Rodney Terry reveals how Texas basketball battles through SEC play

Rodney Terry loves the adjustments Texas made in the SEC to grind out some recent wins but going through the conference is a battle every game.

Sitting at 15-7 on the season, the Longhorns have won four of their last six games after a three-game losing streak to ranked SEC foes. The recent wins include ranked wins over Missouri and Texas A&M.

But like Terry said, you can’t pick and choose who you want to play to pad your record. You have to earn it.

“You control what you can control out there,” Terry told Sirius XM. “That’s our guys every day. Live where your feet are, you know? We can’t control our schedule. We’ve got to … deal with every challenge right in front of us every day. But I do think that, you know, as you embark on conference play around the country, all we tell guys is … you got to grind it out in January. Everybody’s already got a body of work. And know who you are.

“Obviously for us coming into a new conference, a lot of times, you know your conference. You know it better than you know yourselves and everything. So everything’s going to be a grind. You got to really execute.”

Rodney Terry, Texas earning it in SEC

Texas isn’t even in the top 25 as of right now, but Terry and the Longhorns have to deal with nine ranked teams in their own conference.

Hence why Terry preaches full games and all out effort for 40 minutes.

“Hone in on the details and really, just, you know, try to try to work the game. Learn to work the game for 40 minutes,” Terry said. “And I think that’s the one thing I’ve seen over the course of conference players have gotten better with, and we’re still a working progress, but learning to work the game for 40 minutes basketball the game alone, you know, you stop runs with really good defense, and then you got to come down and execute on offense. 

“And you know, you got to have that burst throughout the course of the game. You got to be able to persevere through it and find a way to get the result you want at the end of the day. But you got to work the game for 40 minutes when you get off to a good start, bad start. And those are some things we’ve worked through, and we’ve had to work through it against really talented teams on the road, and at home. So again, this league is the best.”