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Texas Basketball: Longhorns Face Plant in Ames

Texas stumbled out of the gate and never recovered in a road defeat

Texas' losing streak extended to four games with a lopsided 81-52 loss to Iowa State on the road Saturday afternoon. 

The Longhorns never led the game and fell victim to a 9-0 Iwoa State run at the start of the second half that all but put the game away early for the Cyclones. 

Courtney Ramey mounted most of the offense for Texas, scoring 21 points, but couldn't get the support he needed from a team that shot just 21 percent on the day. 

Texas was without team leader Jericho Sims as well as Jase Febres and struggled to maintain a presence on the inside without their most physical player. 

Still, even without Sims, it was Texas' seemingly flat start that really kept the team from ever getting close as the Cyclones shot 57 percent from the floor.  

"I thought we'd come in here and play with really, really good defensive energy," Longhorns coach Shaka Smart told the Associated Press. "We did not do that. I thought we'd understand, with Jericho out, that they would try to go inside and counteract them there. We didn't do that either. (Michael) Jacobson and (Solomon) Young were terrific for Iowa State."

Texas falls to 14-11 overall and just 4-8 in Big 12 play with the defeat. The Longhorns have just six games left and need wins in five of them just to get back to .500 in league play. Texas will next play at home on Wednesday against TCU. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip off.