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Jan. 19, 2013

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 

TEXAS

Head Coach Rick Barnes
On whether losing to Kansas like his team did today gets old: It gets pretty old because it's the same record and the same way. We do a lot of things well, but we don't win because we don't consistently do it when the game is on the line - when it gets down to understanding exactly what's happening within the lines and staying together and executing. It goes down to a few possessions. Look, defensively, we definitely defended well. You'll look at it and see that they shot 50 percent in the second half. Think about how they got to that - blocked shots that led to easy run-outs, the ball slipping out of their hands, turning the ball over coming out of a time out, not executing what we need to execute. That is how fine a line it was.

On whether he established during his final timeout that Julien Lewis would shoot a three-pointer: That situation, down three, he got a good look at it. He's made that shot a lot. Actually, I was a little bit surprised. Demarcus [Holland] actually did a really good job waiting. What I really liked, when Demarcus was out there I felt that was when we really staring playing defense the way we wanted to play. That is the reason Javan [Felix] was on the floor there at the end. We had to try to get a defensive stop, which we did. We stayed aggressive that whole possession. We trapped in the back court and stayed with it. You have to be smart and you have to realize what's going on between the lines. You can't get caught up in the crowd. You need to continue to work the game. We had our chances and we didn't get it done.

On why his team committed so many turnovers in the second half: That's a great question. That's what we have talked about for the last five or six weeks. It gets down to winning time. You need to believe that you're going to do what you need to do. You can almost see guys have predetermined what they're going to do before they get the ball. Or you read the defense and you have to believe the other team is going to fight you. We spend so much time waiting for our wings to get open because they just stand and wait and wait. I have no idea why they're waiting because we're leaving our point guard out there as an island by himself. We kept going everything to the right and everything we do, we can do to the left, too.

On his evaluation of Sheldon McClellan's play today: I thought he was a little hesitant offensively. He's got to have more than one rebound. He's got to have more. And he needs to stay aggressive. We want him to shoot the ball. And I do think, for the most part, from what I saw, he was trying defensively to stay up there. What I did like about him, I thought he started talking--he was asking things--and he's never really done that. That just that tells me he was engaged in terms of what he was doing.

Sophomore Julien Lewis
On his potential game-tying last shot: I just felt that it was a shot that if it went in, everybody lives another day. I feel comfortable shooting that shot. You know, it was a tough shot though. I take a lot of tough shots in the game. You've just got to come out and make them though.

On losing such a close game: We were very close out there. I know we keep losing close games by possessions. It hurts us a lot, but you've got to keep going. We can't stop going. We've to keep fighting each and every game. We've got to get ready for the next one in Norman [Oklahoma]. We've got to beat - not beat them, but we've got to go out there and show them we can play.

Sophomore Sheldon McClellan
On if he felt a lot of pressure guarding Kansas redshirt freshman guard Ben McLemore: No, not really. I know that's part of my job. I know I have to guard Ben McLemore. I think I did a good job on him. On the offense, I'm not shooting the ball good right now. But my percentages don't dictate how I shoot, and my team and my coaches know that. I take a lot of tough shots and so does Julien. It's just getting in the flow within the game.

On what the team needs to do to win these close games: Just taking care of the ball late in the game. Possession-by-possession. Just standing out and being poised. Not rushing anything. Just take good shots and play defense.

On the differences between the first and second halves: In the first half we played defense the way Texas always plays. The second half I think they shot 50 percent, and that was mostly off turnovers and they got some more momentum and got a little run.

Sophomore Jonathan Holmes
On having to sit on the bench in foul trouble in the first half: It was frustrating not being able to be out there and help my team. But they were doing a pretty good job trying their best out there. I was just cheering them on.

On trying to make something out of his last posession: Well, I mean I pump faked. Withey jumped. I wasn't trying to get my shot blocked so I drove down. He was there and he took a charge.

KANSAS

Head Coach Bill Self
Opening Statement: It was a great win, though we did not play our best. Texas guarded us. That was as bad as we have ever started a second half; I don't think I have seen any game where two coaches were so mad at their team that they called three timeouts before the under 16 timeout. Rick was mad and I was mad because we were miserable the first few minutes of the second half; I will give Texas credit for that. The last 10 minutes of the game, I thought we played like a pretty mature team. We certainly had some guys that made some plays that were dumb.

On what causes the shift in the second half: I honestly do not know. To me though we are experienced players, we looked like a lot of inexperienced players off the play ground; we were trying to catch up too fast, the pressure bothered us, we turned the ball over just by kicking it to them. Then when we settled down, though we did not get an offensive flow, we got to the free-throw line; we did the things that we should do to give us a chance to win on the road.

On Texas: Texas played great. They guarded us. They out hustled us. They did all the things they needed to do to win, we just had some guys step up late.

On who they were trying to stop: Today, I thought McClellon and Lewis were trouble. We were up three, then Lewis makes a big shot; 17 footer off a curl near the elbow.

On the Texas team compared to last year: J'Covan was 7-of-26 last year against us but he still got 30 because we could no guard him. He killed us at our place then the year before he wore us out down too. Last year we knew where the ball was going, but this year they have better balance. Texas is the youngest team in the country, they are going to be really good. They took some steps toward today.

Senior Jeff Withey
On coming back from an eleven-point deficient: It was tough but we have a pretty mature team that continues to grind through. We were able to go up to the free- throw line at the end and our defense at the end were pretty good, we were trying to make up for our bad offense. Being a mature team, we have been in these kinds of situations before so knew that we would be able to come back.

On his thoughts during Texas' last shoot: If he made the shoot we were concerned with getting the ball and going but if he missed we were concerned with getting the rebound. We were lucky to get the rebound.

Redshirt Freshman Ben McLemore
On the five turnovers in the first few minutes of the second half: They started pressuring a little bit. We got a little nervous but we played through. In the huddle coach told us to be more aggressive and that is what we did.