Texas misses too many shooting opportunities during 68-61 loss to Baylor in Erwin Center farewell

During the course of the final men’s basketball game at the Frank Erwin Center, the No. 21 Texas Longhorns had plenty of shots against the No. 3 Baylor Bears. Chris Beard’s even lead by as much as five in the second half, and had the game tied with 6:21 left.

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But in a night celebrating the history of the Erwin Center, the Longhorns could have built a new arena with as many bricks as they put up from behind the arc and during crunch time. Those shooting woes and 19-point nights from Bear guards James Akinjo and Adam Flagler sent the Drum out with a 68-61 Longhorn defeat.

“People don’t like to hear it, but basketball is a game of making shots,” Beard said postgame. “It really is. (Andrew) Jones, (Jase) Febres, and (Courtney) Ramey, they got some great looks. Think we were 7-for-27 or something like that with those three shooters, and that’s not going to get it done in March.”

The Longhorns fall to to 21-9 and 11-7 in Big 12 play. The season sweep-clinching defeat at the hands of Scott Drew’s program marks Texas’ 12th loss in the last 13 matchups with Baylor.

[BOX SCORE: Texas versus Baylor]

Texas was 4-for-23 from three-point distance on Monday. The first two Longhorn makes from three came via Febres and Marcus Carr within the first five minutes of the game. The third was also from Carr, but it came 5:27 into the second half with nine misses in between. Eight bricks occurred between that make and the next conversion, also from Carr, with under 10 seconds remaining and the game’s outcome already determined.

Baylor’s defense, physical and often effective, did surrender a number of open looks on the perimeter throughout the contest. Texas had looks from behind the arc available in the fast break and via regular half-court offense.

They rarely fell, and Texas, a team that shot 33 percent from three entering this game, ended up shooting 17 percent.

“From where I was sitting, at least 17 or 18 of those 23 were just shots we want to take every day, all day,” Beard said. “A couple of them weren’t bad shots.”

That’s not their worst percentage of the year. The trough for three-point shooting came in the recent win versus TCU. Unlike on Monday, the Longhorns won that game.

Despite the poor outside shooting night, the game was tight for much of the second half. Texas exited halftime with a five-point lead, kept the Bears within striking distance for most of the half, and even knotted the score at 54 with 6:21 left.

A personal five-point run by Flagler just after that point was too difficult for the Longhorns to overcome. Ramey missed a three attempting to respond, Baylor collected the rebound, and Flagler made a layup on the other end. Texas’ next possession was fruitless, Baylor again collected the rebound, and the balls was dished to Flagler for an open three on the break.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the last five minutes of the game,” Flagler said. “We pride ourselves on bucking down and being a tough team.”

Flagler single-handedly fared better from behind the three-point line than the nine Longhorns who played with his 5-for-7 evening. In two games against Texas this year, the transfer from Presbyterian has 39 points on 15-of-25 shooting including 9-for-12 from three.

The personal 5-0 run was followed by an Akinjo jumper to make it 61-54 with 4:19 left. Neither team would score again until Akinjo hit two free throws at the 1:53 mark.

For the Longhorns, the lack of scoring during that late-game stretch wasn’t due to a lack of opportunities. Carr missed a three-pointer, then Christian Bishop turned it over after a Texas offensive board. The UT defense held on the ensuing possession, but couldn’t deliver on the other end. That failure on offense continued during the final minutes as the Longhorns missed eight-straight field goal attempts, many of them within close range.

Beard and the Longhorns have a term for those types of shots in or near the paint. On Monday, they liked that they could get the ball to that point, but just couldn’t advance to the next step of a converted field goal.

“I thought we got the ball around the basket a lot, and we just came up short,” Beard said. “We call those ‘finish’ shots, and we kept getting the ball stripped or blocked. Give Baylor credit.”

A physical game for most of the night, Texas was able to hold Baylor scoreless for over six minutes in the first half. The Longhorns struggled to capitalize as a result of the shooting effort, only building a seven-point lead.

Flagler and fellow starter Kendall Brown both tallied four personal fouls during the contest, but Texas couldn’t take advantage versus a short-handed Baylor, shooting only 9-of-15 at the stripe.

There were plenty of opportunities for the Longhorns to send the Erwin Center out with a win in the final men’s basketball game at the facility which opened in 1977.

Texas just missed most of them.

“Tonight, the shooting obviously sticks out,” Beard said. “The finishes stick out. But there’s other things that you’ve got to figure out. Credit Baylor.”

Texas closes out the regular season on Saturday versus the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks (23-5, 12-3 Big 12).