Sean Miller Takes Blame for Major Miscues in Texas' Loss to Texas A&M

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team was on the right end of two thrilling wins over heated rival Texas A&M last season.

However, the first matchup of this year between the two programs belonged to the Aggies, who marched into Moody Center on Saturday and beat Texas in a 74-70 win, giving Texas A&M its first victory in Austin since 2002.

The Longhorns did just enough to keep things interesting in the end, but Texas A&M led the entire second half and had control for a majority of the game. Texas head coach Sean Miller shouldered the blame for some of game-changing moments that went in the Aggies' favor.

Sean Miller Gets Honest About Miscues

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller enters the court before the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Aggies hit timely triples in the second half after a slow start, but it was ultimately multiple defensive breakdowns by Texas on backdoor cuts to the rim that made the difference, something Miller was asked about after the game.

“We gave them four point blank layups. When that happens, that's on me. That's on me," Miller said. "You can't spot a team eight points in a game like that.”

The Aggies went 6 of 10 from deep and 15 of 25 from the field in the second half, as Texas' defense wasn't able to replicate the defensive effort from the first 20 minutes. After the game was tied 29-29 at halftime, one side was bound to wake up, and that team was Texas A&M.

Sean Miller takes the blame for Texas allowing multiple back cuts to the rim for easy layups in the second half.

“We gave them four point blank layups. When that happens, that's on me. That's on me. You can't spot a team eight points in a game like that.”
— Zach Dimmitt (@ZachDimmitt7) January 18, 2026

Despite taking some of the blame, Miller admitted that his team failed to grasp the importance of the moment at the start of the second half, which is where the Aggies began to pull away. Texas A&M never trailed from this point on and the Longhorns were unable to recover.

“In the first four minutes of the second half, we were not ready to play," Miller said. "… (It) was a reflection of us not understanding the stakes here.”

Miller has not been shy to call out his team this season, something that appeared to be a major motivating factor for Texas in ranked wins over No. 13 Alabama and No. 10 Vanderbilt.

But despite those two key victories, the Longhorns will now have to regroup and get back in the win column, starting with Wednesday's trip to Lexington to face a Kentucky Wildcats team that has pulled off a pair of massive comeback wins during their last two SEC games.