Texas survived a last-minute comeback by Baylor

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. Connor Atchley owns the Bears. The same Connor Atchley who would induce fan cringing every time he came into the game last year. Now he’s playing well enough that many of those same fans experienced that same kind of worry last night when Atchley limped off the court late in the game. Ladies and gentleman, your most improved player for 2006-07 is Connor Freakin Atchley.

The Longhorns (19-7 overall, 9-3 Big 12) once again struggled against Baylor (12-13, 2-10), needing a second-half surge to secure a 68-67 victory. And just as in the victory back in Austin, the key to the UT run came in the form of a tall, lanky white guy wearing number 32. Atchley hustled all over the floor, scoring a career-high 15 points and pulling down eight rebounds. He was even credited with two steals and another block — his 14th straight game with at least one — and continued to set the best screens on the court for the Horns.

Time and again, Atchley came free on the low blocks for easy dunks. And on Kevin Durant’s second-worst shooting night, it was refreshing to see another Longhorn moving without the ball to create some offense. Between Damion James’ easy layups against OSU and Atchley’s dunks last night, it looks like the Horns are finally getting some consistent scoring from the frontcourt.

Despite Durant’s tough night from the field (5-for-16), he kept Texas on the scoreboard by getting to the line repeatedly in the second half. He shot 90% at the line on ten attempts and grabbed just about every 50/50 ball that came loose. KD’s fourteen boards gave him his 16th double-double on the year and ninth in twelve conference games.

Unfortunately, the thing most Texas fans will remember about this game was the near-meltdown in the final minutes. But while Texas gave up the lead and ultimately lost to Tennessee in a similar fashion back in December, this time the Horns were able to escape with a road win.

Up 68-60 with 1:40 to play, the Horns missed four free throws, turned the ball over twice, and allowed the Bears a final 11-second possession to win. Without any timeouts, Baylor wasn’t able to draw up a play and the final shot was an awkward, desperate one thrown up by St. Michael’s grad Mark Shepherd. And when you’ve got a former teammate of Ian Mooney wrist-flicking a 17-footer at the last second, the odds are against the miracle bucket.

Once again, Texas allowed far too many open looks from behind the arc. This happened most often against the 2-3 zone, as the threes made against our man defense was often the result of a jab step giving the shooter just enough breathing room to get it off. I’ll take those threes any day — although not biting so hard on fakes does remain an area to improve for the Horns — as opposed to failing to get out on shooters in the zone.

Fortunately, it now seems that Barnes is committed to running a man defense more often, utilizing the zone when the personnel on the court requires it or he’s trying to protect Augustin or Durant from foul trouble. I’m a huge fan of this defensive mix, and hope to see it continue the rest of the year.

Most importantly for Texas, this win gives them 19 on the year with four games to play. While all of the remaining games could easily show up in the loss column, it seems that the first three are also winnable. I’ll look at the road ahead in my conference breakdown tomorrow, but it’s not hyperbole to say that this was a “must-win” game. The Horns are now just steps away from a dance ticket in March, and possibly even a chance to play themselves above that dreaded 8/9 seed range.

Next game is Tuesday at the Drum against Tech, but in the meantime we’ll have more new stuff here at Longhorn Road Trip. Three weeks to Selection Sunday!