Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice scored 15 points apiece as No. 8 Texas dominated early and rolled to a 72-54 victory over No. 23 Iowa State on Tuesday in a key Big 12 Conference dustup in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (22-6, 11-4 Big 12) produced a near-perfect first half, where they led by as many as 20 points, and did plenty after halftime to hold on for the win and for a piece of first place in the Big 12 with Kansas.
Texas took charge with a 16-0 run midway through the first half and never let the Cyclones closer than 13 points after halftime, getting its sixth win this season over a team ranked in the Top 25.
Marcus Carr added 13 points for the Longhorns, who are 16-1 at home this season.
Osun Osunniyi led Iowa State with 12 points while Gabe Kalscheur added 10. The Cyclones shot just 4 of 19 from beyond the arc and have dropped four of their past five games and fell to 2-8 on the road.
The Cyclones (17-10, 8-7) burst out of the gates, scoring 10 of the game’s first 14 points after a jumper by Tre King at the 15:53 mark of the first half. Texas found its footing and swept to the front by forging a 16-0 run, with Rice and Carr combining for 12 points during the spurt.
The Longhorns kept up their blistering pace, stretching their advantage to 18 points when Timmy Allen hit a jumper with 3:11 to play in the half. Osunniyi had back-to-back baskets sandwiched between another 3-pointer by Rice to cut Iowa State’s deficit to 17 points before Carr’s triple made it 47-27 with 51 seconds remaining. The Longhorns settled for a 47-29 cushion at the break.
Hunter led all scorers with 12 points before halftime while Carr had 11 and Rice hit for 10 for Texas. The Longhorns outshot Iowa State 54.8 percent to 41.7 percent, hit nine of their 16 3-point attempts and forced the Cyclones into 11 turnovers that resulted in 21 Texas points over the first 20 minutes of play.
Osunniyi paced Iowa State with seven points in the first half.
–Field Level Media