Texas has been among the nation’s best teams in terms of field goal percentage defense, but the Wildcats caught fire from nearly every corner of the court Saturday night. Kansas State shot 48 percent from the field and 90.9 percent from the free throw line. Thanks to the 26 fouls committed by Kansas State, the Longhorns had 11 more free throw attempts than the Wildcats, but they were only able to make 57.6 percent of their shots from the line.
First Half: The Wildcats led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Longhorns had cut the lead to three with 22 seconds left in the half. An ill-advised foul by Javan Felix and a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the Wildcats’ Shane Southwell extended the Wildcats’ lead to eight at the break. Myck Kabongo scored five of his team-high 10 points at the free throw line.
Second half: Texas scored 24 points in the paint in the second half but was unable to douse the red-hot shooting from Kansas State. The Wildcats would not miss from the charity stripe in the final period, and although they turned the ball over 13 times during the game, they assisted on 19 of their 26 made shots in the game. Kabongo finished with a career-high 24 points, and Sheldon McClellan added 15 points. Kabongo and McClellan combined to make 15 of the Longhorns’ 23 total field goals.
Stock up
Sheldon McClellan: After playing just one minute in the Longhorns’ recent win over TCU, McClellan bounced back to record his first double-digit scoring output in two weeks. The last time McClellan played a single minute was against Iowa State on Jan. 12, and he bounced back to score 10 or more points in six straight contests.
Stock down
Jonathan Holmes: Since missing five games with a broken hand, Holmes has yet to score more than six points in a game. In the four games since his return to the starting lineup, he has not played more than 22 minutes and has been a non-factor in Texas’ offensive strategy.
By the numbers
5: Number of Kansas State players who did not miss from the free throw line. Rodney McGruder connected on all eight of his attempts on his way to a game-high 20 points.
