FORT WORTH — Texas Longhorns guard and Dallas Jesuit alum Max Abmas returned to the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Saturday as the Longhorns visited TCU for the last time as a Big 12 school.
While the Horned Frogs kept the Longhorns’ leading scorer at bay for much of the game, he exploded for 13 points over the final 3:27 of the game to help Texas pull away for a 77-66 win in a game that was tied at 64 with 3:53 left.
“I know when he had the and-one late in the game, that’s when I kind of can see it starting to click for him,” Texas forward Dillon Mitchell told the media about his teammate after the win. “We tried to draw up a couple of plays to get him going. … He’s going to play hard till the buzzer goes off, so it was just about trusting him, and that’s always there with our team.”
Abmas, who entered Saturday averaging 17.7 points, finished as the game’s top scorer with 21 points after scoring just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half and passed Kansas legend Danny Manning for 13th on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list.
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon told the local media earlier in the week that he was concerned about his team’s field goal defense after the way Texas Tech shot the ball against the Horned Frogs on Tuesday and specifically pointed out the need to keep Texas’ backcourt duo of Abmas and Tyrese Hunter in check.
The duo combined for just six points in the first half, but Abmas’ late charge changed the tune.
“We didn’t defend well enough,” Dixon told the media postgame. “We have gotten some wins, surprisingly, on the road by not defending well enough, but this game, we just did not defend well enough. … I didn’t have our guys ready for the physicality of this game, and that’s on me.”
Texas has now played five ranked opponents in a row and gone 3-2 in that stretch, hoping to improve its chances of making the NCAA Tournament.
The Longhorns (15-7, 4-5 in the Big 12) began the day firmly on the bubble, according to most experts, and now have three ranked wins on the season, with another ranked opponent looming in No.12 Iowa State on Tuesday.
TCU’s (16-6, 5-4) next game is against the Cyclones next Saturday.
