LAWRENCE, Kan. – Courtney Ramey scored 18 points to lead five Texas players in double figures, and no. 8 Longhorns selected Kansas’ third position 84-59 on Saturday to secure an overwhelming victory over an opponent in the history of Allen Fieldhouse.
Andrew Jones added 14 points, Matt Coleman III had 13 and Jericho Sims had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (8-1, 2-0 Big 12), which turned an eight-point halftime lead on a standout .
The victory margin was most by an opponent in the Phog since Missouri’s 91-66 victory on February 1, 1989.
“There was empty stare in the mess,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We need to be much better mentally. Much tougher. ‘
Jalen Wilson scored 20 points and Ochai Agbaji had 11 for the Jayhawks (8-2, 1-1), who shot 31% off the field and went just 3-of-23 from outside the arc for their first game since their inception. against the Gonzaga who achieved the top position.
“The message is pretty obvious: it’s not happening in the Fieldhouse,” Wilson said. ‘It’s very embarrassing. We are a good team and today we did not show what we are capable of. ‘
It happened to be the first top 10 game for Texas in a Big 12 game in the regular season since it was the no. 2 Kansas on January 22, 2011. The win also featured a three-game tie against Jayhawks, who won 16 of 17 against the Longhorns and won 16-1 against them, in the 65-year-old Allen Fieldhouse. .
Kansas has not spoken since Dec. 22 when it drove West Virginia into seventh place. The twelve-day layoff was the longest in the regular season under Bill Self, who took over the program before the 2003-04 season.
The Longhorns were down even longer. Thanks to an increase in COVID-19 positives at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, their game was canceled on Tuesday night. It has left Texas without a game since beating Oklahoma State on Dec. 20.
“I’m just happy for our guys. They put so much energy and time and effort into everything,” said coach Shaka Smart, whose Longhorns never left behind. Some guys not available, but the guys just hung there and controlled what they could control. ‘
Kansas missed his first eight shots and finished 1-of-7 from outside the arc in the first half. Texas fared better from the 3-point series, coughing up ten turnovers, though a late run-kicked by Kai Jones from the bench had a 37-29 lead at halftime.
The Jayhawks lifted their deficit to four early in the second half, but consecutive 3-pointers by Andrew Jones (who was 1 for 8 off the field) gave Coleman and Ramey Texas their biggest lead at 50-38 with 15:42 left. to go.
Based on their experience, the Longhorns refused to withdraw the pressure. They started to turn around on the defensive side which led to easy layouts, and their shooting outside kept hissing. Their advantage increased by 8:51 to stand 63-47, forcing Self to call a timeout – only for the Jayhawks to immediately convert it again.
Sims added a dunk, Donovan Williams a 3 and Self burned another timeout while the lead stretched in Texas.
At that point, it looked like the Longhorns would have a chance at the most sudden victory by an opponent in Allen Fieldhouse history. Tyon Grant-Foster’s basket with just over a minute left prevented that from happening.
“The biggest thing I said when we got to the locker room after the game was, ‘We’re supposed to do this,’ ‘Ramey said. “It should not come as a shock or a surprise. When you go [and] be us, you come out with a dominant performance. Now we have to keep it rolling. ‘
THOMPSON SIT
The Jayhawks played without Bryce Thompson, their leading player off the bench, after Self said the freshman suffered a hard fall in a bad spot in practice. Thompson scored 5.4 points in 17.5 minutes per game.
LARGE PICTURE
Texas follows the blueprint to beat the Jayhawks perfectly. It closed the perimeter, where Kansas was so good with its win over West Virginia, and dominated on the glass to prevent second-chance opportunities.
Kansas faced a much longer team when he won the no. 20 Kentucky earlier this season. But the Jayhawks struggled with what brought Texas to the floor. The big man David McCormack was completely ineffective in the paint, and their guards, who relied on shooting through the track to create shots, found that their path was blocked by burnt orange.
FOLLOWING
Texas: returns to Iowa State on Tuesday.
Kansas: Go to TCU the same night.