Marcus Carr scored 12 points and Timmy Allen added 11 as No. 6 Texas bounced back from an embarrassing loss at home with a 56-46 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon in a Big 12 dustup in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Dillon Mitchell added a career-high 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (13-2, 2-1 Big 12), who prevailed despite shooting 31.5 percent from the field.
Texas was up by 10 points early in the second half before the Cowboys rallied to take a short-lived 44-43 lead on Caleb Asberry’s 3-poite with 8:20 to play. The Longhorns immediately tied things on Timmy Allen’s free throw and then finished off Oklahoma State by scoring 12 of the game’s final 14 points as the Cowboys missed their last eight shots.
The Longhorns got defensive after allowing 116 points at home in a loss to Kansas State on Tuesday. Oklahoma State didn’t get half that total on Saturday.
The Cowboys (9-6, 1-2) were led by Kalib Boone’s 16 points and 10 rebounds. Oklahoma State shot just 30.4 percent from the field.
The Longhorns broke away from an early 5-5 tie with an 8-2 run that ended with a layup by Rice at the 12:31 mark of the first half. Texas pushed its advantage to eight points on a layup by Dylan Disu with 7:54 to play in the half.
Oklahoma State immediately responded with a three-point play from John-Michael Wright but then went the final 7:35 without a field goal. The Longhorns went up again by eight points on Allen’s jumper that made it 32-24 with 3:58 remaining.
The teams then went the rest of the half without scoring, as the Cowboys missed their last five shots and Texas whiffed on it final six attempts.
Boone led all scorers in the half with eight points while Carr and Disu had five points each to pace the Longhorns. Texas made all 12 of its free throws over the first 20 minutes while the Cowboys were just 7 of 11, a five-point difference in a gritty opening half.
The Cowboys went nearly four minutes of the second half without a field goal but stayed in the game because Texas was not much better, scoring just two points during Oklahoma State’s continued shooting slump. When Wright canned a 3-pointer with 16:14 remaining it cut the Longhorns’ lead to just five points.
–Field Level Media