Marcus Morris: ‘We beat ourself’
Jayhawks play with heavy hearts
Rick Barnes has been to Allen Fieldhouse enough times to know that the home team always delivers one of those runs that lights up the scoreboard, raises the volume and brings the Kansas University fans to their feet.
Saturday, during No. 2 Kansas University’s 74-63 loss to No. 10 Texas, that tidal wave of emotion came in the game’s opening minutes. Yet Texas never flinched. Despite trailing 10-0 and 18-3, Barnes refused to call timeout and forced his players to deal with the madhouse that Allen Fieldhouse had become.
“I know our team,” Barnes said after the game. “And I do think there is a time in the game where they have to figure it out themselves. I told them during the first (media) timeout, when we started the game with two missed shots, we let that affect the rest of the game.”
Brady Morningstar’s deep jumper from the baseline pushed KU’s lead to 15 with 14:33 to play in the first half. But from that point on, the Longhorns ran even with the Jayhawks and trailed by just 12, 35-23, at the half.
Overcoming the early onslaught gave the Longhorns confidence heading into the second half, and, from the 14:33 mark of the first half on, Texas outscored Kansas, 71-45.
“They came in and they were on fire,” said UT sophomore Jordan Hamilton, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. “They did a great job in the first half, and we did a terrible job. Then we came out in the second half and we played hard. Coach always said, ‘We’re gonna win this game.’ He kept saying that.”
Clearly, Barnes’ players believed it. Five minutes into the second half, UT cut the KU lead to seven points.
Two minutes later it was down to five.
And, with 10:38 to play, Texas took its first lead on the second of back-to-back three-pointers from Jayhawk killer J’Covan Brown (23 points on 6-of-10 shooting).
Kansas (18-1 overall, 3-1 Big 12) never led again.
“I think this was a key win for us,” said Brown, who has helped UT knock off North Carolina, Michigan State, Illinois and Kansas this season. “Last year, (KU) came into our house and destroyed us. That was what was on my mind the whole time, but I didn’t tell anybody. Just to come back and get a win here, it was good for our team.”
It was also historic. Not only did the Texas victory snap KU’s school-record, homecourt winning streak of 69 straight games, it also marked the first time in school history that the Longhorns had left Lawrence victorious. Texas (16-3, 4-0) was 0-9 in Lawrence, 0-7 in Allen Fieldhouse, heading into Saturday.
Though snapping both streaks was cause for celebration, UT’s players weren’t overly amped about either feat.
“They’re a great team and a great program,” said freshman Tristan Thompson, who contributed 12 points, six rebounds and five blocks. “But it’s a road game. It was one win, and you have to keep building from that. We showed a lot of bad things in the first half; we didn’t play our game unfortunately. But we were able to bounce back and pull out the win. We know we have a lot of stuff to work on, but in terms of the record and what it means to Texas history, it’s impressive. But we have to keep working. It’s old news now.”
