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Texas dominates Texas Tech for 20th win

Feb 21, 2007 - 7:13 AM AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- The first time freshman Kevin Durant faced Texas Tech he was a one-man show. This time he was part of a team effort that yielded the same result.

Durant scored 17 points and all five starters reached double figures for 20th-ranked Texas in an 80-51 victory over Texas Tech in a Big 12 Conference matchup.

Texas (20-7, 10-3 Big 12) has now strung together eight straight 20-win campaigns and kept itself in the thick of the race for the top spot in the conference.

Durant scored 37 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in a 76-64 victory at Texas Tech on January 31. It was just the second 30-point, 20-rebound performance in conference history.

He was not quite as dominant in this one but that did not stop the Longhorns from putting the game away in the first half.

Durant capped a 16-3 run with a 3-pointer to give Texas a 25-9 lead with 11:06 left in the first half. He hit another shot from the arc three minutes later to make it 37-15 and the rout was on.

"During that first half, I'm not sure we can play any better than what we did," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I thought we were really good in the first half."

A.J. Abrams had 18 points, D.J. Augustin 16, Justin Mason added 13 and Damion James had 12 for Texas. Durant added eight rebounds and four steals and James had 10 rebounds.

"We never started this season saying that Kevin Durant had to score 20 or 25 points every game," Barnes said. "He got on a roll where he did that for a while, but he's not trying to do that every game. He's willing to pass and share the ball."

Texas Tech (17-11, 6-7) shot just 29 percent (15-of-52) from the field and did not have any player reach double figures.

"We were beaten by a team that played much, much better than we did," Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said. "From the beginning, we were a team that couldn't play at the same pace as the other team and that just carried through the whole game. I don't know what else to say, we just got beaten badly."

Senior guard Jarrius Jackson came in averaging 20.7 points for the Red Raiders but was 2-of-10 from the field, missed all five of his shots from the arc and finished with seven points.

"I wish we could design an offense that all we do is shoot layups, but I haven't figured that out in my 40 years of coaching," Knight said.

"Abrams is a very good defensive player and he stuck with me all through the game," Jackson said. "I have to give it to their whole team tonight, they all played good defense."