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  • No. 5 Texas MBB Stumbles Against No. 24 Oklahoma as Horns Fall, 80-79

No. 5 Texas MBB Stumbles Against No. 24 Oklahoma as Horns Fall, 80-79

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Basketball

Sophomore forward Kai Jones registered his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-best 10 rebounds, but short-handed No. 5/5 Texas (11-3, 5-2 Big 12) dropped a hard-fought 80-79 decision to No. 24/nr Oklahoma (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) on Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center. The Longhorns played without head coach Shaka Smart (Covid-19 protocols) and had just eight available scholarship players for Tuesday's contest.

Courtney Ramey, Jericho Sims and Brock Cunningham were not available for Tuesday's game. In addition, the Longhorns had no more than five players able to practice for the majority of the previous week and only had the services of their eight scholarship players available for practice beginning on Monday.

Kai Jones converted 5-of-11 field goals and 4-of-6 free throws while adding a career-high three assists, two blocks and two steals in a career-high 37 minutes of action. Freshman forward Greg Brown registered 14 points and eight boards in 31 minutes, while junior guard Andrew Jones added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes.

Senior guard Matt Coleman III contributed 13 points and four assists, and sophomore guard Donovan Williams tallied a season-high 11 points. Senior forward Royce Hamm Jr. posted a season-high seven points, five boards and two assists.

Trailing 6-3 at the 17:16 mark, the Longhorns used an 11-0 run to build a 14-6 cushion following a Coleman floater with 12:35 left in the first half. Oklahoma answered with a 13-0 run of its own over the next 90 seconds to take a 19-14 advantage after a De'Vion Harmon three-pointer at the 10:51 mark. Despite battling foul trouble, Texas stayed in the fight in the opening half before a late 5-0 spurt in the final 40 seconds gave the Sooners a 43-34 lead at the break.

Oklahoma pushed the margin to as much as 12 points (48-36) following an Elijah Harkless three-point play at the 17:48 mark. Trailing 58-47 with 12:40 remaining, the Longhorns used an 11-4 run to climb within 62-58 after an Andrew Jones layup at the 9:34 mark. Facing a 78-70 deficit at the 3:49 mark, Texas scored seven consecutive points to close the gap to 78-77 on a Coleman layup with 37 seconds left.

Austin Reaves converted a pair of free throws to give Oklahoma an 80-77 lead with 18 seconds left. Andrew Jones knocked down two free throws to trim the margin to 80-79 with five seconds remaining. The Sooners then missed a pair of free throws with two seconds left, but Texas could not convert on a length-of-the-court inbounds pass.

The Longhorns return to action when they travel to face Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday, Jan. 30. Tip is set for 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET) at Rupp Arena, and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.