Texas men’s basketball walked into the locker room during halftime with heads hanging low.
The team had just scored only 22 points against South Carolina while allowing the Gamecocks to put 40 up on the board.
There’s not much to excuse the Longhorns’ inability to execute. Although they scored 47 points coming back in the second half, largely assisted by freshman guard Tre Johnson’s 20 points in the half for a game-high of 29, the team couldn’t come back and left Colonial Life Arena beaten 84–69.
Slow first halves kill games. Lost games kill programs. Texas is sitting in the bottom half of an extremely competitive Southeastern Conference, of which 14 teams are slated to be in attendance at an upcoming March Madness tournament.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a league that’s been as ultra-competitive as this league is every night,” head coach Rodney Terry said at a press conference less than two weeks ago. “You literally have to coach every game like it’s an NCAA Tournament game.”
South Carolina was at the bottom of that conference. In fact, this is the Gamecocks’ first conference win — and with a double-digit lead. Texas was trailing nearly all night, except for the first three and a half minutes.
In total, Texas shot 23 for 57, 29.6% in the first half and 50% in the second. Behind Johnson in points were graduate student forwards Kadin Shedrick and Jayson Kent with eight. This is the third time in the past four losses that Johnson has had at least 13 points more than the next in line.
Shedrick is a beast on the other side of the court, with nine rebounds and five blocks for the night. He’s often topped the leaderboard for blocks and is usually within the top three for rebounds.
But Johnson can’t just drop points without any assistance. All Longhorn wins are marked by the assistance of his teammates in points, such as graduate student guard Tramon Mark, who finished the night with just seven.
“He’s a pretty elite and high-skill guy,” Terry said about Johnson. “He’s not going to miss a lot of those shots.”
Until the ball is more evenly distributed across the team, the Longhorns can look forward to a rough road ahead. Next is a rematch against the Razorbacks in Arkansas on Wednesday night, in which Texas will hope to enact revenge after losing 78–70 just earlier this month. After that, the SEC Championship looms ahead.
