NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After 75 minutes of smooth shooting, poised ball-handling and a quiet crowd of Longhorn-haters in Arkansas, Texas nearly let its entire season slip away.
A.J. Abrams made two free throws with 9.5 seconds remaining, giving the second-seeded Longhorns just enough margin to hold off seventh-seeded Miami 75-72 in the second round of the South Regional on Sunday. Texas led by as many as 17 points and was ahead 66-50 with 4:15 remaining before a dramatic rally by the Hurricanes (23-11).
“We won, so I’m really not sweating it anymore,” said the Longhorns’ Damion James, who missed two free throws in the final half-minute. “Just go back to practice and shoot free throws and hope to get better.”
Texas (30-6) led 74-69 after Abrams’ final free throws, but the Longhorns weren’t quite safe yet. Miami’s Raymond Hicks made a 3-pointer, and D.J. Augustin then shot an airball on his first of two free throws with 1.8 seconds to play.
“I shot it a little short,” Augustin said.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Arkansas fans, putting it mildly, do not care for Texas. They had booed the Longhorns before each of their two games at Alltel Arena, but had to quiet down as Texas played beautifully against Austin Peay in the first round and then for most of the Miami game. But in the final minutes Sunday, it was loud again.
“Everyone was against us, it seemed,” James said.
Augustin made his second free throw at the end, and Miami’s long pass was broken up. Texas advanced to the regional semifinals to play third-seeded Stanford on Friday.
That game will be in Houston, in what will surely be a more friendly environment.
Abrams scored 26 points on six 3-pointers for the second consecutive game. The Longhorns went 13-of-26 from 3-point range, including 9-for-16 in the first half. They nearly made up for that by going 12-of-21 on free throws.
“Thankful we won the game,” Abrams said. “We did not finish like we wanted to in the last couple of minutes.”
Memphis 77, Mississippi State 74
Joey Dorsey finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds, a season-high six blocked shots, five fouls and an untold number of bumps and bruises, and top-seeded Memphis (35-1) outscrapped the Bulldogs (23-11).
“He was definitely the focal point, an animal,” Memphis’ Chris Douglas-Roberts said of Dorsey. “When he plays like that, our team is so much better, so much better. He was everywhere. He was helping everybody.”
