The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
12-6, 3-3
Texas Tech
15-3, 4-2
Men's Basketball upsets No. 8/8 Texas Tech, 67-59
01.17.2018 | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Kerwin Roach II led the Longhorns with a season-high 20 points.
AUSTIN, Texas – Junior guard Kerwin Roach II recorded a season-high 20 points to lead Texas Men's Basketball past No. 8/8 Texas Tech, 67-58, on Wednesday night at the Frank Erwin Center. The win marked UT's second win against a Top-20 opponent in the past three contests for the Longhorns.
Roach, who was cleared to play just prior to the contest after missing the previous two games with a left hand injury, finished 5-of-10 from the field and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. Freshman forward Mohamed Bamba registered his eighth double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding five blocks.
Freshman guard Matt Coleman dished out a team-high seven assists and added eight points, while junior forward Dylan Osetkowski contributed 12 points and five boards in 37 minutes. Texas shot 51.1 percent (23-45) from the field and outscored Texas Tech by a 32-20 margin in the paint.
The Longhorns held Tech scoreless for a 2:28 stretch early in the first half to grab their second lead (10-9) of the contest after a Coleman jumper in the lane at the 12:23 mark. Back-to-back buckets from Bamba and a Roach 3-pointer extended the Longhorn lead to 19-12 with 7:10 remaining.
The Red Raiders trimmed the Texas lead to 21-19 after a layup at the 3:16 mark, but Roach answered on the opposite end with a traditional three-point play as UT held a five point (24-19) advantage with 2:28 remaining. A Bamba dunk before the buzzer gave the Longhorns a 29-24 lead heading into the break.
Bamba led Texas in the first half with eight points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and six rebounds, while Osetkowski added seven points and three boards in 17 minutes. UT shot 12-of-26 (46%) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Six points from Roach fueled a 10-4 Texas run to open the second half, putting the Longhorns ahead by double-digits (39-28) with 14:45 remaining. The Red Raiders cut the UT advantage to 45-40 after a four-minute scoring drought for Texas with just over eight minutes to play. A 3-pointer from junior guard Eric Davis Jr. extended the UT margin back to double-figures (60-50) at the 3:30 mark.
Bamba recorded his fifth block of the contest after a dunk from Roach pushed the lead to 64-52 with 2:06 remaining. The Longhorns wouldn't allow Texas Tech to get within nine points over final two minutes, as Texas earned a 67-58 victory. Jarrett Culver paced Texas Tech with 16 points.
The Longhorns travel to Morgantown, W.Va. to face No.6/7 West Virginia at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 20. Tip is set for 1 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised nationally on CBS.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas 67, #8/8 Texas Tech 58
January 17, 2018
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 12,396
Team Notes
- The win against No. 8/8 Texas Tech marked the highest-ranked (AP) opponent that the Longhorns have defeated since a 76-63 home win against No. 3/4 Oklahoma on Feb. 27, 2016.
- UT improved to 2-3 against AP Top 25 opponents this season and has won two straight games against ranked opponents (beat No. 16/16 TCU 99-98 in double-overtime on Jan. 10).
- Texas improved to 86-56 all-time in the series against Texas Tech. The Longhorns have now won 22 consecutive games against the Red Raiders in Austin (dating back to the 1995-96 season). UT improved to 49-22 all-time against Texas Tech in games played in Austin.
- Texas improved to 41-7 against Texas Tech since the Big 12 Conference began in 1996-97. The Longhorns have now won 18 of the last 21 and 24 of the last 28 games against Texas Tech.
- UT improved to 495-121 all-time in games at the Erwin Center. Texas improved to 223-38 at the Erwin Center in the last 16 seasons (dating to the start of the 2002-03 season). UT is 32-12 at home during the Shaka Smart era (8-2 this season).
- Texas posted a 32-20 advantage in points in the paint.
- The Longhorns held Texas Tech to 58 points on 38.2% FG shooting (21-55), including a 25.9% mark (7-27) from three-point range.
- Texas held the Red Raiders to just 24 points on 39.1% FG shooting (9-23) in the opening 20 minutes. UT posted an 18-6 margin in points in the paint in the first half.
- Registered his eighth double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) of the season (17 games)
- Reached double figures in scoring for the 13th time this year
- Reached double figures in rebounds for the 11th time this season
- Added 5 blocked shots and has registered at least 4 blocks in 15 of his first 17 games and at least 2 blocks in all 17 contests.
- Reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the 15th time this year (18 games)
- Topped the 20-point mark (20 points) for the first time this season (16 games) and for the third time in his career (81 games)
- Reached double figures in scoring for the 10th time this year and for the 36th time in his career
- Posted a season high in points (just 2 shy of his career high – 22 vs. TCU on Jan. 26, 2016) and FT made (8-9)
- Played 29 minutes after missing the previous two contests with a left hand injury (was cleared to play just prior to tipoff tonight)
POSTGAME QUOTES
TEXAS
Head Coach Shaka Smart
Opening Statement: The fans were great tonight, particularly our students. They made a huge difference for our team. They gave us an energy that our team needed. I'm really just appreciative of how people in Austin and people that are a part of the UT family have rallied around our guys during a challenging time that Andrew Jones and his family are experiencing. In terms of the game, Texas Tech is a terrific team. I thought our guys did a really nice job of playing with good focus and energy. You need both to be able to beat a team like that, and we had that energy for a majority of the night.
On Kerwin Roach's impact: He was huge. I didn't even know that he was playing until a little bit before the game. He had a doctor's appointment today but the trainer told me earlier in the day that he should be good to go for West Virginia. I said that was progress and whenever we could get him back would be great. Then the assistant coaches started grabbing me and saying, "Snoop's playing, Snoop's playing." I was walking out to the court at the beginning of the game and I turned to the trainer and asked, "Can Snoop play or not?" and he just winked at me. So that's how I found out. It's huge what Roach was able to do for our team tonight, because you have an extra level of athleticism and burst as a team when he's in there.
On being consistent in both halves: Well, there's no question that we've been a little inconsistent with finishing off games. After spending some time watching tape from the last game and talking about what we need to do better, I think our guys have a sense of urgency to be better. Matt [Coleman] took a real shot to the face and we had to get him out of there just to give him a little bit of a break, because he made a couple of mistakes. Overall, I thought Matt played with good poise down the stretch, and I thought our other guys did as well.
Junior Guard Kerwin Roach II
On the game tonight: I just got cleared today it was a game-time decision. I was nervous, I felt like a freshman when I went in, but I settled my nerves after my first bucket and just went from there.
On practicing while being out: I didn't really practice. I didn't even dribble the ball with the team. I just conditioned with my strength coach and that was about it.
On finally getting cleared: I was just thinking about my teammates and how much I could contribute to the game. I had sent a message in the group message that I had been cleared today and Mohamed (Bamba) was the first person that called me. He said "are you serious?"
Junior Forward Dylan Osetkowski
On the lead today versus the lead against Oklahoma State: I mean, three days worth of experience (is the difference). We noticed a similar situation from Saturday. We've been there. We had a collective mindset on staying with it, staying aggressive and continuing to flow offensively and defensively.
Freshman Forward Mohamed Bamba
On getting Roach back: It was big for us. As you can see Kerwin really leads and he takes charge in our perimeter defense. Having him back in the lineup is what made all the difference. He did his job tonight.
On the drought of double-digit leads: We've been here before. We just have to take care of the ball. I think the story for both of those games where we lost in the second half was that we didn't take care of the ball. We did a pretty good job of that today and came out victorious.
TEXAS TECH
Head Coach Chris Beard
Opening remarks: I want to congratulate Shaka and his team on a good Big 12 win. I thought they played great tonight. I also want to mention something that's a lot more important than basketball, and that's Andrew's health. Andrew and I share the same hometown of Irving, Texas and he and his family have been in our team prayer since this happened. We want Andrew to know that he has a lot of love and people in Texas praying for him.
On the loss: We cut it to 4-5 in the second half, our players were playing really hard. Basketball is a game of making shots, and tonight we just couldn't make our shots. There were a lot of 50/50 balls, that's just basketball. I thought tonight was a night where we had to take a lot of jump shots, because Texas camped out in the lane. We played a low-turnover game, but we didn't hit jump shots and couldn't get to the free throw line either. Our guys ran out of gas at the end. In basketball, victory favors the team that's more aggressive and I thought that Texas was more aggressive than we were tonight.
On [Mohamed] Bamba: Bamba is very special. Not only can he block the sun, but he can block the moon, too. Not only is he a great shot blocker, but he has really good timing, doesn't seem to foul much and is very disciplined. He also doesn't leave his feet. He's a lottery pick for a reason.
On [Kerwin] Roach: We were expecting Roach was going to play, and we were preparing for his return. We knew Roach was getting close based on the date of the injury. I thought he played great tonight. It's tough to come out of an injury and play that well, so we give him a lot of credit.
Senior Guard Keenan Evans
On Bamba's length: He's just a long presence. Driving and getting in there, we were kind of taking some hope shots and he was blocking them. He was making it difficult for us to whip the ball around with their length. We weren't making shots either.
On Roach's impact: He brought a lot of energy and he's a great player, especially on the offensive end, knocking down shots, being very active on rebounds, and just making plays all over the court. It was definitely big for them to get him back tonight.
