Kansas City, Mo. ? Richard Roby had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Colorado overcame horrible first-half shooting to upset Texas 81-69 Thursday night in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
The Buffaloes (14-15), who shot just 13-for-36 in the first half but were 14-for-27 after the break, are the first No. 11 seed to advance out of the opening round in the tournament’s nine-year history.
They will meet third-seeded Oklahoma State, which had a first-round bye, in the second round Friday.
The sixth-seeded Longhorns (20-10), who have had a Thursday bye in all but two Big 12 tournaments, dropped to 1-1 in first-round games.
Texas never found a shooting groove, shooting just 36 percent for the game. The Longhorns had as many free throws (20-for-29) as field goals (20-for-58) and were just 9-for-35 from long range.
Still, the Longhorns were up 37-36 at the half and 49-46 with just over 13 minutes left before the Buffaloes’ shots finally started to fall.
Roby hit two 3-pointers in a 15-1 run, capped by Marcus Hall’s 3 with just under 9 1/2 minutes to go in the game, that gave Colorado a 61-50 lead.
Texas pulled within 65-60 on Kenton Paulino’s 3-pointer with 7:20 remaining, but the Buffaloes responded with seven straight points to go up 72-60 with just over 4 1/2 minutes left.
After that, the Longhorns never got closer than eight points. Texas didn’t score after Kenny Taylor’s steal and layup with 2:11 left cut Colorado’s lead to 77-69.
Hall and Julius Ashby finished with 14 points each for the Buffaloes, and Andy Osborn added 13 points. Roby’s double-double fueled a 48-34 rebounding advantage for Colorado.
Paulino led Texas with 16 points. Taylor added 14 points, Jason Klotz had 12 and Daniel Gibson – the Big 12 Freshman of the Year – finished with 11.
Forward Brad Buckman, the Longhorn’s second-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game, was held to five points on 2-for-7 shooting.