Jabari Rice, Texas men's basketball team survive overtime test against Oklahoma

Thomas Jones, Austin American-Statesman
·4 min read
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Oklahoma's Tanner Groves and Texas' Dillon Mitchell chase a loose ball during Saturday's 85-83 Longhorns victory at Moody Center. With the win in its first Big 12 overtime game of the season, Texas remained tied atop the conference standings.
Oklahoma's Tanner Groves and Texas' Dillon Mitchell chase a loose ball during Saturday's 85-83 Longhorns victory at Moody Center. With the win in its first Big 12 overtime game of the season, Texas remained tied atop the conference standings.

With Texas facing its first losing streak of the season, the Longhorns showed enough veteran poise in overtime Saturday against Oklahoma to stay tied for first place in a heated Big 12 race.

Jabari Rice scored 24 points and made a crucial 3-pointer in extra time as Texas held on for an 85-83 win over an Oklahoma team that's desperately trying to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Rice’s final bucket came on a trey with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left in overtime that gave the Longhorns an 84-77 lead. But the gritty Sooners kept scrapping, and Texas couldn’t celebrate until a shot by Oklahoma’s Sam Godwin at the rim fell just short as the overtime buzzer sounded.

The win keeps Texas (21-6, 10-4 Big 12) in a tie atop the Big 12 with either Kansas or Baylor, who played Saturday in Lawrence, Kan.

“Every single game is a conference championship game for us," Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry said. "A lot of games (in the Big 12) are going to come down to one possession and finishing plays late in the game. We have some veteran guys that know what to do in these situations.”

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Those guys include Rice. The 6-foot-4 guard had just five points in the first half as the Longhorns and their Red River rivals battled to a 34-34 halftime tie. But the transfer from New Mexico State heated up when his team needed him the most in the second half. Trailing 67-61 with 6 minutes left in regulation, Rice made a pair of 3-pointers during a 9-0 run that put Texas back on top 70-67.

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But Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) refused to fade, and the game went down to the wire. Grant Sherfield nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game with 7 seconds left in regulation, and Texas' Marcus Carr missed an off-balance runner at the buzzer to force the second overtime game of the year for the Longhorns and the first in Big 12 play. In December, Texas fended off Rice for an 87-81 win in extra time.

“We had every opportunity down the stretch to win it, but they just made a few more plays than we did,” said Sherfield, a Fort Worth native who led Oklahoma with 18 points.

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Those clutch plays helped Texas shake off any lingering unease from a 74-67 loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock on Monday. The Longhorns have shown their ability to bounce back from losses all season. After an 85-78 loss to Illinois on Dec. 6, Texas rebounded with an 88-43 victory over an outmanned Arkansas-Pine Bluff team.

Kansas State handed Texas its first conference loss Jan. 3. The Longhorns responded in a gritty 56-46 win at Oklahoma State. The Longhorns followed a 78-67 loss at Iowa State with a win at West Virginia and picked up back-to-back wins over Baylor and Kansas State after a nonconference setback to Tennessee. They responded to a loss at Kansas with perhaps their most complete game of the season in a 94-60 win over West Virginia on Feb. 11.

“We've been doing a good job of bouncing back," Carr said. "Obviously, we don't want to have to bunce back after a loss, but It's a testament to our teams and our staff."

What to know about Texas’ next foe, Iowa State?

Texas will try to avenge one of its conference losses when Iowa State visits Moody Center on Tuesday for an 8 p.m. tip. In a 78-67 win at home against Texas on Jan. 17, the Cyclones’ defense limited the Longhorns to 4-of-17 shooting from 3-point range. Iowa State entered the week ranked No. 19 and beat TCU on Wednesday behind another stifling effort from its defense. The Cyclones led the Big 12 with 61.6 points per game entering Saturday’s contest against Kansas State and have held all but one conference foe to below its season scoring average.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas men work overtime to beat Oklahoma, stay tied atop Big 12 race