LAWRENCE, Canada. – Courtney Ramey scored 18 points to lead five Texas players in double figures, and No. 8 Longhorns defeated Kansas third-placed 84-59 on Saturday to match an opponent’s most failed win in Allen history Fieldhouse.
Andrew Jones added 14 points, Matt Coleman III had 13 and Jericho Sims scored 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (8-1, 2-0 Big 12), which turned an eight-point lead at halftime into an explosion in a surprising way.
The margin of victory was the maximum for an opponent to the Phog since the Missouri victory in 91-66 on February 1, 1989.
“There were blank looks at the confusion,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We have to be much better mentally. Much harder.”
Jalen Wilson scored 20 points and Ochai Agbaji had 11 for the Jayhawks (8-2, 1-1), who shot 31% from the field and came out just 3 of 23 from outside the arc on losing his first match since his inception. against Gonzaga, the best ranked.
“The message is pretty obvious: this doesn’t happen at Fieldhouse,” Wilson said. “That’s very embarrassing. We’re a good team and we haven’t shown what we’re capable of today.”
Coincidentally, it was the first clash between the top ten Texas finishers in a regular season Big 12 game since beating the then No. 1 seed. 2 Kansas, January 22, 2011. The win also fell in three games against the Jayhawks, who had won 16 of 17 against the Longhorns and had been 16-1 against them in games played at Allen Fieldhouse, 65 years .
Kansas had not taken the floor since Dec. 22, when it finished seventh in West Virginia. The 12-day layoff was the longest of the regular season under Bill Self, who took over the show before the 2003-04 season.
The Longhorns had been out even longer. Thanks to a positive COVID-19 increase at Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, its game on Tuesday night was canceled. That left Texas without a game since beating Oklahoma State on Dec. 20.
“I’m happy for our guys. They’ve put so much energy, time and effort into everything,” said coach Shaka Smart, who Longhorns never left behind. air, having a couple of guys not available, but the guys stayed there and controlled what they could control. “
Kansas missed their first eight shots and finished 1 of 7 from outside the arc in the first half. Texas pulled off a little better from the 3-point range and coughed up 10 rotations, though a late throw driven by Kai Jones off the bench meant a 37-29 lead at the break.
The Jayhawks reduced their deficit to four early in the second half, but 3 points in a row from Andrew Jones (who had been 1 for 8 from the field) Coleman and Ramey gave Texas their biggest advantage in 50 -38 with 15:42 go.
Based on their experience, the Longhorns refused to withdraw pressure. They began to generate changes in the defensive end that led to easy dispositions, and their outside shot continued to squeak. His lead increased to 63-47 with 8:51 left to finish, forcing Self to call a timeout, only for the Jayhawks to return him immediately.
Sims added once, Donovan Williams a 3 and Self burned another timeout as Texas’s lead stretched.
At the time, it seemed as if the Longhorns were getting a shot at an opponent’s most failed victory in Allen Fieldhouse’s history. Tyon Grant-Foster’s basket prevented him from doing so.
“The most important thing I said when we walked into the locker room after the game is,‘ We’re supposed to do this, ’” Ramey said. “That shouldn’t be a shock or a surprise. When you go there [and] be us, you will come out with a dominant performance. Now we have to keep rolling. “
THOMPSON IS
The Jayhawks played without Bryce Thompson, their best player off the bench, after Self said the freshman guard injured his back in a “hard fall in a bad spot” in practice. Thompson averages 5.4 points in 17.5 minutes per game.
GREAT IMAGE
Texas followed the plan to win the Jayhawks perfectly. He closed the perimeter, where Kansas had been so good in his win over West Virginia, and dominated on the glass to avoid second-chance chances.
Kansas dealt with a much longer team by beating the then-No. 20 Kentucky earlier this season. But the Jayhawks struggled with what Texas brought to light. The great man David McCormack was totally ineffective in painting, and his guards, who depend on cutting the lane to create shots, continued to find their way blocked by the burnt orange.
UNTIL NEXT
Texas: Returns home to face Iowa on Tuesday.
Kansas: Heads to TCU the same night.