Texas Longhorns get key break before critical SEC stretch to end season

Ahead of a critical five-game stretch to end the 2024-25 regular season, Rodney Terry‘s Texas Longhorns are getting a good break. Literally.

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Texas is in the middle of a six-day span without a game following an 82-78 win over then-No. 15 Kentucky at the Moody Center on Saturday. This is the longest stretch without a game since Texas was off from December 20-28 at the end of non-conference play, and it arrives at a key time when the Longhorns are looking to get to full-strength for Southeastern Conference games that will determine their NCAA Tournament fate.

The Longhorns were essentially eight-deep versus the Wildcats on Saturday, with Arthur Kaluma and Chendall Weaver both out. Devon Pryor, who had also shown up on the injury report in recent weeks, played 13 minutes after not practicing in the days prior according to Terry. The six days without a game, part of an open date on the SEC calendar, provides Texas an opportunity to get to as close to fully healthy in their top 10 as the Horns have been in some time.

That’s why the word mend was so often used by Terry in his Tuesday availability.

“We’ve been thin the last week and a half or so, two weeks, just trying to get guys healthy,” Terry said.

The break allowed the Longhorns to take Sunday and Monday completely off and return to the practice court on Tuesday for a shortened workout. It allowed players like Kaluma, Pryor, Tramon Mark, and even Jayson Kent the opportunity to get ready for the pivotal five-game span that starts Saturday at South Carolina.

Terry admitted Weaver, who has been out since January 7 with a hip injury, is still not a full participant in practice but is doing individual drills. But having almost everyone else needed for the march to March Madness allows for more productive practices in Terry’s mind.

“I think you play your best basketball when you have everybody every day in practice and you’re able to have competitive practices that simulate game situations,” Terry said. “We’ve had a few opportunities this year where we’ve had very competitive practices. I thought they carried over into our games. I thought last year’s team got better as we continued to heal and mend guys, and they could practice the way they wanted to play.

“I think this team here, over the next couple of weeks, is going to get the chance to have competitive practices as we continue to get bodies back into practices so that way we’ll be able to really simulate the way we have to play in games with a lot of our main guys going against main guys.”

It’s more than just the physical aspect. Several players, namely Kent, Tre Johnson, and Julian Larry are in their first season playing high-major college basketball. Other players like Kaluma and Jordan Pope were on teams that failed to make the NCAA Tournament last year. For those stars and contributors to get to where they want to be, into the field of 68, a few days to get ready for what remains is a massive benefit.

“It’s big,” Kent said Tuesday. “Guys get to recover their bodies physically, mentally hit the reset button from the games so we can give it all we’ve got in this last stretch. This week is important. We also get to work on things we need to get better on. Figure out what little details we can fix now in practice so that when it’s in the game it’s fixed and we’re ready to go to finish out the season.”

Texas’ end of season schedule is much more manageable compared to other five-game stretches the Horns went through during SEC play, including when Texas started league play with seven ranked opponents in eight games.

The Longhorns play South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday. The Gamecocks lost Tuesday night to LSU and have yet to win an SEC game. That’s followed by another road trip next Wednesday to Arkansas, a team that defeated Texas handily in a way the 78-70 final score fails to indicate. Following the Razorbacks, the Longhorns are home versus the 16-10 Georgia Bulldogs, travel to Starkville, Miss. to play the No. 21 Mississippi State Bulldogs, then end the season against a 16-10 Oklahoma team that has spiraled to a 3-10 mark in conference play after a 13-0 start.

Texas is currently projected as a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament according to the bracket predictions compiled by BracketMatrix.com. They can solidify their spot in March Madness, and even move up a seed line, if they can utilize the rest afforded to them this week to post a quality run to the finish line.

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“We control what we can control, and that’s being prepared for the next big challenge in front of us,” Terry said.