It looked like Kansas was going to have an easy time with Texas after being up 18-3 early in the first half. Texas had a different plan. For the first time in 10 tries, the Longhorns not only came away with their first victory at Allen Fieldhouse, winning 74-63, but they are the first team to defeat Kansas in 70 games.
A dejected Marcus Morris expected not to lose on his watch at home while he was wearing crimson and blue. Morris said that this loss cannot become two. Senior Tyrel Reed, who was teary-eyed, echoed Morris.
“We’ve got to regroup because we’ve got a game on Tuesday against a good Colorado team,” Reed said. “We just have to be ready to play.”
Reed said that the game is behind the team and that there is nothing the team can do today or tomorrow that will change the past. The team did make Kansas history by having the school record for most home wins in a row, Reed said that the streak was never something he put in his mind.
“You never want to lose and you always want to protect your home court,” Reed said. “It means a ton, but it’s just a game against Texas that we lost when we didn’t play our best.”
Coach Bill Self could care less about the streak. The only streak he cared about was having his team be the one that had the longest streak in school history and Kansas did it seven games ago, by winning game number 63. Self said that the biggest thing about the loss is how the team will rebound.
“There’s teams all across America, 50 percent of them are going to lose today and how do they bounce back?” Self said. “We haven’t experienced much of it, but we’ve certainly got to do that.”
The only player on Kansas’ roster that has ever experienced a loss at home is senior forward Brady Morningstar. The 69-66 loss came against Texas A&M 1450 days ago, or three years, 11 months and 20 days.
“You never like to lose,” Morningstar said. “Obviously we had a streak going, but we aren’t playing for the sake of a streak. All losses hurt, especially ones at home, but they happen to everybody.”
Last year, Kansas defeated Texas 80-68 in Austin. The loss resonated with sophomore J’Covan Brown, who scored 26 points of his 28 points in the second half. Brown kept the win on his mind the whole time, but did not tell anybody.
“I think it was a key win for us,” Brown said. “I thought if we got this win it would relieve stress, just to come back and get a win here, it was good for our team.”
A level of stress should have been relieved from Texas coach Rick Barnes who will have a different feeling on the plane ride back to Austin. Barnes said the win is great for the program.
“To come up here and get a win—and we have had so many great games with them where we came out on the other end—but I love the way our guys played today,” Barnes said.