Texas Longhorns Suffer Close Loss to No. 1 Tennessee, Fall to 0-3 in SEC

Texas Longhorns men's basketball came up just short of upsetting the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers.

Jan 11, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Tre Johnson (20) drives to the basket against Tennessee Volunteers guard Jahmai Mashack (15) during the first half at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

AUSTIN -- Texas Longhorns fans have now experienced heartbreak twice in the past 24 hours.

Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson scored a game-high 26 points but the Longhorns fell just short in Saturday's 74-70 loss to the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers at Moody Center despite controlling most of the second half. The loss comes after Texas football dropped a 28-14 heartbreaker to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Semifinal.

The Longhorns are now 0-3 in SEC play after facing three straight ranked opponents.

"It's just a process," Texas head coach Rodney Terry said. "It's a growth curve for us, and at some point, we'll have a breakthrough with it."

Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry meets Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes ahead of the game at the Moody Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. | Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Facing each other for the fourth straight season and first time as SEC foes, not much separated Texas and Tennessee on Saturday, potentially due to the familiarity that Terry and former Texas head coach Rick Barnes -- who was honored pregame -- have with one another.

"I bet I could almost go in the locker room and tell you what Rodney said, because he's been with me so many times," Barnes said.

The Longhorns won the turnover battle 15-5 but were out-rebounded 41-27. Texas guard Jordan Pope finished with 17 points while Tramon Mark added 10 points. After finishing with a career-high 34 points in the loss to Auburn, Arthur Kaluma had just four points and six rebounds.

Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler finished with 16 points and eight assists while making key plays down the stretch.

Both sides went back-and-forth in the opening minutes, with the Volunteers unable to create early separation and only building a lead as big as six.

The Longhorns used an 8-0 that featured triples from Pope and Tramon Mark to give Texas a 24-19 lead at the 6:15 mark before Lanier answered with a 3 of his own. This sparked an 8-0 run for Tennessee that gave the Vols a 30-26 edge in the closing minutes of the half.

Zeigler and Johnson traded 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half, as Tennessee headed into the locker room up 33-31.

The second half was the Tre Johnson show. He had an impressive sequence prior to the 10-minute mark that saw him score 10 straight points for Texas and block Zeigler at the rim. But despite holding a lead or being tied with Tennessee from the 16:57 mark to the 3:57 mark, the Longhorns were unable to close things out. A triple from Darlinstone Dubar gave the Vols a 61-60 lead right after the four-minute mark, a lead Tennessee didn't relinquish.

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