LAWRENCE, Ch. Courtney Ramey scored 18 points to lead five Texas players in double figures, and No. 8 Longhorns beat Kansas 84-59 in third place on Saturday to match the most lopsided win by an opponent in Allen Fieldhouse history.
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 surprisingly turned an eight-point halftime lead into a blowout.
The margin of victory was greatest by an opponent in the Phog since Missouri’s 91-66 victory on February 1, 1989.
“There were blank looks in the group,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “We have to be a lot better mentally. Much more difficult.”
Jalen Wilson scored 20 points and Ochai Agbaji had 11 for the Jayhawks (8-2, 1-1), who shot 31% of the field and just 3 of 23 from the outside of the arc, losing their first game since their opener . against the best Gonzaga.
“The message is pretty clear: this isn’t happening at the Fieldhouse,” Wilson said. ‘This is very embarrassing. We are a good team and today we have not shown what we are capable of. ”
Coincidentally, it was the first top-10 game for Texas in a Big 12 regular season game since it then defeated No. 2 Kansas on January 22, 2011. The win also broke a three-game slip against the Jayhawks, who had won 16 of 17 against the Longhorns and been 16-1 against them in games played at the 65-year-old Allen Fieldhouse .
Kansas hadn’t taken the floor since December 22, when it sent West Virginia in seventh place. The 12-day layoff was the longest in the regular season under Bill Self, who took over the program for the 2003-04 season.
The Longhorns had been gone even longer. Thanks to a rise in COVID-19 positives at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, their game was canceled Tuesday night. That left Texas without a game, as it defeated Oklahoma State on December 20.
“I’m just happy for our guys. They put so much energy, time and effort into everything,” said coach Shaka Smart, whose Longhorns never got left behind. Air, with a few guys not available, but the guys just stayed there. and checked what they could control. ”
Kansas missed the first eight shots and finished 1-of-7 from outside the arc in the first half. Texas did slightly better from three runs, racking up 10 sales, although a late run fueled by Kai Jones off the bench resulted in a 37-29 lead at half time.
The Jayhawks narrowed their deficit to four early in the second half, but consecutive 3-pointers from Andrew Jones (who had been 1-for-8 off the field) Coleman and Ramey gave Texas the biggest lead at 50-38 with 3:42 PM to go.
Trusting in their experience, the Longhorns refused to back down. They started creating covers at the defensive end that led to easy layups, and their outside shooting continued to hiss. Their advantage increased to 63-47 with 8:51 left, forcing Self to give a timeout – only for the Jayhawks to turn it around immediately.
Sims added a dunk, Donovan Williams a 3, and Self burned another timeout as Texas’s lead stretched.
At the time, it looked like the Longhorns would have a shot at the most lopsided win by an opponent in Allen Fieldhouse history. Tyon Grant-Foster’s basket, with just over a minute to go, prevented this from happening.
“The most important thing I said when we came into the locker room after the game is, ‘This is what we have to do,’” Ramey said. This shouldn’t come as a shock or surprise. When you go [and] be us, you come out with a dominant performance. Now we have to keep it rolling. ”
THOMPSON SITS
The Jayhawks played without Bryce Thompson, their top player off the bench, after Self said the freshman’s guard hurt his back from “a hard fall in a bad place” in practice. Thompson scores an average of 5.4 points in 17.5 minutes per game.
LARGE PHOTO
Texas followed the blueprint to defeat the Jayhawks perfectly. It closed the perimeter, where Kansas had done so well in the win over West Virginia, and dominated on the glass to avoid chances of a second chance.
Kansas was dealing with a much longer team than-no. 20 Kentucky earlier this season. But the Jayhawks struggled with what brought Texas to the floor. Great man David McCormack was completely ineffective in the paint, and their guards, confident that they had to cut through the track to get shots, continued to find their path blocked by burnt orange.
NEXT ONE
Texas: Returns home to meet the state of Iowa on Tuesday.
Kansas: Goes to TCU the same evening.