Longhorns Demolish Kansas in Second Half, Win Big 12 Championship
Headed into the Big 12 Championship, the Texas Longhorns were faced with the daunting task of playing the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks twice in the past eight days.
But now headed into March Madness, no task appears too big for the Longhorns, who won the Big 12 Tournament title at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City on Saturday after blowing out the Jayhawks 76-56 in front of a crowd that was filled mostly with Kansas fans.
Texas blew out Kansas 75-59 on March 4 in Austin, though the Jayhawks had already secured the Big 12 regular-season title. Safe to say Saturday's big win erases that bad taste from the mouth of the Longhorns.
Texas got a team-high 18 points from Dylan Disu while Sir'Jabari Rice and Marcus Carr both added 17 points apiece. Brock Cunningham (eight points, nine rebounds) and Arterio Morris (eight points) had huge contributions off the bench as well.
Jalen Wilson was a one-man show for Kansas, posting a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds. However, Joseph Yesufu was the only other Jayhawk in double figures, as he finished with 11 points.
Texas forced an elite Kansas offense, which was without coach Bill Self once again due to an undisclosed illness, into 15 turnovers and just eight assists.
Texas had an early 9-0 run to take a 19-13 lead after Christian Bishop took it himself from the top of the key for an easy layup.
But the Jayhawks responded with three triples, two of which came from Yesufu and Wilson, highlighting a 9-2 run of their own.
Cunningham answered with his second 3 of the first half to tie things up at 28 after finding a cutting Rice with an eyebrow-grazing pass in the lane for two points.
Morris then got five quick points with a fastbreak layup and wide-open triple on back-to-back possessions. Suddenly, the Longhorns had built a 35-28 lead after a 10-0 run.
And despite 17 first-half points from Wilson, the Longhorns led 39-33 headed into the locker room after a floater off the glass from Carr in the final seconds.
He wasted no time picking up where he left off once the second half got under way, while Disu started to come alive as well despite early foul trouble. The pair were responsible for Texas' first 13 points of the second half after Carr hit a triple to give the Longhorns an 11-point lead at 52-41.
While Texas built its biggest lead at that point, the Jayhawks had failed to hit a field goal for nearly five minutes. And after three offensive rebounds from Cunningham in under two minutes, the last of which resulted in an open look for Rice, the Longhorns led 62-48 with 8:40 left.
An expected run from Kansas never came. The Longhorns continued to out-play the Jayhawks in front of crowd mostly wearing blue and red. Texas' signature play of a stellar and dominant second half came when Rice found Morris for a highlight-reel, one-handed alley-oop in transition, giving the Longhorns a 20-point lead at 70-50 with under five minutes left.
Texas didn't let its foot off the gas in the closing stages, maintaining a huge lead before comfortably cruising to a win. The Longhorns will now await on Sunday to see if they've done enough to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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