University of Missouri
Texas
Missouri Falls To Texas
2/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2001
By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - Maurice Evans scored 21 points and No. 24 Texas secured a first-round bye in the Big 12 tournament with a 76-61 win over Missouri on Monday night.
Texas (22-7, 11-4 Big 12) also got 18 points from Darren Kelly in setting a school record with its 16th home win of the season. Texas has won five in a row since a 21-point home loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 10.
Securing the first-round tournament bye was important for the Longhorns. In the first four years of the Big 12, no team has come out of the first round to win the conference tournament.
Wesley Stokes led Missouri (18-10, 9-6) with 17 points.
Evans, who scored 28 points in Saturday's win over No. 8 Iowa State, picked up right where he left off, scoring the first five points on a two-handed dunk and a 3-pointer.
Missouri never led and never recovered.
Evans and Brian Boddicker hit back-to-back 3s and Fredie Williams scored after Boddicker's steal to make it 20-8.
One of the worst shooting teams in the Big 12 this season, Texas shot 18-of-28 (64 percent) in the first half.
The Longhorns held the Tigers scoreless over a five-minute period and to just 30 percent shooting from the floor in the first half. Missouri shot just 34 percent for the game.
Boddicker's second 3-pointer made it 38-18 before Missouri finally got untracked with an 8-3 run that made it 41-26. Rickey Paulding knocked down a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the half before Evans finished it off with a two-handed alley-oop jam from Williams for a 43-26 Texas lead.
Evans struck from long range twice in the opening minutes of the second half as Texas built 59-36 lead with 11 minutes left. Kelly had 12 points in the second as Texas held at least a 15-point lead over the final 20 minutes.
The loss leaves Missouri's NCAA tournament hopes in doubt. The Tigers' regular-season conference record might good enough to get them in regardless of what happens.
In the first four years of the Big 12, only one team (Nebraska 1999) has had a winning record in the conference and not made it to the NCAA Tournament. Missouri finishes the regular season March 4 at Kansas and can finish no worse than 9-7 in league play.
Texas held a moment of silence before the game for Longhorn football player Cole Pittman who was killed in an auto accident Monday.
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