Texas’ baptism by fire as members of the Southeastern Conference continues when the Longhorns square off against wounded but determined No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
It will be just the second time Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has brought a team to Austin to face the Longhorns, the first resulting in a 52-51 loss to Texas in January 2022 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Barnes coached Texas for 17 seasons before taking over the Volunteers.
The teams also played last year in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with Tennessee winning a 62-58 slugfest.
“I’m sure I’m going see a lot of people that are still there that I know, but that’s part of it,” Barnes said. “… We’ve got to go a day early because of the weather conditions. We’re kind of getting out of rhythm a little bit, but that’s what we have to do.”
The Volunteers head to Austin after a sobering 73-43 loss at No. 8 Florida on Tuesday. Tennessee (14-1, 1-1) was the last team in the nation to lose a game this season as it was attempting to start 15-0 for the first time in program history.
Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler paced the Volunteers with 10 points apiece as Tennessee never led, was limited to just 21.4 percent shooting from the floor and went only 4 of 29 from beyond the arc.
Barnes was asked Thursday if there was anything to be gained from the loss to the Gators.
“You know what, it’ll be good for us if we’re going to learn from it,” Barnes said. “And understand, I didn’t have a problem with the effort during the game. Didn’t have one after watching the tape with it. Anytime you’re not making shots, it never looks good.
“The fact is, even with four or five minutes going, the first half, it was a 10-point game. I felt like we lost our poise a little bit. Certainly went through a segment of that game where we didn’t play together at that point in time, where you have to.”
Meanwhile, the Longhorns (11-4, 0-2) continue an uber-difficult stretch to begin SEC play. Saturday’s game will mark the first time in school history that Texas will play consecutive games against opponents ranked in the top two in the AP poll.
“Coach Barnes has a really good team — they’re ranked No. 1 in the country for a reason,” said Texas coach Rodney Terry, who was an assistant under Barnes with the Longhorns. “His teams always play physical, they’re well-coached and compete. We’ll be excited about the opportunity.”
Texas has dropped its first two games in league play, falling on the road to then-No. 13 Texas A&M 80-60 on Jan. 4 before mounting a huge comeback but falling short at home in an 87-82 loss to No. 2 Auburn on Tuesday.
Arthur Kaluma scored a career-high 34 points for the Longhorns in Tuesday’s contest while Jordan Pope added 19 and fab freshman Tre Johnson had 11 points. The Longhorns trailed by 21 points early in the second half against Auburn but rallied to within three in the final minute.
“This team, a lot like our Elite Eight team (in 2023), has the potential to have a different lead scorer every night,” Terry said. “Those are the hardest teams to deal with when you have guys on any given night that can be the leading scorer and have that kind of balance.”
–Field Level Media
