Texas basketball proving its among Big 12’s elite after upsetting Kansas

A really big night for new head coach Chris Beard and No. 20 ranked Texas basketball resulted in an upset win at home at the Frank Erwin Center over head coach Bill Self and the No. 8 ranked Kansas Jayhawks. Texas fought until the very end to down the Jayhawks by the final score of 79-76.

In one of the higher scoring affairs of the season so far for Beard and the Longhorns, this team proved that they can hang with the very best the Big 12 has to offer. We’ll see if Texas is able to capitalize on this momentum in the next couple of weeks. But for now, this is a nice win to be excited about for the Longhorns.

Texas has now knocked off three straight top 25 ranked teams in their last three home games. The mission now for the Longhorns will be coming up with the same results on the road.

Moreover, there were a few driving factors that pushed the Longhorns to get this upset win over the Jayhawks on the night of Feb. 7. First and foremost, Texas made life tough on offense for some of Kansas’ better players throughout most of the night.

Defense, in general, seemed optional for both teams for much of the night. But Texas was still very stingy for Kansas defensively in this game. Texas forced 15 Kansas turnovers compared to just seven that they coughed up.

Timmy Allen and Courtney Ramey lead Texas basketball past Ochai Agbaji and No. 8 Kansas

Kansas had a really difficult time getting their star senior shooting guard/wing Ochai Agbaji going at any point in this game. Agbaji’s recent hot streak slowed down in this game to the tune of 11 points, six rebounds, no assists, one steal, one block, and three turnovers. Texas did a nice job holding him in check.

Texas also got fantastic outings from quite a few of their players in the frontcourt unit. Senior forward Timmy Allen led the way with a game-high 24 points nine rebounds, one assist, no steals, one block, and one turnover while shooting 11-of-17 from the field.

Allen was definitely the most productive player for the Longhorns in this big win over Kansas. But others such as redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones and senior guard Courtney Ramey had their fair share of highlights. Neither Jones nor Ramey necessarily had their best game here, but both were solid when needed.

Jones and Ramey also epitomized the story of this game for the Longhorns. They both struggled shooting from beyond the arc. They combined to miss all seven of their attempts from downtown. There was just a certain level of efficiency Ramey and Jones played with on this night. They combined for three steals and just one turnover.

As a whole, Texas struggled shooting from beyond the arc. Texas shot just 3-of-20 from beyond the arc, one of their worst percentages of the season so far.

But Texas turning the Jayhawks over 15 times and outrebounding them helped to notch this win. Texas got some timely turnovers and executed shooting from two-point range when they needed to down the stretch.

This three-point win over the Jayhawks moves the Longhorns to a record of 18-6 (7-4 Big 12) on the season so far. If Texas can pull off their third win in a row come a key Feb. 12 meeting with the Baylor Bears on the road, they would clearly be one of the best teams in the Big 12 at this point of the season.