guards who went down to help out did a good job there. But, whenever you do that you have to pick your poison and certainly, with Felix and Isaiah, they really stepped up and made shots when they had to. It was a stretch there when it seemed like every call would be foul, foul, foul, and you get concerned when that happens.
On Aaron Ross and Zach Smith's play: I thought Aaron played okay. He didn't knock down some of the threes he knocked down the other night, but Aaron's been playing well. They logged a lot of minutes--33 minutes, and Zach with 36 minutes. They had to put a lot of minutes in on the court. I thought Zach does what he does, seven rebounds. I think he needs to look for his shot a little more, look to be more offensive-minded. It was typical on that last play, right in the paint--I think he was trying to scoop the ball to somebody else instead of picking it up and shooting himself in the lane when we got the steal and they got it back. He's a hard player. He gives away a lot of bulk, but he makes up for it with his athleticism and his quickness. Aaron is a real crafty player, he's a heady player. He made a couple mistakes when he tried to dribble the ball and he should have shot it, but otherwise he did okay.
Texas Tech Sophomore Guard Keenan Evans
On a scoring drought during the game: I'm not sure honestly, I think people were kind of panicking. Not using screens well or screening as much. I just feel like that's something we have to do better on.
On getting some turnovers and what went wrong afterword: No, I feel like we still did that, even in the zone. I just think we got caught ball-watching a lot. With Isaiah Taylor, I was doing the best job I could with getting hands in his face and deflecting the ball, then he'd just throw it right above my head and he'd just find open players, just hitting open shots.
On the difference in scoring between the first and second half: When they switch out on us with a big, switch out with a guard, I think we just took jump shots instead of attacking them. Sometimes we just weren't finishing around the rim.
