The Moody Center was filled with burnt orange and bright red as Arkansas traveled to play against Texas. Early in the second half, the Hog Call drowned out all noise from Longhorn fans as the Razorbacks scored back-to-back.
“Woo, Pigs! Sooie!”
Just 20 minutes later, Texas’ head coach Rodney Terry walked off the court shaking his head. The Longhorns lost 70–78, despite an attempt to come back by cutting the Razorbacks’ lead from 23 to a three-possession game.
“We came out and kind of got punched in the mouth and didn’t respond,” said graduate forward Kadin Shedrick. “I think that’s just what it comes down to. We responded a little too late.”
Texas was nearly at a shooting low against Arkansas, converting only 34.4% of its attempts. Freshman guard Tre Johnson, graduate guard Julian Larry and junior guard Jordan Pope were the only players to hit a three, with attempts sitting at 6-22.
“I was scared to death walking in here,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said. “And they looked very disjointed in that first half.”
Arkansas’ defense kept Texas nearly immobile. The Longhorns scrambled a bit in the paint with Razorback screens keeping Longhorn drives unsuccessful. Most good shots came from mid-distance jumpers.
Apart from 11 turnovers, the Texas defense kept Arkansas from scoring more than Texas in the second half. Shedrick was a heavy presence defensively, getting eight rebounds and two blocks despite a texas-edge-colton-vasek-to-undergo-shoulder-surgery/” title=”Report: Texas edge Colton Vasek to undergo shoulder surgery”>back injury.
“(I) still give them a lot of credit for what (we) were able to do with (our) defense tonight, but shots are not following,” Terry said “We have to still be able to sit down and go and try to play physical as well.”
The problem, then, wasn’t the Longhorns’ defense. It wasn’t their movement in Razorback territory. Texas had 52 opportunities to put points up on the board and only made 15 of those shots.
“I don’t think it was anything about us being ready,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to be more locked in, especially playing against the good teams we get in our conference.”
Furthering the blow, sophomore forward Devon Pryor was just starting to solidify his presence in the starting rotations. After shooting 1-1, with a rebound and an assist, he exited the game during the first couple minutes of the second half for a right calf strain and did not return.
Time will tell if he will be able to return for the Longhorns’ next game.
“We’ve got to regroup and have a short turnaround,” Terry said. “It’s a really good Vanderbilt team on their home court.”
The Longhorns will play Vanderbilt, unranked in the AP poll, at 12 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 8, in Nashville.
