Texas smashes LSU out of halftime in 89-58 road win

The Longhorns got shot almost 70 percent in the second half while out-scoring the Tigers by 25 points.

The Texas Longhorns took advantage of an opportunity to pick up a Quad 1 win over an overmatched opponent by going into Baton Rouge on Saturday and bludgeoning the LSU Tigers, 89-58, behind a second-half surge.

After going into halftime with a six-point lead, Texas used a 16-2 run early in the second half to open up a margin that reached as many as 33 points late in the game as the Longhorns shot almost 70 percent over the final 20 minutes, scoring 30 points in the paint and 14 points off 15 forced turnovers, including six steals.

Senior forward Kadin Shedrick turned in his best performance of the season, impacting the game on both ends of the court in scoring a season-high 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and adding three assists and three steals. Shedrick finished with a game-high plus-minus of plus-35.

For senior wing Tramon Mark, 16 of his game-high 18 points came in the second half as Texas used some of its best ball and player movement to produce high-quality shots. Mark contributed to those efforts with four assists while star freshman guard Tre Johnson also turned in a strong performance, matching Mark’s 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, dishing out five assists, and coming up with two steals.

Senior forward Arthur Kaluma added 10 points and five rebounds. Off the bench, sophomore wing Devon Pryor continued showing improvement in his role, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shots and grabbing four of his six rebounds on the offensive end.

Shedrick got off to a fast start, scoring the first four points for Texas before contributing the final point in a 6-0 run to take a 10-4 lead. The margin reached nine points later in the first half thanks to a two-minute stretch during which Mark got into the paint for a layup, Johnson hit a three, and Kaluma got a friendly bounce on a corner three for a 24-15 lead.

But after Johnson made a layup, LSU went on its own 6-0 run before Shedrick responded with a three and senior forward Jayson Kent hit a jumper to extend the lead back to eight points.

After the Tigers hit a layup with 53 seconds remaining, the Longhorns took a timeout to set up a potential two-for-one opportunity that saw Johnson miss a good look from three with 37 seconds remaining and LSU take its own timeout to scheme a set for its final shot.

Neither team converted at the end of the half as neither team finished it well — Texas missed its last four shots and didn’t score over the final 4:05 and LSU only made one of its last four shots to go into the break trailing 31-25.

The Longhorns were uncharacteristically sloppy in the first half with a turnover rate of 20 percent, nearly six percentage points higher than the season average.

Texas opened the second half poorly, too, missing its first four shots, two of which were blocked, before finding some rhythm that started when Johnson got to the free-throw line and curled off a screen to get downhill and find Shedrick for a dunk.

Taking advantage of some LSU miscues, Shedrick’s effort defensively created a steal that led to a fast-break layup for Mark, Johnson hit a baseline mid-range jumper and then found Kaluma for a layup with a nice pass on the secondary break, and a steal caused by Mark led to his own breakout opportunity and a dunk to push the lead to 43-31, the largest of the game and cause for a timeout by the Tigers.

The first media break of the second half featured the same score after Texas forced another turnover and Johnson couldn’t hit a tough jumper from behind the backboard that led to an offensive rebound by Kaluma, who was fouled in the process.

A short roll by Shedrick produced a floater in the lane, another steal by Shedrick produced a layup after good ball reversal and a nice delivery from Johnson to Kaluma on a give and go, and Mark hit consecutive baskets for the Longhorns to extend the lead to 19 points at the under-12 timeout.

Out of the media break, more strong ball and player movement helped Texas hit six consecutive baskets, all quality shots. Defensively, however, the Horns were able to create more separation by allowing the Tigers to get good looks, too — LSU had a 4-of-5 shooting stretch to keep the deficit at 20 points going into the game’s penultimate media timeout.

Texas did blow the game open, though, going 11-of-13 shooting as everything fell, from a twisting three by Mark to beat the shot clock to a difficult baseline look by the Houston and Arkansas transfer that hit the heel of the rim and went in. Players off the bench contributed, as well, with Pryor hitting a three, getting an offensive rebound and putback, and making a layup while freshman forward Nic Codie added a push shot in the lane and a dunk to close out the game.

On Wednesday, Texas returns to the Moody Center to face Arkansas, another SEC cellar-dweller.