Texas loses a can't-lose game at South Carolina

With five contests left to go in the season, the Longhorns started a winnable stretch of games with a road trip to Columbia, S.C. There, they were set to face the 10-16 South Carolina Gamecocks, who had yet to win a Southeastern Conference game in 13 opportunities.

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To be sure, the Gamecocks had not been blown out in every game as part of their travels in the toughest conference in college basketball. They had lost to a number of highly ranked teams by single digits, and played competitive basketball against teams at the top of the league.

But 0-13 is 0-13. Or now, it’s 1-13.

The Longhorns were dominated in every facet during their 84-69 Saturday night defeat, dropping to 16-11 overall and 5-9 in SEC play, and placing an anchor of a loss on an NCAA Tournament resume that’s considerably weaker with the embarrassment suffered Saturday night.

The Longhorn post presence, whether Kadin Shedrick, Ze’Rik Onyema, or any other player in burnt orange, could not stand up to what Collin Murray-Boyles did for the Gamecocks. The USC big man scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes and finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.

Texas was incapable of regularly putting the ball through the hoop. Texas was a paltry 8-for-27 in the first half, with Tre Johnson accounting for half of those makes on 4-for-11 shooting. His eight teammates that saw the floor combined to go 4-for-16. Three of those makes were by Jayson Kent.

The second half was better, with the Longhorns shooting 15-for-30 from the field and 4-for-10 from three. But they couldn’t stop South Carolina, who was also hitting field goals at a 50 percent clip and shots from distance at a 40 percent rate. Texas finished 23-for-57 from the field, 5-for-16 from deep, and 18-for-27 from the line. Johnson led all Longhorns with 29 points. No other Longhorn cracked double digits.

Murray-Boyles was a force Texas could not manage with his 22 and 10 on 9-for-16 shooting. Zachary Davis added 12 points for South Carolina, and Jamarii Thomas scored 15. Morris Ugusuk scored 10 points with a 3-for-3 night from distance.

Texas committed 12 turnovers to South Carolina’s eight, and were crushed in free throw margin. The Gamecocks were 34-for-45 at the line. Texas was 18-for-27.

The loss goes down as a Quadrant 2 defeat for the Longhorns, which is not the same type of black mark a loss to a Quadrant 4 team would have been. But being the first victory for a South Carolina team in SEC play is a hard result to swallow for Texas, especially when on the heels of a weeklong break and as close to full-strength as the team has been in weeks.

It also drops Texas to 16-11 overall and 5-9 in SEC play, eliminating the possibility of a season above .500 in conference play during their first year as members of the league. The Longhorns were not in a strong position resume wise, recently listed as a projected 10 or 11 seed and often described as one of the last four byes for the field of 68. A loss like this likely drops them to the precipice of being sent to Dayton for the First Four if not out of the field altogether.

What makes matters worse is that the loss fails to inspire confidence that Texas can win three of its final four games. A loss to the bottom-dwelling team in the SEC puts anything on the table, including dropping games at Arkansas, versus Georgia, at Mississippi State, and versus Oklahoma.

Especially when the game ends in a 15-point margin that doesn’t indicate how soundly the Longhorns were defeated.

Texas returns to action on Wednesday at the Razorbacks. A loss would drop them to 5-10 in SEC play and make any more losses nearly fatal to any NCAA Tournament chances.

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But tonight’s loss in Columbia may have been a canary in the coal mine for Texas’ odds of making March Madness.