Following its first win in the Southeastern Conference, Texas men’s basketball failed to keep the streak up, falling to No. 5 Florida in Gainesville.
Florida held the lead from the start, and never let its foot off the gas in the first meeting between the two since 1998.
In the 84-60 loss, Texas had 14 turnovers and a 36% rate of successful shots. Texas had an early run, but Florida quickly took control and was no less than five points ahead through the rest of the game.
Texas’ 10-6 run took place in the first five minutes of the first half, with Florida trailing until the Gators unleashed a quick 15-0 response run to take control of the game. Texas continued fighting for the ball and took four of the last six points of the half to start the second part of the game at 37-30.
Most of the second half was characterized by lackluster shooting, back-and-forth turnovers and a lot of time at the texas-tech-84/” title=”Post-Game Thoughts: Iowa State 85, Texas Tech 84″>free throw line.
With nine minutes left in the game, a jump shot for freshman guard Tre Johnson brought Texas within ten points at 59-52. Graduate guard Tramon Mark stole the ball from Florida’s following possession and gave the Longhorns a chance to turn the game around. Texas, however, failed to convert the opportunity into a lead before the end of the game.
Despite the 24-point loss, senior forwards Arthur Kaluma and Ze’Rik Onyema both had double-doubles. Kaluma scored 10 points and recorded 10 rebounds, while Onyema had 12 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Johnson shot for the most points, tallying 16 within 35 minutes.
The game against Florida was the third time in four games in which Texas played against an AP Top Five opponent, with No. 2 Auburn and No. 1 Tennessee preceding the week before. With Texas sitting at 1–4 for conference play now, every loss has been against a team ranked within the poll’s top teams.
Texas basketball will return to Austin when the Longhorns host Missouri on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m., giving Texas a break from playing ranked opponents before facing No. 13 Texas A&M just four days later at home.
