If you told most Longhorn fans that their team would hold the high-scoring Oklahoma State Cowboys to only 30 points in the first half, they would gladly take it. And if you told them that OSU would have just 60 points with only a minute and a half left, those fans would probably snap up the offer twice as fast as the first one. But on Saturday in Stillwater, those relatively low point totals were all that the Cowboys would need for a win, as their defense was the most stifling it’s been all season.

It’s true that Texas missed its share of easy shots in the lane, but the credit goes to Coach Travis Ford and the OSU players, who focused their attention on big men Dexter Pittman and Damion James in an effort to mitigate the huge height advantage Texas enjoyed. With Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay only negligible scoring threats, the Cowboys were able to sag off those two guards and give extra help down low.

That defensive strategy certainly underscored just how important Gary Johnson is to the Texas offense, as the sophomore forward sat on the bench for a second straight game thanks to an injury suffered against Oklahoma. All of the pressure to produce in the paint was then left on the shoulders of Pittman and James, who combined to go only 3-of-12 in the first half, including an inexcusable number of missed two-footers.

The bright spots for Texas were few and far between, which is to be expected when a team shoots just 31.5% from the field and has twice as many turnovers as assists. But the best news of the day was the play of Harrison Smith, who provided 17 minutes off the bench for Coach Rick Barnes. For once, Smith was not just eating up minutes on the floor in order to teach the starting guards a lesson; rather, he chipped in a career-high 12 points and helped ignite a furious Texas comeback.

That Longhorn rally is the other positive that their fans can take solace in, as the team refused to fold in a hostile road environment despite a 17-point deficit with only 17 minutes left on the clock. And even more impressive than the comeback itself is the fact that the team did it without the assistance of longballs from sharpshooter A.J. Abrams, who was absolutely shut down by the Pokes defenders. Abrams had just a trio of three-pointers on the day, which were sandwiched around his scoreless stretches of 18 and 16 minutes.

The loss muddies things up in the conference standings, as the Cowboy win and a Kansas State victory in Manhattan have forced a three-way tie for fourth place. Fortunately for those who dislike Big 12 tiebreaking procedures, the Wildcats and Cowboys meet on Tuesday night in a game that could decide who claims that final first-round bye in Oklahoma City. The Longhorns, meanwhile, must handle Baylor at home before traveling to Lawrence for a tough season finale against the Jayhawks.