Hunter’s last-gasp drive and layup lifts Texas over No. 9 Baylor in ‘must-win’ game

AUSTIN – While it’s hard to grasp the notion that a game in the middle of January could make or break a basketball season, that sure seemed to be the case when Texas battled No. 9 Baylor in a Big 12 Conference clash on Saturday at Moody Center.

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And if you can buy into that urgency, the Longhorns can thank the mercurial Tyrese Hunter for the saving them to fight another day – or at the very least get them going in the right direction.

Hunter, who sat on the bench in crunch time in the Longhorns’ two games (both losses) coming into Saturday’s contest, drove the lane for the game-winning layup with 0.1 seconds to play as Texas outlasted the offensively challenged Bears 75-73 in slugfest. 

“At the end of the day this race is going to be every night – there’s not one bad team,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “We’re gonna come in and have a survivor’s type mentality. We’re going to continue to come in and compete and continue to get better and continue to work the game.

“Every game to me is a must-win game. I don’t get caught up with that kind of stuff. Was this out biggest game. Yes, because it was the next game. And is the next game a big game? Yes, it is – it is the biggest game.”

The Longhorns (13-5, 2-3 Big 12) led by a point at halftime and by three after a layup by Dylan Disu with 3:18 remaining. Ja’Kobe Walter’s two free throws with 3 minutes to play brought Baylor to within 69-68 before Disu answered with a pair from the charity stripe with 1:51 left.

Walter hit two more free throws with 50.5 seconds to play that Max Abmas countered with a pair with 14.3 seconds remaining. Baylor’s Jalen Bridges tied the game on a 3-pointer with 5 seconds to play but Hunter had the answer, scoring the final two of his 21 points to allow Texas to snap its two-game skid.

“We had to get back to being ourselves, to finishing our games,” Hunter said. “And that started in practice, just challenging each other and just coming out here today, believing in each other and going out there trying to get the win.”

Disu added 19 points for the Longhorns, with Abmas hitting for 15 and Kadin Shedrick scoring 10 as Texas tries to write the ship after a tumultuous week build by noise outside the program.

“In order for us to be a successful team we have to be together and that’s what we stressed this whole week,” Disu said. “Everything we do is for each other – we play for each other, play for our team, play for the coaching staff. lf we can do that we can beat any team in the country. And that’s kind of what this win symbolizes for us.”

Walter led all scorers with 22 points while Bridges tallied 17, Jayden Nunn racked up 15 and Langston Love scored 10 for Baylor (14-4, 3-2 Big 12). When Bridges hit his 3-pointer to tie the game late it was the Bears’ only field goal over the final 9:10 of the game.

The teams went back and forth over the initial 11 minutes, with neither being in front by more than two points. The Longhorns eventually went up 25-23 on a layup by Hunter at the 9:18 mark of the first half and Texas extended its advantage to seven points after a dunk by Dillon Mitchell with 6:38 left in the half. When Disu poured in a 3-pointer up as the shot clock expired with 5:43 remaining the Longhorns led 36-28.

But Baylor swung back. Walter’s free throw with 1:37 to play in the half capped an 11-4 run by the Bears that culled the Texas lead to 40-39. Then Love’s driving layup on the ensuing possession pushed Baylor back to the front before Abmas’ jumper with 39 seconds left granted the Longhorns a 42-41 edge at the break.

Walter led the Bears with 14 points before halftime, an output that was matched by Hunter. Nunn added 13 points for Baylor while Abmas countered with 11 for the Longhorns. Texas shot 64 percent from the floor in the half and hit 9 of its 11 3-point attempts but only led by a point.

The game was tied at 50 until the Bears got back-to-back 3-pointers from Bridges and Love to go up by six with 13:44 to play. Texas whittled away at its deficit, with a free throw by Hunter with 4:57 left knotting things at 65. Shedrick’s two free throws with 4:15 remaining put the Longhorns back in front and set the table for the furious finish.

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It was Texas’ sixth straight win at home against a ranked team; they’ve never lost to an opponent in the Top 25 in the year-plus-12 games tenure at Moody Center. The Longhorns will try to build on that momentum when they take a two-game road trip against ranked teams, beginning with Tuesday’s clash at No. 15 Oklahoma.