The seventh ranked Kansas Jayhawks got their biggest challenge of the season in the Big 12 conference at the Texas Longhorns. The Jayhawks would escape with a 69-66 victory.
The Jayhawks would use the defensive presence of junior center Jeff Withey. Withey would establish a defensive presence early with a block on Myck Kabongo and would force the Longhorns to operate their offense on the perimeter most of the day.
The inside defense along with the outside scoring of Tyshawn Taylor would lead Kansas. Taylor would go 7-13 and 3-6 from behind the three point line and would finish with 22 points on the day. Thomas Robinson only had one rebound at halftime and would make it a point to get more in the second half. Robinson would finish with nine rebounds.
Robinson would play the game with a heavy heart. On January 21, 2011, Robinson’s mother, Lisa, would die of a brain aneurysm. Coach Bill Self said, “I think he played his best game today, to go through what he has gone through.” Self said, “Texas played smart. Tyshawn Taylor won the game for us today.
Texas would start the second half off by fouling Withey and would go down by 14 points 41-27. Texas would go on a 24-15 to cut the Kansas lead to five points with 8:06 left, 56-51. Texas would go on another run of 8-2 to take their first lead of the game with 6:13 left at 59-58 on two Clint Chapman free throws.
Texas would have its largest lead of the day thanks to a three point shot by J’Covan Brown, 64-60 with 3:21 left. Brown would finish with a game high 24 points. Kansas would go on a nine two run to close out the game thanks to three rebounds by Robinson and a three point play by Withey.
Rick Barnes was frustrated on how the Longhorns would start the game. Barnes said, “The one thing you want as a coach is consistency. You want to know what you are going to get.” Barnes liked the way his team played in the second half of the game, but not the way the team played in the first half.
The Longhorns (12-7, Big 12 2-4) will host the Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday January 24, 2012 at 8:00 pm CST on the Longhorn Network. The Jayhawks (16-3, Big 12 6-0) will return home to the Texas A&M Aggies at 8:00 pm CST on ESPN.
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