Buzzer-beating layup by Tyrese Hunter lifts Texas basketball to needed win over Baylor

With one driving, twisting layup at the buzzer, Texas guard Tyrese Hunter might have changed the direction of the Longhorns' season.

Moments after No. 9 Baylor’s Jalen Bridges tied the game with a double-clutch 3-pointer with five seconds left on the clock, Hunter grabbed the inbounds pass, raced down the court and hit a shot over Langston Love to lift Texas to a 75-73 win Saturday at Moody Center.

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The dramatic victory not only gave Texas (13-5, 2-3 Big 12) its first win over a ranked team this season, but also made the frustrations after Wednesday’s loss to Central Florida seem like a distant memory.

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“We had to come in and bounce back,” said Hunter, who led Texas with 21 points. “We had to get back to being ourselves, finishing our games. That started in practice (after the loss to Central Florida), just challenging each other.”

And about his winning layup, which is the first true buzzer-beater for Texas since Javan Felix made a bucket to beat No. 3 North Carolina in December 2015?

“I just knew I had to get down there and try to make a play or get fouled,” Hunter said.

UT coach Rodney Terry had a timeout to use if he had wanted to draw up a set play, but he also knew that would give Baylor coach Scott Drew a chance to set his defense.

“You have a lot of options in that situation, but I didn’t want to overcoach,” Terry said. “I wanted to let the guys do what they do. Get downhill. Go make a layup. And that’s what Tyrese did.”

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Overcoming second-half struggles

Hot shooting might have carried Texas to a halftime lead against Baylor (14-3, 3-2), but it took old-fashioned grit for the Longhorns to grind out the win despite missing all eight of their 3-point shots in the second half. Baylor didn’t make a single basket in the last nine minutes of the game until Bridges’ bucket in the final minute, and Texas battled Baylor almost even on the boards while turning the ball over just seven times.

“In this league, you always got to win with your defense,” Terry said. “You can’t shoot a team out of a game.”

The Longhorns tried their best to do just that in the first half while racing to a 42-41 lead. Texas made nine of its 11 3-point shots before the break, including a season-high four from Hunter, who had a team-high 21 points. As a team, the Longhorns connected on 64% of their shots before halftime.

But Baylor’s array of shooters kept providing answers. The Bears made 56% of their shots in the first half, including 7 of 12 from 3-point range. Freshman phenom Ja’Kobe Walter had 14 of his 22 points in the first half.

But for the first time this season, Texas didn’t buckle in the biggest of moments.

“I feel like in order for us to be a successful team, we have to be together,” said forward Dylan Disu, who scored 19 points. “And that's what we stressed this whole week. Everything we do is for each other, and when we play for each other, play for RT (Terry), and play for the coaching staff, then we feel like we can beat any team in the country.”

Disu’s support of Terry in the postgame press conference served as a defense of sorts for his embattled coach, who caught plenty of heat for profanely criticizing Central Florida players after some postgame Horns Down gestures Wednesday.

Terry apologized for his actions after the Baylor win, saying, “I had no intentions of trying to show up anyone or offend anyone.”

“(Central Florida coach) Johnny Dawkins is a good friend of mine, and he's a really good coach,” Terry said. “He has a good program; they're having a good year. And if I offended him or his program or anyone, for that matter, that was not my intention. If I offended some of our fans as well in not handling myself the right way ... then I apologize to our fan base as well."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Tyrese Hunter hits a layup at buzzer to lift Texas basketball over Baylor