Texas Fans Clearly Believe in What Sean Miller is Building

The Texas Longhorns fell 84-71 to the No. 7-ranked Florida Gators in Moody Center on Wednesday night, behind a 20-7 run by the Gators in the final seven minutes.

Head coach Sean Miller's Longhorns stayed with the reigning national champions for much of the contest, but could not ultimately overcome the Gators' size and shooting, which translated to a more lopsided scoreline than potentially deserved.

But to start his postgame press conference on Wednesday, Miller acknowledged a positive coming out of the game for his program, surrounding the environment that Moody Center possessed in a critical Southeastern Conference showdown.

Sean Miller on Texas' crowd

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller on the sidelines during the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

"The first thing that I would like to say is that I really just appreciate, in a very heartfelt way, our crowd tonight," Miller said postgame. "Our crowd has grown more as they've believed in what we're doing or our team as the year has gone on."

Moody Center held an attendance of 11,313 people in the matchup against Florida, with the strength of the crowd noticeably better than some early-season contests. And as Miller suggested, there is no doubt that this increase in magnitude correlates with the Southeastern Conference performance of his team, which included a five-game win streak from Jan. 31 through Feb. 14.

Last season, the Longhorns ended SEC play with a 6-12 record, six of the losses coming at home. After the Florida loss, Texas still sits at a respectable 8-7 in its conference campaign, with just three of its losses coming at Moody.

The Longhorns have just one home game remaining in the regular season slate, which will come against Red River rivals Oklahoma on March 7. And if the Florida matchup is any indicator of the future, that environment could continue a positive trend for Miller and his program-building efforts in Austin, as Texas makes its NCAA Tournament push and beyond.

"We can't ask for a better home court atmosphere than the one we had tonight," Miller said. "It always starts with our students and just want to them from me, our coaching staff and, most importantly, our players and team. We feel it, and it's nice because when our home crowd doesn't get the opportunity, what we do is we go away.

"And when you're at Missouri and you feel that, when you're at Georgia and you feel that — you feel that desperation of March and where we're at — when you come home, we're like man, 'We can have it.' We not only had it, (but) we had a great atmosphere."

Before its home finale, Texas now enters a mini-road stretch with a rematch against Texas A&M and a battle with No. 20-ranked Arkansas. A win over the remaining stretch could mean that the Longhorns have earned an at-large spot into March Madness ahead of the SEC Tournament in Nashville. Losses, growing in costliness with every game, could mean that nothing is guaranteed for Miller's team in the postseason.