Austin, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jonathan Holmes buried a 3-pointer as time expired to lift Texas to a 67-64 win over No. 22 Kansas State on Tuesday night.
Coming out of a timeout, Texas had the ball with 4.3 seconds left when Holmes received an inbound pass and immediately called another timeout at halfcourt with Kansas State smothering every Texas player on the floor.
Holmes ran baseline on the ensuing play, received the inbound pass from Isaiah Taylor, and this time, knocked down the 3 from the right corner to send the Wildcats home in defeat.
"The first time we ran it, it was going to be a lollipop pass for Javan, which means I was going to screen and he was going to come back and try to get open in the corner, but Demarcus (Holland) called timeout. So, I knew since they were worried about Javan, my man was going to go with him, so I just slipped to the ball and I was open and made the shot," Holmes said of his shot.
Javan Felix finished with 23 points in the win, while Cameron Ridley had 18 points. Holmes tallied eight points and 10 rebounds to help Texas (15-4, 4-2 Big 12) to its fourth straight win and second in a row against a ranked opponent.
The Longhorns won 86-76 against then-No. 8 Iowa State this past weekend.
"I think we've been a good team from day one. I go back to our non-league games, we were in so many games like this and the guys have shown character. It's obvious we have guys that are getting better. I don't think there is one guy on our team that hasn't improved, but there is a long way to go," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said.
Thomas Gipson finished with a game-high 24 points and Shane Southwell netted 13 points in the loss. Kansas State (14-5, 4-2) had a two-game winning streak snapped.
"We have to give them credit for making plays down the stretch, especially the big shot by Holmes," Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber said.
Southwell made a pair at the line to give Kansas State its first lead of the second half, 50-49, with 9:01 remaining. The free throws were a part of a 9-2 run that Wesley Iwundu capped with a layup on the following Wildcat possession.
Texas answered with four straight as Demarcus Holland made a pair of free throws and Felix canned a layup before Southwell buried a trey to put Kansas State back in front by two.
Ridley later made a hook shot in the lane to help Texas to a 59-58 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left.
With Texas holding a two-point advantage, Felix hit a corner jumper with the shot clock expiring to push the lead to 64-60 with 59 seconds left and Will Spradling raced down the floor to cut the deficit in half with a layup. Southwell stepped to the line after an empty possession from Texas and missed both free throws that would have tied the game with 15 seconds to play.
Felix then followed Southwell and missed a pair of his own. Southwell made amends with an off-balance layup to tie the game at 64-64 with 7.2 seconds left before Holmes' heroics.
No team led by more than six points in the first half and Texas owned a 36-32 lead at the break.
Game Notes
Both teams made 25 percent from beyond the arc with Texas converting 3-of-12 and Kansas State shooting 4-of-16 ... Marcus Foster and Spradling scored eight points apiece in defeat.
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