Longhorns suffer emotional hangover, can’t hang with KU

By Tom Keegan     Mar 1, 2016

Mike Yoder
Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham (4) celebrates on the court near Texas guard Javan Felix (3) in the Jayhawks win over the Longhorns Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

? Both basketball teams playing a Big 12 game in the Erwin Center were coming off emotional victories two days previous.

One handled it well, the other poorly.

“Kansas was terrific,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “They played really well. Their guys shot the ball well and attacked. I thought they played really free and loose and aggressive. Part of that was, our defensive energy and toughness and fight was nowhere near where it needed to be.”

Both coaches said they discussed with their players the importance of not experiencing an emotional letdown in the wake of big victories. Kansas clinched a tie for the Big 12 title Saturday with a victory against Texas Tech in Allen Fieldhouse.

Texas used a 22-0 run late in the game Saturday to score a comeback victory against Oklahoma.

“Kansas was terrific, but from our end, from the Texas end, that was one of our biggest issues tonight,” Smart said of guarding against an emotional letdown. “We didn’t handle (the emotional hangover from) Saturday well. That was a really big win.”

Texas point guard Isaiah Taylor, battling plantar fasciitis, was in a great deal of pain Sunday, according to Smart, but decided to play Monday. He didn’t play well and made just one of 10 shots from the field and had one assist in 28 minutes of action.

Smart didn’t use that as an excuse and was just answering questions about Taylor honestly.

“They’ve gotten better,” Smart said of the Jayhawks. “They’ve really played to their strengths, and they’ve also really improved on the defensive end.”

— See what people were saying about No. 1-ranked KU’s Big Monday game at Texas during KUsports.com’s live coverage.


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