Texas Fails to Complete Comeback vs. UConn Behind Brutal Free-Throw Shooting

The Texas Longhorns gave the UConn Huskies a run for their money in the second half, but could not mount a full comeback effort on Friday night in PeoplesBank Arena. The Longhorns fell to the Huskies 71-63 in their final high-caliber non-conference test before Southeastern Conference play.

Head coach Sean Miller's team narrowed its deficit to five points with 4:30 remaining in the game, but a miracle heave by guard Solo Ball and a follow-up three-pointer by forward Alex Karaban brought the UConn lead back to double digits.

The Longhorns held UConn to just 28 second-half points after the Huskies took a 43-34 lead into the halftime break, yet were unable to put up the needed points late in the game to claw their way back.

Texas gets to the line often but can't convert

Texas Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain reacts during the first half against the Virginia Cavaliers at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Texas entered the bonus with just under 12 minutes remaining in the second half due to forcing seven early fouls by the Huskies. Down by nine at the time, the Longhorns had put themselves in a position to rally a comeback using UConn's aggressiveness and, in turn, the foul line.

As the final buzzer sounded, however, the statsheet showed Texas' inability to fully take advantage of its free-throw-line opportunities. The Longhorns got to the stripe 28 times in the game, compared to 13 for the Huskies, but were only able to convert 19 for points, a 68 percent efficiency. In the second half specifically, the Longhorns went 14-for-20. Texas wing Dailyn Swain had some brutal misses down the stretch, going one-of-four from the foul line in the second half.

This isn't the first time this season that Swain's misses have bitten Texas. At the Maui Invitational against Arizona State, he missed two free throws with just 22 seconds left as the Longhorns were up 86-84, leaving the door open for the Sun Devils. ASU hit a game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds.

Still, before Friday, Swain had gotten to the line 36 times this season, second-most on the team behind center Matas Vokietaitis, and been converting at an 83.3 percent rate. He went a surprising three-for-eight from the line against UConn, giving Texas five of its nine total misses.

The most glaring ones came at the 4:10 mark, when Texas had cut the Huskies' lead to five, as previously mentioned. Swain, with an opportunity to bring the contest to a one-possession margin for the first time since the opening half, missed both attempts. UConn then capitalized on the misses with the back-to-back triples by Ball and Karaban.

From there, the deficit was too big, too late for the Longhorns.

Texas bounced back from an ugly first half defensively by locking down on UConn's top options to give itself a chance. The trio of Karaban, center Tarris Reed Jr. and shooting guard Braylon Mullins racked up 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting in the first 20 minutes, but were limited to just 11 points while shooting six-for-16 from then on.

The Longhorns forced nine turnovers and 13 personal fouls in the second half. Still, the offense failed to effectively complement the defensive effort. Texas managed just seven made field goals after halftime, at one point going seven straight minutes without scoring a point in the run of the game.

Though free-throw shooting helped the Longhorns remain in the contest, the inconsistency from the stripe down the stretch also ultimately contributed to an insufficient offensive productivity that prevented Texas from spurring the comeback and upset against No. 5 UConn.