By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
AUSTIN, Texas - With the game on the line, it was a possession that looked like it was going nowhere … the same direction Texas appeared to be headed.
Junior guard Javan Felix, hounded by Baylor’s Kenny Chery, was about to turn it over on a five-second closely guarded violation before he jumped and fired a pass to Isiah Taylor, who was near the top of the key. Taylor slashed a gap between Lester Medford and Taurean Price then lofted a soft runner over Rico Gathers.
NBN – nothing but nylon.
Taylor’s basket with 4.8 seconds remaining in overtime ended the Longhorns’ second four-game Big 12 losing streak and provided a 61-59 victory over No. 14 Baylor (22-8, 10-7). UT now can believe the light at the end of the tunnel is not an onrushing train.
“This win means a lot for us,” said Felix, who came off the bench to play 29 minutes and scored 10 points. “It gives us a new day …it gives us another breath. You know, we fought for it, we earned it and now it’s behind us. We know what's at stake, we just have to find a way and I think that's what we did tonight.”
But even finding the way to a victory that keeps Texas’ NCAA Tournament hopes alive wasn’t easy. UT (18-12, 7-10) triumphed despite betting outrebounded 46-30. The Longhorns opened the game with three consecutive turnovers. In the second half, as Baylor misfired on 12 consecutive shots, Texas couldn’t erase a modest nine-point deficit.
The victory left coach Rick Barnes as frustrated as he was relieved.
“He wasn't doing what we needed him to do at the start of the game defensively,” said Barnes, who won his 400th game as UT’s coach. “I told him, ‘You are either going to do what we need you to do, or you're not going to play.’”
Baylor had won four in a row thanks to outstanding shooting and it opened the game by making four of its first five shots in the first four minutes. Over the next 41 minutes, the Bears made just 17 of 58 shots.
“We have been really good because we shared the ball, but we had too many times when we took on their shot blockers,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “I thought we did some things down the stretch that we can't do if we want to advance in the postseason. Hopefully we can learn from it now, finish up our regular season and be able to close games out better.”
The Longhorns, who lead the nation in blocked shots, followed up blocking a school-record 14 shots at Kansas with 11 blocks against Baylor. Prince Ibeh forced overtime when he blocked Chery’s drive after Jonathan Holmes’ game-tying 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining.
The 6-11 Ibeh was isolated on the 5-11 Baylor point guard after a defensive switch. Typically, that’s a mismatch where a smaller player will drive past the bigger player.
“I thought I had a clear lane,” said Chery, whose layup attempt at the end of overtime was blocked by Myles Turner. "They're a good defensive team. They are going to contest every shot."
Ibeh stayed with Chery and blocked his left-handed layup with 34 seconds remaining. The Longhorns’ final possession wasn’t picturesque and resulted in Holmes forcing and missing a 3-pointer.
Texas was a top 10 team in December and didn’t receive votes in the latest Associated Press poll. Injuries and inconsistent play sentenced the Longhorns to the bottom half of the Big 12. Beating Baylor means that Kansas State’s visit Saturday is more than just the regular-season finale.
“We have to get another win … and then another win and another win and another win,” said Demarcus Holland, who scored 12 points with five assists in a game-high 36 minutes. “We have to keep winning. Pretty soon it’s gonna be win or go home.”