Rodney Terry, Tre Johnson detail what Texas must do to get first SEC win

The two new members in the league are among the five that are currently winless so far in the SEC. That includes Texas at 0-3 since the turn of the calendar.

Following their 74-70 loss to No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday, Rodney Terry explained what the Longhorns must do to get one in the win column in conference play. He said it’d be about how they approach and handle themselves each day with life in the Southeastern Conference.

“You know, I think, you know, in conference play, it’s a grind in January, you know. We embrace that grind in terms of understanding, you know, you’ve got to have this game with you for one night whether you win or lose,” Terry said postgame. “You work really hard on controlling the things that you can control and that’s showing up everyday with a great attitude and a great approach about how you go about your business every day. That won’t change for us.”

After an 11-2 start through their non-conference, Texas has dropped each of their first three in the SEC. All of those came against Top-15 opponents, though, with a 20-point loss at No. 13 Texas A&M followed by home losses this week to No. 2 Auburn and then No. 1 Tennessee. The games against the Tigers and Vols were closer too by final margins of five and four respectively.

That’s what’s even more frustrating for Terry as he thinks the Longhorns have improved over those three outings but remain winless in the league.

“You know, unfortunately for us, I think we’ve gotten better but we’ve gotten better in losses. You know, that sometimes happens in seasons, you know,” noted Terry. “At some point, obviously, you have to have a breakthrough but you have to make the breakthrough happen. But, you know, we’ve had some growth.”

With that, Tre Johnson says they to keep having the same response in how they answered this past week to their loss to the Aggies if they want better results like they had this week before eventually getting that first victory.

“The first game was probably our worst loss and we’ve just been stacking it, stacking days, and stacking practices, and stacking games overall. So I just feel like us learning how to close out those last four minutes and learning how to win and cherish each possession would be great for us,” Johnson said.

It’s not getting any easier in the SEC as Texas will play two more ranked opponents this upcoming week with four in their next five as well as over half of their remaining league schedule currently being rated. So, all the Longhorns can do is keep with it and try to finish conference play better than they’ve started it.

“We’ll stay the course, you know. We’ve been doing this a long time. You know, again, it’s not how you start. It’s how you finish and how you continue to get better,” said Terry. “We’ve just got to continue to put it together for 40 minutes and just keep working the game and just keep working this season.”