LAWRENCE, Canada. – Courtney Ramey scored 18 points to lead five Texas players in double-digit numbers, and No. 8 Longhorns went 84-59 with Kansas on Saturday to match the most successful victory of an opponent in its history. 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 lead at the break into a blast amazingly.
The margin of victory was the highest of an opponent in the Phog since the Missouri victory at 91-66 on February 1, 1989.
“There were blank stare,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “We have 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% of the field and passed just 3 of 23 beyond the arc, losing their first game of at their opening against top Gonzaga.
“The message is pretty obvious: this is not happening in Fieldhouse,” Wilson said. “It simply came to our notice then. We are a good team and today we did not show what we are capable of. “
Coincidentally, it was the first top 10 game for Texas in a Big 12 game of the regular season since he defeated it back then. 2 Kansas on January 22, 2011. The win also broke out in three games against the Jayhawks, who had won 16 of 17 against the Longhorns and were 16-1 against them in the games played at the 65-year-old Allen Fieldhouse. .
Kansas had not spoken since Dec. 22, when it led West Virginia in seventh place. The 12-day layoff was the longest of the regular season under Bill Self, who took over the program before the 2003-04 season.
The longhorns were gone even further. Due to the increase in COVID-19 positives at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, their game on Tuesday night was canceled. This left Texas without a game as it defeated the state of Oklahoma on December 20th.
“I’m just happy for our boys. They put so much energy, time and effort into everything,” said coach Shaka Smart, whose Longhorns never left. “They last a few months and they have canceled boys and boys who have things in the air, having a couple of guys unavailable, but the boys just sat there and controlled what they could control.”
Kansas missed the first eight shots and finished 1 of 7 beyond the arc in the first half. Texas did a little better in the 3-point range and coughed up 10 turnovers, although a late run fueled by Kai Jones off the bench led to a 37-29 break lead.
The Jayhawks reduced their deficit to four at the start of the second half, but Andrew Jones’ (three-for-8 on the field) consecutive triples gave Coleman and Ramey a 50-38 lead over Texas: 42 to go.
Based on their experience, Longhorns refused to withdraw from the pressure. They began to create turnovers on the defensive end, which led to slight stretches, and their outside shots continued to sizzle. Their lead increased to 63-47 with 8:51 at the end, forcing Self to resort to a timeout – only for the Jayhawks to return him immediately.
The Sims added a goal, Donovan Williams a 3 and Self burned another timeout as the Texas lead stretched.
At that moment, it seemed that Longhorns would have a shot at the most victory of an opponent in the history of Allen Fieldhouse. Tyon Grant-Foster’s basket, with just over a minute left, prevented this.
“The biggest thing I said when I walked into the locker room after the game was, ‘We have to do this,'” Ramey said. “It shouldn’t be a shock or a surprise. When you go [and] be new, come out with a dominant performance. Now we have to keep running it. “
THOMPSON SITTES
The Jayhawks played without Bryce Thompson, their top player on the bench, after Self said the early guard injured his back from “a hard fall in a bad place” in practice. Thompson averages 5.4 points in 17.5 minutes per game.
OVERVIEW
Texas followed the plan to defeat the Jayhawks perfectly. He closed the perimeter, where Kansas had been so good in his victory over West Virginia, and dominated the bottle to prevent second-chance opportunities.
Kansas had to deal with a much longer team when they defeated then No. 20 Kentucky earlier this season. But the Jayhawks fought what Texas brought to the ground. Big man David McCormack was completely ineffective in the paint, and their guards, who rely on cutting through the tape to create fire, still found their way blocked by the burnt orange.
IT FOLLOWS
Texas: Returns home Tuesday to face Iowa.
Kansas: Heading to TCU the same night.