Texas tops Smart-less Oklahoma State

Published January 08, 2015

Austin, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Javan Felix poured in 27 points thanks to six shots from beyond the arc, as No. 19 Texas posted an 87-68 decision over Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

Isaiah Taylor contributed 16 points for the Longhorns (19-5, 8-3 Big 12), who received 12 points and 13 rebounds from Cameron Ridley as they bounced back nicely from a 17-point loss to Kansas State this past Saturday.

"It is nice to come back and play better than we had the last two games, that is what was nice about it," said Texas head coach Rick Barnes. "I thought we had guys who were a little bit more locked in and focused, and really tried to do the things we talked about."

Le'Bryan Nash countered with 23 points for the Cowboys (16-8, 4-7), who fell without the services of top player Marcus Smart. Smart served the first of a three-game suspension for unadvised interaction with a fan at Texas Tech three days ago.

"We did not get a lot done in terms of getting some guys use to some different positions, but there are no excuses. Texas played really well right out of the gate," said Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford.

Markel Brown had 18 points and three steals in the loss.

The outcome was never in doubt from the early stages. Felix hit his first triple of the contest to give the hosts a 7-3 edge, Connor Lammert connected from long range to make it 15-7, then back-to-back buckets from Taylor and Kendal Yancy opened up a 21-9 advantage just over 7 1/2 minutes in.

Texas put the pedal to the metal, eventually pushing its leading margin to 26 points, 54-28, after Ridley sank two from the line with 2:03 left in the half.

Nash's jumper just ahead of the buzzer pulled OSU within 54-33 at the break, but the Longhorns opened the second half with a 14-6 run and led 68-39 on a Felix layup with just over five minutes played.

Oklahoma State was only able to shrink its deficit to 19 points three separate times from that point, never threatening a comeback.

Game Notes

Felix led all players at the half with 16 points, on 4-of-6 shooting from long range ... Oklahoma State hit just 10-of-31 shots from the floor in the first half and ended up at 35.6 percent efficiency (21-of-59) for the contest ... Martez Walker also recorded 12 points for Texas.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/texas-tops-smart-less-oklahoma-state