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Texas

Rodney Terry highlights importance of learning to win close games in SEC

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•01/27/25•

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Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry stressed the importance of winning close games in the SEC and there was no greater example than Saturday.

Trailing by 22 at one point, the Longhorns stormed back to beat No. 13 Texas A&M 70-69 in front of a packed home crowd. The win improved Texas’ record to 14-6 on the season and 3-4 in the SEC.

Despite the subpar SEC record, Texas has won two in a row in the league and three of four overall. Terry knew Texas would have to win a few games like that.

“Well, this league, you know, you look all around the league every night, it’s possession games,” Terry said postgame. “You know, we have a group that hasn’t been assembled together very long. We have five new starters. It takes some time and in terms of learning how to win and what it takes to win at winning time. Winning time could be 11 minutes, 12 minutes, and not just the last four minutes of the game. It could be any of those junctions of the game. But what does it take to win at this level, in this conference, we’ve had to work through that.” 

After trailing 43-25 at halftime, Texas stormed back and outscored the Aggies 45-26 in the final 20 minutes. Sounds like that was “winning time” for Terry and crew.

There have been other games where Terry and the Longhorns haven’t been able to finish. Over their last two games, they indeed ended on top.

“You know, we’ve had opportunities to your point in terms of not being able to finish,” Terry said. “I think when you have continuity, which we had a little bit of last year, guys that were already in those positions, they knew how to close out those games. We’re still a work in progress with that and conference play today was a big step for us. 

“I thought Tuesday night was a big step for us. We were going against a really good team in Missouri at home. So, you know, we’ll continue to get better and continue to work through those games. You know, we talk about it all the time, you have to play the game. You got to play it to the bone in this league till the horn goes off.”