14 BIG 12
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Longhorns' struggles continue at Baylor
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas forward Gary Johnson looks past Baylor's Ekpe Udoh in the second half of their game on Saturday. LaceDarius Dunn scored 30 points to help lead the Bears to a 92-72 victory against the Longhorns.
By Laken Litman Daily Texan Monday, March 8
WACO — With all the standing around the Texas players did on Saturday, maybe they were able to take some mental notes on Baylor's eminent team chemistry.
No. 21 Baylor (24-6, 11-5 Big 12) beat Texas (23-8, 9-7 Big 12) 92-7 this weekend by playing for each other, showing the Longhorns how sharing the ball will rack up wins.
Baylor's Tweety Carter had 16 points and 10 of the team's 23 assists. Most of his passes went to the likes of LaceDarius Dunn — who led the Bears with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, 4-of-7 from the arc and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line — and Quincy Acy, who had 24 points on 12-of 15 field goal shooting and 10 outrageous dunks.
"The more a team has good chemistry and likes one another, the harder they're going to compete for one another," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "We've lost by seven points or less in all our losses, so we've never given up. I think we've been down in almost
all of our games but the guys don't get rattled and that all goes to the players. Great leadership, trusting one another, competing for one another and leading one another."
Texas coach Rick Barnes has said that his team doesn't give up on each other, either. But the difference between the Longhorns and the Bears is that Texas' version of playing as a team is letting one guy like Damion James or Gary Johnson earn all of the stats and hope his individual performance will result in a team victory.
Baylor began torching the Longhorns right from the tip-off. Texas played defense less and careless and gave up 12 turnovers in the first half.
Johnson's hustle kept the game within Texas' reach in the first half as he scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds.
The tipping point came with about five minutes remaining in the first half when Avery Bradley missed a jumper that would have tied the game up 32-32. Udoh retrieved the rebound and passed the ball to Walton. Walton handed it to Acy, who then surged into the air from the free throw line for a slam-dunk.
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
A&M wins, ties for second place in Big 12
By T.D. Durham The Battalion — Sunday, March 7
NORMAN, Okla. — With a 69-54 win against Oklahoma Saturday in Norman, the 2009-2010 seniors on the Texas A&M men's basketball team tied the winningest class in the history of A&M basketball.
The veterans, including Donald Sloan, Bryan Davis and Derrick Roland, secured the 98th win of their tenure at A&M and equaled the previous record-holding class from the 2008-2009 season, which included guard Josh Carter.
"It's a combination of having the right guys and teamwork," Davis said. "We're a family out there playing as hard as we can."
The milestone win ended in smooth fashion, but looked like it wouldn't be anything close to easy in the first half.
After jostling for the lead in the initial 11 minutes of the game, the Sooners built up a nine-point lead with 8:10 remaining in the half behind sharp shooting from freshman guard Tommy Mason-Griffin.
Mason-Griffin finished with a team-high 16 points in the game along with 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc.
"I thought Oklahoma shot the ball well; they had us down," said A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon. "From the eight [minute] timeout till the end, I thought our defense was as good as we've been."
A&M, 22-8 overall with an 11-5 conference record, sealed its first win in Norman since 2007 with a 15-point lead and an appearance from the entire Aggie bench in the final minutes of the game.
But the win had other implications for the Aggies, who, with a little help from an Iowa State victory over No. 5 Kansas State, finished tied for second place in the Big 12 standings.
The second place finish tied the 2006- 2007 A&M squad for the highest in school history in the Big 12. The slot secured the Aggies a first-round bye in the Big 12 Championship tournament. No team has ever won the tournament without a firstround bye.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas A&M's Donald Sloan drives by Oklahoma State's Obi Muonelo during the second half of their game last Wednesday in College Station, Texas. The Aggies defeated the Cowboys 76-61.
THE WAVE MARCH 10,2010
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN