Texas men’s basketball has advanced into the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
The No. 13-ranked Longhorns, who had lost to Texas Tech twice during the regular season, rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to upend the No. 20-rated Red Raiders, 67-66, in a quarterfinal game Thursday night at T-Mobile Center.
Matt Coleman (19 points, six assists) hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left to assure victory for UT. Jericho Sims intercepted a deep inbounds pass as the clock ran out.
Jase Febres scored 15 points, Andrew Jones had 11 and Sims and Kai Jones scored 10 for Texas (18-7), which will meet Kansas at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Texas has defeated KU twice this season.
Terrence Shannon scored 18 points and Kevin McCullar added 11 for Tech (17-10), which previously had defeated the Longhorns, 79-77, on Jan. 13 in Austin, Texas and again, 68-59, on Feb. 27 in Lubbock. First-team all-league pick Mac McClung scored seven points, all in the second half.
Texas has won four straight games heading into the semifinal contest.
The Longhorns, who were down 17-7 early, scored the last 12 points of the first half to take a 34-30 lead into the break. The 12-0 run started on an alley-oop dunk by Sims. Coleman had seven of his 10 first-half points in the surge, including a layup with 10 seconds left to conclude the first-half scoring. Febres came off the bench to hit three threes the first half, good for nine points. Shannon had 11 points and Marcus Santos-Silva (10 points, nine boards) eight, while McClung was 0-for-4 and didn’t score in the initial 20 minutes.
Tech regained its composure and scored the first seven points of the final half and embarked on an 18-4 run to grab a 48-38 advantage at 11:54.
Texas had its own run and grabbed a 54-53 lead at 7:49. However, Kyler Edwards cashed a three to immediately put the Red Raiders back in front. The game went down to the final seconds. Coleman drove the basketball down the lane and was fouled with 1.8 ticks remaining. He cashed the two free throws to give UT the win.
In an interesting development, UT freshman sensation Greg Brown, who was taken out by coach Shaka Smart just 2:40 into the second half, walked through an exit toward the locker room, ostensibly to regain his composure. Brown returned to the bench area a couple minutes later, but did not re-enter the game. He had two points and six boards with five turnovers in 13 minutes. He played 11 minutes the first half.
