Men's Hoops Falls to Texas, 94-78

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy has seen enough of Texas in the Big 12.

"I wish they would leave this league," Eustachy said Saturday night after Texas rolled to a shockingly easy 94-78 win over his No. 6 Cyclones. "Every time I come down here we get our heads kicked in."

Maurice Evans scored 28 points for Texas as the Longhorns snapped Iowa State's 10-game conference winning streak and kept the Cyclones from clinching the Big 12 title.

"We've been working hard all year trying to have this kind of effort," said Evans, whose four 3-pointers in the second half sparked the rout. The win kept Texas in the hunt for the Big 12 title. "I kind of feel like eventually it was all going to come together."

The victory may not have been the surprise as much as how the Longhorns did it. Texas (21-7, 10-4 Big 12) came in as the league's worst shooting team and near the bottom of standings in foul shooting.

Saturday night, the Longhorns shot 49 percent from the floor and blistered the foul line by knocking down 25 of 28 free throws in a tightly called game.

Texas stormed into the game with a 10-2 run punctuated by Evans' two-handed dunk on a putback.

It was difficult for either team to develop any offensive rhythm early as the officials called 12 fouls in the first four minutes. Both teams were in the double-bonus foul shooting before 10 minutes had been played.

The constant fouls clearly frustrated Iowa State (23-4, 11-3) and Eustachy, who was hit with a technical foul in the first half after he stomped up and down on the sideline after a whistle.

The antics trickled down to the Texas bench as Eustachy and Texas coach Rick Barnes started jawing at each other. At one point in the first half, the coaches met at midcourt and Eustachy could be seen wagging his finger at Barnes.

But nothing the Cyclones or their coach did could slow down Texas.

"Different refs are going to call it different ways," Evans said. "You just have to learn how to adjust."

Chris McColpin's 3-pointer and Darren Kelly's short jumper made it 34-25. Jamaal Tinsley then scored seven in a row for Iowa State to pull the Cyclones to 36-32 on his 3-pointer.

Texas answered with a 6-0 run that made it 42-32. Brian Boddicker's 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half put Texas ahead 53-38.

The fouls mounted for Iowa State in the second half. Texas stayed aggressive, forcing Tinsley and Cyclones forward Paul Shirley to both pick up their fourth fouls in the first six minutes.

Visibly frustrated, Tinsley picked up his third and fourth fouls in a span of 40 seconds when he twice lowered his shoulder into Fredie Williams and knocked him down.

Tinsley fouled out with just over seven minutes left to play when he was called again for charging. He led the Cyclones with 19 points.

"Officiating had nothing to do with this game," Eustachy said. "If we called our own fouls, we probably would have lost by even more.

Iowa State, the nation's best 3-point shooting team, came in averaging 15.5 attempts per game in conference play, but was just 3-of-7 against Texas.

Evans, who had nine points in the first half, hit three 3-pointers and fed Chris Owens for a dunk that put Texas up 70-50 with 15:32 to play.

Iowa State, which had talked about possibly earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, must continue concentrating on winning the Big 12.

"I really don't know and I really don't care" about a No. 1 seed, Eustachy said. "We're trying to win this league and we're still better off than anybody else in the league right now. This was good for our team. We needed to get spanked."

Texas has won four straight since an embarrassing 75-54 home loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 10. The Longhorns have now beaten two Top 10 opponents at home this season. Texas knocked off then-No. 5 Illinois 72-64 on Dec. 23.

The Longhorns also remain in the hunt for the Big 12 title, which they won two years ago.

"We knew the race would be tight," said Williams, who had 14 points and five assists. "We dropped a couple of games on the road that we wish we could have back."

Owens and Kelly each scored 13 for Texas. Martin Rancik scored 17 for Iowa State, including a 9-of-11 night from the foul line.

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Players Mentioned

Martin Rancik

Martin Rancik

Paul Shirley

Paul Shirley

Jamaal Tinsley

Jamaal Tinsley

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