16 BIG 12
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Brown plays a key role for Longhorns
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas defenders J'Covan Brown, left, and Gary Johnson deny a shot attempt by Nebraska guard Sek Henry during first half action in Austin. Brown scored 12 points and had six assists in the Longhorns' 91-51 victory against the Huskers.
By Laken Litman Daily Texan — Friday, Feb. 12
AUSTIN — After Texas' 80-68 home loss to Kansas on Monday night, Texas coach Rick Barnes told his team that they are "this close" to being the team they want to be.
"We're going to get it fixed," Barnes said. "We knew all year that J'Covan [Brown] was a guy we needed to be able to help run things. But he had to understand he couldn't be casual with the ball, or I wasn't going to reward him. But we have to have him on the floor to create for the other guys. It's time."
Though Brown leads the team with 54 turnovers — one of the Longhorns' biggest handicaps this season — in the last three games, he has finally started to understand his role on the court.
Brown's breakout game was a week and a half ago against Baylor, where he contributed 15 points in 30 minutes of play and notably went 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. On Big Monday, Brown brought Texas within eight points of Kansas by scoring 26 points in the second half. He scored a game-high 28
points, went 9-19 from the field and 2-for-3 from the three-point line.
Senior forward Damion James, who combined with Brown, scored 52 of Texas' 68 points against Kansas, agrees with Barnes that Brown can be one of the Longhorns' biggest advantages for the remainder of the season — as long as he stays consistent.
To get Brown ready to play, Barnes talks to him a lot during pregame warm-ups. Before the Kansas game, Barnes told Brown, "Big players step up on big stages." And that's what Brown did.
Though Brown and James had one of their best performances of the season, Texas arguably had its worst game on Monday. Afterwards, James vowed that this was the worst Texas would play the rest of the season.
The Longhorns have seven regular season games left before the climax of the year begins with the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments. In order to be a legitimate contender in the postseason tournaments, the Longhorns are going to need more effort from players besides Brown and James.
BAYLOR BEARS
Udoh's last-second tip-in seals win against Missouri
Associated Press Saturday, Feb. 13
WACO. Texas — Epke Udoh was thinking NBA after his tip-in with 1.3 seconds left gave No. 24 Baylor a 64-62 victory over Missouri on Saturday.
"I had a chance to tip it, and it was Kobe time." Udoh said, invoking the name of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant after making his third game-winning shot of the season.
"We won it the way we wanted — with rebounds and defense," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, who evened his record at Baylor at 100-100 in his seventh season. "We know how important the boards are."
Dunn was fouled on a fast break with 6 seconds left. Dunn made the first free throw to tie it, but he missed the second. Baylor's Quincy Acy grabbed the rebound and took a fadeaway that bounced off the
rim. Dunn's putback was too strong, but Udoh went up between Tiller and Justin Safford for the game-winner.
"Ekpe doesn't mind having a lot of pressure on him, and he performs well under it," Drew said.
"There were two or three tips and it looked like the clock was moving in slow motion," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said of the final scrum. "But we have no one to blame but ourselves, and I'll take the blame on that. We just came up a little short, but it wasn't because of effort or desire."
Dunn finished with 17 points, while Acy added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Bears.
Udoh, who made the game-winning shot in Wednesday's 55-53 victory at Nebraska, had six points and 10 rebounds. He had three blocks to give him 100 this season, breaking Brian Skinner's school season record of 98.
COLORADO BUFFALOES
Buffaloes outplayed by Wildcats in second half
By John Marshall Associated Press — Saturday, Feb. 13
MANHATTAN — Frank Martin was determined to stick with his new offense against Colorado's 1-3-1 zone. Even as his team threw the ball away and struggled to get good shots, Kansas State's coach didn't back off his plan.
Martin is stubborn that way. He's also smart enough to realize when he's wrong.
Uncomfortable with Martin's new offense in the first half, the ninth-ranked Wildcats reverted to their aggressive, effective style in the second half to turn an ugly game into a 68-51 rout over Colorado on Saturday night.
"These games are too big to continue to fail at something, so we had to go back to what we did well, what we understand well." Martin said. "That's on me in the first half."
Kansas State seemed to get the hang of Martin's new scheme with a week off
to work on it in practice. Once live action started, the Wildcats seemed out of sorts, fumbling and throwing the ball away during a tentative first half against Colorado.
Kansas State pulled it together after switching back to its old offense, starting the second half with an impressive run and dominating the rest of the way to win its ninth straight against Colorado.
Jacob Pullen found seams in Colorado's zone to finish with 15 points and 10 assists, and Curtis Kelly had 12 points and 11 rebounds to help Kansas State dominate inside. Jamar Samuels added 12 points to give the Wildcats 20 wins in four straight seasons for the first time.
"We understood what we were doing wrong in the locker room," Kelly said. "Frank came in and simply said we could either make our season or break our season by losing a game like this. A lot of us upperclassmen understood what he was saying and took it to another level in the second half."
THE WAVE FEBRUARY 17,2010
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN