Texas guard Marcus Carr missed a potential game-winning basket with two seconds left as the No. 23 Texas Longhorns lost their first home game of the season, falling to Kansas State, 66-65, on Tuesday night.
For Texas (13-5, 3-3 in Big 12), it was their second straight Big 12 loss. The Longhorns fell to Iowa State on the road on Saturday.
Kansas State (10-7, 2-4), coming off its first Big 12 win of the season after beating Texas Tech on Saturday, beat Texas less than a month after losing to the Longhorns in Manhattan.
The Longhorns were set up to pull out the win, after Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell missed a lay-up with 12 seconds left. Texas guard Devin Askew collected the rebound and Texas set up a final shot. But, it wasn’t to be, as Carr missed his jumper and Kansas State’s Mark Smith grabbed the rebound to end the game.
When the two teams met in Manhattan, Kansas, on Jan. 4, the Wildcats were short-handed due to COVID-19 protocols. K-State had just seven scholarship players and lost to Texas, 70-57.
Texas needed about 30 minutes to put the Wildcats away that night. Back to full strength, the Wildcats never fell behind by more than nine points and kept the game tight in the second half as they shot 54.2 percent from the floor. With seven minutes left, the game was tied at 55-all. Texas had a 65-62 lead with 2:26 left.
Nowell made two free throws with 1:32 left to cut the lead to one. Then, Nijel Pack put the Wildcats up, 66-65, with a layup with 1:13 left.
After a timeout with 1:05 left, Texas guard Courtney Ramey missed a step-back jumper and K-State got the rebounds. With a chance to go up three, Nowell missed a layup and Texas rebounded to set up the final play.
Carr’s final miss was a rare one for him on Wednesday, as he had a game-high 25 points. Timmy Allen added 15 points.
Smith led the Wildcats with 22 points, while Pack had 16 points and Mike McGuirl added 13 points. Smith also grabbed eight rebounds.
Among those that watched the game was former TCU head coach Gary Patterson, who is rumored to be up for a job on the Texas football staff. He was seen in a suite at the Erwin Center with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, who was Patterson’s boss when the pair were at TCU. Patterson was seen wearing a white Texas pullover.
Texas remains at home for a Saturday contest with Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. The Longhorns lost their first meeting with the Cowboys, 64-51, in Stillwater on Jan. 8.
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