Texas rode the hot hands of Julien Lewis and Sheldon McClellan for a 70-57 win over last-place TCU in its first-round Big 12 Championship game at the Sprint Center to advance to Thursday's quarterfinals.
The Longhorns, who improved to 16-16, will face co-champion Kansas State at 6 p.m. They lost twice to the Wildcats in the regular season, falling by 26 on the road and by 12 at home.
Just as they did in their regular-season finale win over Texas Tech last Saturday, Lewis and McClellan carried the Longhorns. Lewis hit four of the team's five treys, and McClellan attacked the basket and hit seven of eight free throws for the win. The duo combined for 42 points in a 71-69 overtime win over Texas Tech with Lewis hitting the game-winner with 1.7 seconds remaining.
TCU was uncharacteristically on fire at the free throw line, hitting its first 13 freebies despite being ranked 340th nationally in that category. The Frogs finally missed and then was off target on five of six chances as Texas pulled away.
Rick Barnes' team turned to a 2-3 zone after Charles Hill sank a three-pointer to give TCU a 44-43 lead near the midway point of the second half. But the Longhorns suffocated TCU after that, forcing the Frogs into nine misses in 10 attempts.
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