Texas Men's Basketball upsets No. 3 Kansas, 72-69
Jim Vertuno, Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- As basketball's traditional rivalries go, Texas-Kansas still has a way to go to be considered among the nation's best.
It would be very difficult, however, to find two teams who have played more exciting games the last few years. Monday night was just the latest installment of what has quickly become the Big 12's marquee matchup.
Damion James scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the second half, giving No. 11 Texas the muscle it needed to bang with the bigger Jayhawks under the basket, lifting the Longhorns to a 72-69 win.
James finished with 14 points after playing only three minutes of the first half with foul trouble. Connor Atchley, who surprised No. 3 Kansas by hitting four 3-pointers, led Texas with 16 points and A.J. Abrams added 14 points.
"Seeing my team fight without me, it was hard because if it's a fight, I want to be out there," James said.
Darrell Arthur scored 22 to lead the Jayhawks (23-2, 8-2), who lost for just the second time in 33 regular season games dating back to last season.
Texas and Kansas have played some of the most exciting league games in recent years -- their two meetings last year decided the Big regular season and tournament titles -- and Monday night was no different.
This one wasn't as high scoring as when these teams usually get together, but it lived up to its expectations in terms of big plays and big shots.
"I liked last year's outcome better," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It's a game in our mind that we circle."
Texas even rolled out some football mojo to fire up the sellout crowd: Vince Young, the quarterback of the 2005 national championship team sat a few seats down from iconic coach Darrell Royal. Aaron Ross, a rookie safety with the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, was introduced to the crowd before the game and sat next to Mack Brown.
"We all could feel it. The crowd was there early in our shoot-around. I think that really helped us out," Texas guard Justin Mason said. Mason chipped in nine points and eight rebounds.
On the court, the Longhorns and Jayhawks bulled their way through a game dominated by the Jayhawks' physical front line and Texas' 3-point shooters.
Texas led most of the first half, its best weapon coming in the form of the lanky 6-foot-10 Atchley, who stepped out for his 3-pointers and had three big blocks on defense.
"It's a lot easier to make it when you dare him to shoot it," Self said of the Kansas defense that left Atchley open. "It surprises anybody when you go 4-4 from 3s."
Kansas kept throwing bodies at the basket, wearing down Texas with dunks and outrebounded the Longhorns 23-13 in the first half. The Jayhawks trailed until Brandon Rush tied it with a long 3-pointer and followed it with a layup. Consecutive baskets by Arthur helped put Kansas up 42-38 at halftime.
The fun was just getting started.
The Jayhawks started taking quick shots and the rail-thin Atchley, turning his shooting touch into a power game, twice went up for two-handed dunks.
James, who picked up two quick fouls in the first four minutes of the game, was a force in the second, grabbing two quick rebounds and hitting a 3-pointer as Texas regained the lead 50-48.
"He came out in the second half real hot," Arthur said. "He came out extra aggressive because he had to sit on the bench so long."
With James in the game, that rebounding edge Kansas enjoyed completely disappeared. Texas outrebounded Kansas 23-12 in the second half.
The teams were tied or traded the lead four times over the next six minutes before Abrams dropped in a soft floater. D.J. Augustin, who missed his first nine attempts, then dribbled through three defenders to beat the shot clock with a layup and a 62-57 Texas lead with 5:30 to play.
Augustin stripped Sherrod Collins on Kansas' ensuing possession and Mason's putback put Texas up by seven, the biggest lead of the game.
Everything went right for Texas to close it out: James soared over Arthur to slam home a rebound to make it 66-61 and stellar defensive play down the stretch won it.
The Longhorns led 67-64 when the Jayhawks set up Rush in the left corner for a 3-pointer. Abrams, who at 5-11 is seven inches shorter than rush, leaped to deflect the shot with 50 seconds left.
"He got some separation and I tried to contest it. I got three good fingers on it," Abrams said.
Kansas got within two on Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and had one last chance to tie after Augustin missed a free throw with 8 seconds left. Chalmers' final desperation shot from the left wing bounced off the rim after the final buzzer.
