No. 13 Texas didn’t have much of a chance to exhale after winning a 67-66 victory over No. 20 Texas Tech in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Thursday, but regardless of preparations, head coach Shaka Smart and the Longhorns done before facing No. 11 Kansas in the semifinals of the conference are all in vain with the Jayhawks withdrawing from the tournament on Friday due to problems with COVID-19. According to an official statement issued by the Big 12, Kansas (20-8) was forced to return to Lawrence of Kansas City, Missouri, after dispatching No. 25 Oklahoma on Thursday, 69-62, and a third meeting at this season with Texas (18-7) was canceled due to “a positive test, subsequent quarantine and contact tracking within the ”Jayhawks program, which sends the Longhorns to the conference title game.
Texas will not have the opportunity to become the first team since the 1982-83 Oklahoma State team to beat Kansas three times in the same season, but the Longhorns are advancing to their first conference championship game since 2011. Without any match of the semifinal to play, Texas will watch Friday’s semifinal between No. 2 Baylor (22-1) and No. 12 Oklahoma State (18-7), one of which will represent the final obstacle to be overcome for the Longhorns win their first conference tournament championship since 1995.
With Kansas falling to the ground at the T-Mobile Center without the All-Big 12 striker from the second team David McCormack (Protocol COVID-19) and the Sooners potentially playing their third game in three days, the winner of the quarterfinal dispute between Texas and Texas Tech would be favorably configured to become the first Lone Star State team to win the Big 12 Tournament (the Longhorns are 0-6 in the title game, the Bears are 0-2 and the Red Raiders lost their only participation in championship games in 2005). By winning a game in which Courtney Ramey was considered goalless on a night of 0 on 5 of the ground, Greg Brown he was removed from the court at 17:34 in the second half and did not return after climbing the tunnel to compose himself, the Longhorns committed 20 spins, the Red Raiders had a difference of 12 more in free-throw attempts followed by 10 with less than 12 minutes to the end, Smart’s accusations will have the opportunity to make history.
Smart was asked after the Longhorns avoided a third loss to Texas Tech in as many games this season if the win over the coach Chris Beard and the Red Raiders were a cultural victory. Even though Texas Tech won more battles for 50/50 balls and played a harder basketball brand for longer periods of the game, Smart credited his group for staying together, fighting in the tough spots and advancing in the final stretch with the game on the line.
“Our guys found a way,” said Smart. “Culture is finding a way when things are bad when things are not going very well. It is easy to have a good attitude and do everything the right way when things are going well and you are doing well, but I thought our boys really acted together. Royce Hamm, he hadn’t played the entire game, but he was unbelievable on the bench with his energy. Jericho (Sims) has four fouls and (associate head coach) KT (Turner) told me, ‘put Royce in.’ Yes, I’m going to put it on because it was involved and that’s what we need. Today was not perfect from that point of view, but I think our guys – one thing they learned this year because we had more of them, is when you win big games like this, it gives you the feeling that you don’t get any other kind of experience and you want to do it again. This is what our focus needs to be, obviously, going to tomorrow. “
The focus for Texas now shifts to Saturday and a possible second clash of the season with Baylor or a third encounter with the state of Oklahoma.
The Longhorns had their initial Big 12 debut with the Bears on December 13 postponed and was not rescheduled, giving the head coach Scott Drew and Co. the season’s 83-69 series win at the Erwin Center on February 2, marking the biggest defeat margin for Texas among the team’s seven defeats. The Longhorns shared their two games with the Cowboys, winning in Austin on December 20, 77-74, and losing a double overtime decision in Stillwater on February 6, 75-67.