Will Gallagher/Inside Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — If you’re looking for the indicators as to why top-ranked Kansas has separated itself from the rest of the Big 12, and is firmly in an elite handful of teams that can win the national title, then the win over Texas on Monday night served up plenty of answers.
Kansas played eight. The eight that coach Bill Self said give his Jayhawks the best chance to win, even though that might not be the best thing for the program in the long term. (Freshmen Elijah Johnson and Thomas Robinson didn’t play a minute in Austin.)
Meanwhile, Texas played 12 as coach Rick Barnes still finds himself searching for the right combinations more than halfway through the conference season.
Kansas beat the 14th-ranked Longhorns 80-68, despite a combined 7-for-29 shooting line from preseason leaders Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and Tyshawn Taylor. Collins was just 3-of-13 and Aldrich was 2-of-10 before fouling out. But Marcus Morris (18 points on 7-of-10 shooting) and Xavier Henry (15 points, breaking a streak of five straight single-digit scoring outputs) provided enough pop to offset the projected star production.
Kansas (23-1, 9-0 Big 12) smacked a 22-0 run on Texas (19-5, 5-4) in the first half after the Longhorns had built a quick 14-8 lead. That shouldn’t happen in a game between the two most talented teams in the league — the teams that started the season No. 1 and No. 3 in the preseason polls.
“I don’t know what it is,” Self said. “Our guys expect to win. We haven’t beaten ourselves, although we’ve tried. We beat ourselves against Tennessee.”
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