Rodney Terry shares key to Texas' collapse vs. Miami

Texas felt good about their chances of making their fourth Final Four during the second half of their matchup in the Elite Eight against Miami. However, those hopes came crashing down as the Longhorns blew a double-digit lead to the Hurricanes that allowed them to earn the final spot in Houston instead.

Following the loss, Rodney Terry shared his thoughts on how he saw his team’s collapse come about. To him, Miami breaching the paint on offense did a number on Texas’ defense. It led to easy looks at the rim, collapses that turned into passes for good looks, and several fouls inside.

“Miami really started trying to get downhill,” Terry said. “They started putting their heads down, going one-on-one a little bit, tried to spread us out. And really did a good job of getting into the paint and getting to the foul line. They made 28 free throws and we gave them 32 foul shots. They did a good job of really attacking the paint.”

Texas went into halftime up eight points on Miami. They only further extended that lead to a game-high of 13 with less than 15 to go in the second half. Once they got to the 10-minute mark, though, that’s when the breakdown began.

The Hurricanes scored 35 of their 51 second-half points from that point on. Senior guard Jordan Miller ended up leading the way in that effort. He finished with 27 points while making all 13 of his shot attempts and all seven of his free throws.

While the Longhorns weren’t scoring themselves as they managed just 16 the rest of the way, their opponent’s offense is what completely overwhelmed them down the stretch.

All in all, Miami shot 54.2% from the field in the second half. They also took 27 trips to the charity stripe over the final 20 minutes and made 25 of them. It was the kind of offensive firepower that can help a team come back from a deficit like the one they were facing. In the end, Texas just simply couldn’t match it towards the end of the game.

After posting a high-quality defense all season, Terry and the Longhorns let go of the rope defensively at the worst possible time. While 81 is often good enough to get the job done offensively, it wasn’t this weekend for Texas. That’s why, in Terry’s eyes, what the Hurricanes did offensively in the paint was such a killer.