"It was a bad possession because we had something we wanted to run and we took the ball to the wrong side and it killed the play," Self said.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
· Texas secured its ninth consecutive 20-win season, building on a school record. The previous mark was four (1988-89 to 1991-92).
· Texas is now 9-3 at home against AP Top 10 opponents in the Rick Barnes era.
· The Longhorns won their seventh consecutive game in the Erwin Center against a Top 10 opponent.
· Texas is now 4-2 against ranked opponents this season, including Top 10 wins over #2 UCLA, #3 Kansas and #7 Tennessee.
· Four of UT's seven all-time wins against AP Top Three opponents have come in the Rick Barnes era.
· Kansas is the highest-ranked team Texas has defeated at home since #3 Villanova on Jan. 14, 2006.
· Texas is 12-2 at home in Big Monday contests. Eight of the 12 wins have come against Top 25 opponents.
· Texas has won three straight games against Kansas at home and leads the series 5-3 in Austin.
· Texas is 134-18 (.882) at the Erwin Center during the Rick Barnes era, including winning 88 of its last 94 home games.
· Texas is 65-11 (.855) in Big 12 Conference home games under Rick Barnes.
· Texas had four players score in double figures for the sixth time this season.
A.J. ABRAMS
· Scored in double figures for 20th time in 2007-08 and the 58th time in 96 career games, including 49 of his last 58.
· Scored in double figures in four consecutive games.
CONNOR ATCHLEY
· Scored a career-high 16 points in Big 12 play.
· Converted all six of his field goals in the game, including 4-of-4 on three-pointers.
· Matched his career single-game high with four three-pointers in the first half.
· Scored in double figures for 10th time in 2007-08 and the 13th time in 88 career games.
· Scored 15 or more for the sixth time in 2007-08 and the seventh in his career.
· Matched the 2007-08 UT individual single-game high for three-point field goal percentage (1.00/4-4).
· Set the 2007-08 UT individual single-game high for field goal percentage (1.00/6-6).
· Blocked four shots in each of the last two games and for the fourth time this season.
· Led the team in scoring for the second time this season (Texas State).
D.J. AUGUSTIN
· Led Texas in assists for the 20th time in 2007-08
· Scored in double figures for the 22nd time in 2007-08.
· Has an assist to turnover ratio of 22-5 (4.4-1) in the last four games.
· Led Texas in assists for the 20th time in 2007-08.
· Led Texas in steals for the 10th time in 2007-08.
DAMION JAMES
· Recorded his 10th double-double of 2007-08 and the 14th of his career.
· Scored in double figures for 14th time in 2007-08 and the 26th time in 59 career games.
· Registered double figures in rebounding for the 13th time in 2007-08 and the 23rd time in 59 career games.
· Recorded at least seven rebounds for the 19th consecutive game.
· Led Texas in rebounding for the 21st time in 2007-08.
· Recorded 27 (14/13) rebounds in the last two games.
JUSTIN MASON
· Recorded at least six rebounds for the fifth time in 2007-08 and the 10th time in 59 career games.
· Scored at least nine points for the second time in the last three games.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH RICK BARNES
On D.J. Augustin’s play: I’ve told him many times that I don’t care what he’s done up until the end of the game, but he’s our guy and we’re going to go to him. I trust him totally. I think on nights where he has poor shooting, his penetration created all kinds of problems for them because it allowed him to get to the rim and attract guys to block his shots, and that is where Damion James and Justin Mason get the opportunity to come in and clean it up. He takes a beating night in and night out because he does so much, but his penetration is huge. There is no question when we get down to the end of the game; we are going to put it in his hands, because he knows his teammates so well. He’s got a lot of confidence and he’s certainly going to do something to get A.J. [Abrams] involved.
On letting Justin Mason handle the ball early: We’ve gone to D.J. off the ball some because he is such a complete player. I like him coming out and catching the ball when he curls off screens into the lane. I like him playing off the dribble some and out of the triple-threat position. If anything, it’s to not let people key off on him. When he and A.J. get down there, we do a good job of screening for them. They’re two very tough guys to defend because they do such a good job of reading how their defenders are guarding them.
