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Javan Felix leads No. 24 Texas to a win over Baylor

Rick Barnes

Rick Barnes (AP Photo)

AP

Javan Felix led four scorers in double figures with 21 points as No. 24 Texas survived a second half surge from Baylor, winning 74-69.

All 21 of Felix’s points came on three-pointers, as he finished the night 7-for-9 from beyond the arc. Isaiah Taylor added 13 points and seven assists, but the real difference-makers for the Longhorns were along their front line. Cameron Ridley and Jonathon Holmes finished with a combined 34 points, 18 boards -- nine of which came on the offensive end -- and five blocks while holding Isaiah Austin to just 1-for-10 shooting from the field.

Texas needed this win to bounce back from an embarrassing loss at Kansas over the weekend, but they’re solidly in the NCAA tournament field at this point. Baylor? Not so much, and that’s why they’re going to regret missing out on a chance to steal this win late.

The Longhorns were up by as much as 18 in the first half, but the Bears stormed back to cut the lead to one at one point in the final minutes. They couldn’t close out the win, however, and are now in a position where they probably cannot afford another regular season loss. Losing at Texas isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when you lose eight out of ten games in the middle of the season, any loss becomes a bad loss.

Here is the rest of Baylor’s schedule: Texas Tech at home, Iowa State at home, at Kansas State. Win two and feel comfortable. Win all three and they should be safe.

And while we’re here, it’s worth making a note: Baylor is in a position to survive a disastrous stretch of bad basketball during league play because they picked up neutral court wins over Kentucky, Colorado and Dayton in non-conference play. Hopefully, the some of the high-major programs that like to schedule cupcakes will take notice and challenge themselves in November.