Texas fends off Nebraska rally for 70-66 win

[KFDM COOP]

Texas fends off Nebraska rally for 70-66 win

AUSTIN -- For 33 minutes, Nebraska frustrated the Texas Longhorns with a barrage of 3-pointers.

The Longhorns returned the favor late in the second half.

A.J. Abrams hit a 3-pointer with 41.4 seconds remaining as No. 9 Texas, which blew a 17-point second-half lead, escaped with a 70-66 victory over Nebraska on Tuesday at the Erwin Center.

Texas (25-5) tied the school record with its 25th regular-season victory and can clinch the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament with a win over Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale Sunday in Austin.

The Longhorns are tied with Kansas for the Big 12 lead at 12-3. The Jayhawks finish the season Saturday at Texas A&M.

If the two teams finish with identical conference records, the Longhorns would secure the top seed based on its 72-69 victory over Kansas on Feb. 11.

Texas closed the first half on a 20-5 run, which included a stretch of 15 unanswered points. The Longhorns took their biggest lead of the game, 43-26, when Damion James hit a jumper in the opening minute of the second half.

Nebraska (17-11, 6-9) climbed back into the game with an 18-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Paul Velander.

The Cornhuskers made 10 3-pointers in the game. They entered the game shooting a Big 12-worst 34.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Tied at 52, D.J. Augustin, Justin Mason and Connor Atchley hit consecutive 3-pointers for a 61-54 lead.

The Cornhuskers scored seven straight points, including a pair of close-range shots underneath the basket by Aleks Maric to tie the game at 61.

Abrams, who was 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, buried a 3-pointer to give the Longhorns the lead and hit four straight free throws in the final 23 seconds.

Nebraska got within two points on two occasions in the final 18.7 seconds, the last on a layup by Sek Henry with 12.1 seconds remaining.

Mason recovered a loose ball on an inbounds pass and made two free throws to seal the victory.

Texas made six of its nine 3-pointers in the second half -- four in the last seven minutes.

Augustin led Texas with 22 points, and James added 16 points and nine rebounds. Abrams scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime.

Maric led the Cornhuskers with 17 points.

The Longhorns improved to 16-1 at the Erwin Center this season, tying the 2000-01 and 1932-33 teams for the most home wins in school history.

[bullets13]

Not the most impressive win, but to Texas' credit, Nebraska has been playing pretty decent basketball lately.

[KFDM COOP]

I agree!

[Bulldog92]

Nice effort by the Huskers tonight. I wish we could shoot like that more often.

Is it just me or does everyone play their best games against UT this year? Look at Tech...they got blown out in College Station by 44, beat UT at home, and then lose by 58 at Kansas. How does that happen?

[KFDM COOP]

Good question!

[shorttexas1]

Everyones best game is against Teaxs because they are so thin that sometimes they tire on the defensive end late in games...  They have to take one game off every ten just to re-coup...  But I hope they go all the way!

[DC07]

i think we should just play all the hard teams like kansas, ucla, tennesee ex.

because we play bad in the games were supposed to win big

[AJ25]

very good game!