On the rebounding in the second half: We talked about it at halftime obviously. Kansas is a very difficult team to guard because they are really good at running their pick-and-roll offense and they do a great job of passing the ball. They put you in some situations where if you don’t rotate quickly, they are going to beat you. But we talked about how they had 12 offensive rebounds at halftime because we just didn’t do what we needed to do.
JUNIOR GUARD A.J. ABRAMS
On having to fight back in the second half: When you're behind and when it’s a close game, it feels the same because you get lost in the game and just try to take care of the details. Sometimes you get behind and have to fight back, but fortunately today we shot the ball well in the first half and hung with them.
On tonight's win: It puts us in control of what we want to do for this season. Today was a big win for us, but it is just another conference win and we have a game on Saturday to prepare for. We have to put this one behind us and get ready for Baylor.
SOPHOMORE GUARD D.J. AUGUSTIN
On leading the team down the stretch: My teammates have confidence in me and so do the coaches. I am still going to be aggressive no matter what is going on and I know that my teammates are going to step up and play big. I didn't worry about missing shots, I just try to keep playing and keep trying to get my teammates the ball, and my teammates did a good job.
On Kansas' defense: They were playing great defense. It was protecting the lane, contesting the shots and coming over to help each other. Kansas is great defensive team and we just tried to play hard.
SOPHOMORE GUARD JUSTIN MASON
On rebounding against a physical Kansas team: Coach Barnes told us to come out and really focus on getting bodies on their big men. A lot of Kansas' offensive rebounds came from a couple of drives for layups and our big men coming up to make a play. I was a little surprised because they are a good team and they usually box out well. You have to give credit to D.J. and A.J. for driving in there and having those big men come over the open up opportunities for offensive rebounds.
On the fans: Our crowd really came out today and supported us. We all can feel it in the atmosphere, the crowd was there early when we were shooting around, and I think that really helped us out with the victory.
KANSAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILL SELF
On the Texas big men scoring: I think that [Connor] Atchley percentage wise is the best shooter in our league. It surprises anybody when someone goes four-for-four for threes, because not even guards do that all the time, but Atchley is a good shooter. Damion James had a chance to sit on the bench in the first half to boil a little bit, because he wants to be out there, and he came out and just kicked our butt in the second half.
On the rebounding in the second half: I think that they just outmanned us in the second half. It does surprise me because that is all we talked about at halftime because we knew Rick Barnes would look at the stats at halftime and get on their butts about the rebounding. That was our focus at halftime and our guys did not respond to their aggressiveness. Our guards did a poor job of blocking out in the second half. Of all the rebounders in the second half, I think Justin Mason was their best in the second half.
On D.J. Augustin: I think he’s difficult to defend if you’re down by multiple possessions. Fortunately for us tonight, we weren’t down far enough to have to foul. He plays crafty and quick enough to get the count off and if he does pass the ball, he does pass it to a 90 percent free throw shooter. That did not kill us, but it did slow the game down and limit our possessions. We were only down by four, so it was only a two-possession game.
SOPHOMORE FORWARD DARRELL ARTHUR
On Damion James: He came in the second half on fire. He got a couple of quick fouls in the first half and sat out, but he came in extra aggressive in the second half and made some big plays for them.
On the difference in the second half: We got our hands on some balls but we just couldn’t grab them. Balls were flying out-of-bounds and one hit off of Brandon’s [Rush] head. We needed a big rebound and we just couldn’t get to it in the second half.
JUNIOR GUARD MARIO CHALMERS
On limiting D.J. Augustin’s scoring, but still losing: It’s very frustrating because he is the key to their team and we did a good job on him and A.J. throughout the game. It’s just the other players that killed us.
On the strategy defending Augustin: Our strategy was just to keep him in front of us and don’t give him easy buckets by letting him penetrate through the lane. We didn’t want to foul him and give him easy layups.
