The Longhorns’ first road win of the season had been a long time coming.
After getting run out of town in all seven of its road games, Texas (12-14, 4-9) made quick work of TCU (10-16, 1-12), winning 68-59 Tuesday night in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Horned Frogs never led in the game, and although they hold a 42-36 advantage in games played against the Longhorns in Fort Worth, the Longhorns seemed determined not to let this win slip away.
“We flowed on offense and we moved,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “A lot of good things happened. It’s just execution.”
Ioannis Papapetrou led Texas with 15 points, but it was his freshman teammate Connor Lammert’s versatility that helped the Longhorns snap out of their road skid. In the past three games Lammert has started, he has averaged 12 points and six rebounds. Against the Horned Frogs, Lammert scored 13 points, snagged seven rebounds and had three assists.
“If you asked them what happened, [Ioannis Papapetrou] said it,” Barnes said. “He finally figured it out.”
After a 12-point second half lead for the Longhorns shrunk to five with five and a half minutes to play, Myck Kabongo grabbed a defensive rebound and was on the break in a matter of moments. Kabongo looked up the court to find a wide-open Lammert, who flipped a circus shot up against the glass while being fouled, resulting in an acrobatic display of the freshman’s skills. Lammert would hit the free-throw attempt that followed, stymieing any comeback the Horned Frogs had in mind.
“I was super surprised it went in,” Lammert said. “I think the whole rest of the stadium was too, but it was a good feed by Myck.”
Kabongo himself was back in the Texas lineup for the third straight game and he added 12 points to go along with seven assists and just two turnovers. Javan Felix played for 13 minutes and scored one three-point basket early in the first half. Demarcus Holland, also a starter for the past three games, scored nine points in 22 minutes.
Three Horned Frogs scored in double figures, led by Garlon Green’s team-high 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting. TCU shot 45.7 percent from the field against a Texas team that as of Feb. 14 ranked No. 2 in the nation in field goal percentage defense. Guards Kyan Anderson and Nate Butler Lind combined to score 22 points and dished out 13 of the Horned Frogs’s 16 total assists.
Published on February 20, 2013 as "At last, sweet victory on the road".
