Kansas City, Mo. ? It’s hard to keep up with a team raining three-pointers like Kansas University’s men’s basketball team was Sunday.

But Texas coach Rick Barnes doesn’t think the Jayhawks’ 15 threes were the reason Texas lost, 84-74, in the Big 12 tournament final at the Sprint Center.

“I think we got beat with not rebounding the ball at crucial times,” Barnes said. “I think that we gave up too much dribble penetration at times. But Tennessee made 16 threes (in a 97-78 Texas win on Nov. 24). I don’t believe 15 beat us today.”

Besides, the Longhorns kept up for much of the game anyway. They hit 12 threes of their own and led, 46-45, after a wildly entertaining first half. At halftime, Texas had hit eight of its 11 treys.

But it got away when the Longhorns stopped hitting shots. They misfired on 13 of 17 three-pointers in the second half, allowing KU’s consistently hot shooting to separate the score.

Barnes said his team was tired, playing its third game in three days.

“It had been tough, but it’s not an excuse,” said guard D.J. Augustin, who had 20 points but struggled in the second half. “All the teams have been playing a lot lately, and we just came out and tried to play hard every night we played.

“We don’t want to make any excuses. We played hard tonight, and we left it out on the court.”

Augustin missed all nine of his field-goal attempts after halftime, putting the offensive burden on A.J. Abrams (15 points) and Justin Mason (17) while Kansas continued to pour on the points.

“They got more aggressive on the ball screens,” Barnes said of Kansas guarding Augustin. “They definitely started getting out, trying to get him to give it up.

“: He had an incredible day today. I don’t think any of us thought he was going to come out and continue to score the way he did in the first half. It’s hard to do, but that’s not what he’s looking to do.”

Like most teams Sunday, the Longhorns (28-6) immediately looked ahead to their NCAA Tournament prospects. They locked up a No. 2 seed in the South and will head to Little Rock, Ark., to play Austin Peay on Friday.

But every competitor wants to win every time. So Sunday’s victory – which may not have had a ton on the line in the grand scheme of things – still wasn’t one to brush off right away.

“There’s no doubt we’re disappointed,” Barnes said. “We like to think every time we go out, we like to win even though we know that’s not going to happen.”