SHANGHAI, China (AP) Andrew Andrews scored 23 points to lead the Washington Huskies to a 77-71 victory over the Texas Longhorns on Saturday in the first-ever regular-season men’s basketball game played in China.
Washington led by as many as 9 in the second half before the Longhorns rallied to take a 65-64 lead with two free throws by Javan Felix with 4:48 remaining.
After Andrews hit a 3-pointer to put the Huskies back up by 4, Texas pulled within 2 when Isaiah Taylor drove to the basket for a layup to make it 73-71 with 2 minutes remaining.
The Longhorns couldn’t get another shot to fall, though, and Washington closed it out by making free throws down the stretch.
”It’s something about Andrew when the big shot is needed, he has the ability to knock it down,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said of Andrews’ final 3-pointer. ”He’s had a flair for the dramatic for a long, long time so he would be the one that we wanted to shoot that ball. Texas, they started to smell blood down the stretch, you could just see it.”
Malik Dime added 10 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks for the Huskies, and Marquese Chriss had 12 points.
Taylor had 27 points and seven rebounds to lead Texas.
”I think we played not to make a mistake, not to miss a shot and that took away from our aggressiveness,” said Texas coach Shaka Smart said. ”I didn’t think we responded particularly well when stuff didn’t go our way – foul trouble, the other team making a run. So we’re kind of fighting from behind for most of the game.”
There weren’t a lot of purple or orange shirts in the crowd at Shanghai’s Mercedes Benz Arena and not much loyalty to either team, aside from small contingents of fans from either school behind the benches.
But the spectators seemed entertained by the game nonetheless, gasping with shot blocks and applauding scrambles for the ball on the court. Another American import, the Kiss-Cam, also got a big reaction from the crowd.
Retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming posed for photographs with cheerleaders and the mascots for both teams on court before the game, which was organized by the Pac-12 conference and sponsored by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group.
There was also a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist shootings in Paris Friday night before tip-off at the arena.Andrew Andrews scored 23 points to lead the Washington Huskies to a 77-71 victory over the Texas Longhorns on Saturday in the first-ever regular-season men’s basketball game played in China.
Washington led by as many as 9 in the second half before the Longhorns rallied to take a 65-64 lead with two free throws by Javan Feliz with 4:48 remaining.
After Andrews hit a 3-pointer to put the Huskies back up by 4, Texas pulled within 2 when Isaiah Taylor drove to the basket for a layup to make it 73-71 with 2 minutes remaining.
The Longhorns couldn’t get another shot to fall, though, and Washington closed it out by making free throws down the stretch.
Malik Dime added 10 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks for the Huskies, and Marquese Chriss had 12 points.
Taylor had 27 points and seven rebounds to lead Texas.
Retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming posed for photographs with cheerleaders and the mascots for both teams on court before the game at Shanghai’s Mercedes Benz Arena. There was also a moment of silence before tip-off for the victims of the terrorist shootings in Paris.
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