No. 5 Texas Longhorns 61

No. 4 Kansas State Wildcats 58

RECAP:

OKLAHOMA CITY- No. 5 seeded Texas once again rode the heavy shoulders of Dexter Pittman to a second round victory over No. 4 seed Kansas State, 61-58, on Thursday.

Pittman was the only Texas player to score in double-digits with 19 points, and also pulled down 20 rebounds.

“I knew going into this game, I would have to go in there and box out because they crash the board every time,” Pittman said. “I just went in the game with that mind-set, just block out and go to the glass and get the rebound and jump over them and use my athleticism.”

The 6-foot 10-inch, 298 pound Pittman scored the final four points for Texas, including a lay-up to put the Longhorns up for good with 1:18 left. Kansas State still had a chance to win, however, as Pittman missed the second of two free throws with the Longhorns up 3.

The Longhorn’s, as they had done all game, shut down Denis Clemente on the game’s final shot, forcing him into a heavily-guarded 3-pointer. Clemente scored 44 points against Texas in an overtime victory in Austin earlier this year, but was held to only 10 on Thursday.

Texas relied on Varez Ward off the bench to keep Clemente in check.

“Clemente is hard to guard because he is always coming at you full speed,” Ward said. “I just wanted to come in and slow him down a little bit, and really just take him out of his game, or at least try to take him out of his game.”

Texas will take on Baylor on Friday, though coach Rick Barnes dismissed any notion of an “upset alert” vs. the No. 9 seed Bears.

“Every time we have been in games with them, they have been hard-fought games,” Barnes said. “And they are playing with, I’m sure, with loads of confidence.”

Kansas State will wait to see whether or not it makes the NCAA Tournament.

QUOTEABLE:

“All I said to [Ward] is ‘This is your kind of game’ because it was a very physical, hard-fought game… I just said to him ‘Do what you do defensively and drive the ball.’ With some of the things we were doing, we could change the guys on the floor. That’s what we said, just be aggressive and go at it.” – Texas coach Rick Barnes, talking about Varez Ward, who helped hold Denis Clemente to 10 points

“We took open shot after open shot and it just wasn’t going in, shots we have been making here for the last two months.” – Kansas State coach Frank Martin

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Dexter Pittman, center, Texas (19 points and 20 rebounds)

Dexter Pittman, center, Texas, 19 points, 20 rebounds

Neither team Texas has played in the tournament has been able to find an answer for the 6’10” center. Pittman averaged 9.8 points per game during the regular season, but has scored 26 and 19 in tourney games. He also averaged only 15.2 minutes per game, but has played well above that the last two days. “For the last longest while here, every time Dexter has gone in the game from start to finish, we have tried to go through Dexter every time he has been in the game,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “Where he is today is because of his willingness to continue to improve.”

WHAT IT MEANS:

Texas all but locked up an NCAA Tournament bid with a win if it hadn’t already. Kansas State is still on the bubble, and a loss in their first tournament game doesn’t help. Wildcats’ coach Frank Martin passionately campaigned for his team after the game. “You tell me how many of these bubble teams have as many top 50 wins as we do,” he said. He will find out what the NCAA Tournament Committee thinks on Sunday.