Texas holds on late in 70-66 win over Syracuse

The Longhorns opened the Legends Classic with an important win that wasn’t pretty down the stretch.

The Texas Longhorns needed six key free throws down the stretch from freshman guard Tre Johnson to secure a 70-66 over the Syracuse Orange at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to open the Legends Classic on Thursday.

The Horns led by as many as 16 points early in the second half before struggling to stop the Orange frontcourt and seeing Johnson force himself on the game too often in a 4-of-18 shooting performance that saw the young phenom miss his final six three-point attempts. Johnson finished with 16 points, tying senior forward Arthur Kaluma for the team high, but it came in an inefficient effort that saw him take ill-advised shots and turn the ball over five times, a career high after Johnson only gave the ball away five times in his first five games.

Kaluma was much more efficient and made better decisions than his young teammate, hitting 6-of-11 shots while adding a game-high 10 rebounds and tying for the team high with four assists.

Junior guard Chendall Weaver also provided an impact performance for the Horns, going 4-of-6 shooting for 10 points and hitting the glass hard for nine rebounds, three of them on offensive caroms.

Syracuse helped the Texas effort, settling for too many threes early in a 5-of-21 shooting effort from distance (26.7 percent) and struggling from the free-throw line throughout, making just 9-of-18 attempts from the charity stripe. With a more discipline offensive performance and better shooting at the line, the Orange probably come away with a victory.

Texas raced out to a quick start, hitting 4-of-5 shot attempts in taking a 9-0 lead and forcing a timeout by Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry less than two and a half minutes into the game, scoring six of those points in the paint. A poor three-point shooting team through the first three games, the Orange settled for too many looks from distance early, missing five straight triples before star guard JJ Starling finally rattled one in just before the first media timeout. In fact, the first six shots for Syracuse all came from beyond the arc.

Then the Horns cooled off after the strong start, missing three straight shots and turning the ball over once as senior transfer wing Tramon Mark made his debut for Texas after missing the first four games with an ankle injury. With Syracuse forced into its traditional 2-3 zone, Mark hit his first shot attempt in burnt orange and white, a three, and made another three minutes later as the Orange waited for the under-12 timeout with some level of desperation as the Horns opened up the largest lead of the game at 14 points before Syracuse center Eddie Lampkin made a layup through contact to usher in the second media timeout.

It was a rare paint touch for the Orange, who took eight threes among their first 16 shot attempts despite entering the game hitting just over 25 percent on the season, a rather confounding start. As Syracuse worked the ball inside more often, generally to Lampkin, the offensive efficiency improved and Texas wasn’t able to create further separation.

How well were things clicking for the Horns, though? Senior forward Ze’Rik Onyema, unplayable last season during the conference schedule, came up with a steal on the ball and cruised down the court for a contested lay in.

Shortly thereafter, Johnson spun past a defender and then finished over Lampkin in the lane, a play that had Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony cackling in his courtside seat.

Syracuse was able to end the half with a little bit of momentum after wing Donnie Freeman hit a difficult three in the final moments to cut the Texas lead to 41-30, putting the Orange within striking distance despite the Longhorns controlling the first half from the opening tip and playing good team basketball with 11 assists on 17 made baskets.

Typically strong on the ball, Syracuse opened the second half with two careless turnovers and Kaluma continued to play at a high level for Texas, showing off mature footwork to get to his spots.

The Orange went on a 7-0 run between the first and second media timeouts of the second half keyed by two offensive fouls called on the Longhorns and breakdowns on defense that resulted in a three-point play for Lampkin and an uncontested dunk, prompting a timeout by Texas head coach Rodney Terry with the lead down to six points.

The scoring drought for the Horns was over three minutes with four straight missed shots during a 1-of-7 shooting stretch that also featured four turnovers as Texas lost its composure.

Kaluma worked the middle of the Syracuse zone to open up senior forward Kadin Shedrick for a dunk, but after a poor possession by the Horns as the Orange went back to a man defense, Syracuse hit a corner three to cut the margin to three points, as close as the game had been since the opening run for Texas.

The 14-2 run by the Orange put the Horns in danger of blowing what amounts to as much of a must-win as an early-season tournament could possibly produce with so few opportunities to record quality wins during the non-conference slate.

Lampkin keyed it for Syracuse, scoring and making plays for his teammates, including bullying Shedrick on the block to hit a little push shot that made it a one-point game, but Texas responded with a good baseline out-of-bounds play that produced a lob dunk by Shedrick and Weaver got into the lane for an important basket that pushed the lead back to four points at the under-eight timeout.

Consecutive scores by Syracuse tied the game for the first time since it was 0-0 before Johnson lost his composure and was called for a double-technical foul after drawing a whistle off the bounce in the midst of a 3-of-13 shooting start. Johnson followed with three more missed shots as he forced himself onto the gam before finally hitting a jumper for his first points of the second half, sending Texas into the final media timeout up by one point with 3:23 remaining.

Johnson came back with another missed jumper, but Weaver came up with the offensive rebound and finished at the rim with his athleticism, then Syracuse busted their pick-and-roll coverage, allowing Pope to hit an open jumper and forcing a timeout by Autry, who was visibly upset with his players.

The physicality of the Orange frontcourt continued to impact the game as Syracuse forward Jyare Davis drew a foul on Kaluma after missed shot by the Orange and hitting both free throws.

On the other end, Johnson drew a foul of his own off the bounce and hit both free throws for a three-point lead with one minute remaining as Terry used his penultimate timeout to set up his defense.

When Syracuse threw the ball away on a baseline out of bounds, Johnson took over ball-handling duties and drew another foul on Starling. The Texas freshman hit both and while Starling got a quick bucket on the other end, the Orange called timeout with 15.8 seconds remaining needing to get a quick steal or foul to have a chance down three points.

Trapped in the corner, Johnson threw the ball away and Kaluma was called for his fifth foul on the loose ball, sending him to the bench and Syracuse to the line. Missing the first and hitting the second, the Orange had to foul Johnson in the corner thanks to a little more strength on the ball and the freshman converted, calmly hitting all of his free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

Texas returns to the Barclays Center on Friday to face the winner of Texas Tech and Saint Joseph’s in Thursday’s late game.