Texas basketball (15-9, 4-7 SEC) couldn't hang onto a four-point first-half lead during a tough stretch run for the offense in the game's final 20 minutes in Nashville against the Vanderbilt Commodores (17-6, 5-5 SEC). Texas and head coach Rodney Terry suffered a second straight loss, and third in the past four games in SEC play against Vanderbilt on the road on Saturday afternoon.
Second-half Vanderbilt runs offensively dooms Texas basketball to its second straight loss
The Longhorns held a two-possession lead after a huge 15-2 run built momentum for Texas going into the locker room at the half. But Vanderbilt came out in the second half ready to make adjustments and storm Texas on the offensive end of the floor.
Led by Jason Edwards and A.J. Hoggard (who combined for 29 second-half points), Vandy won the second half by a margin of 51-39 points. That big second-half run on the offensive end by the Commodores led to Vandy sealing the comfortable 86-78 win over the Longhorns on Feb. 8.
Long offensive droughts and struggles defending the paint led to the Longhorns dropping their second straight game in conference play to an unranked foe.
Here are three takeaways from Texas's eight-point loss to Vanderbilt on the road in Nashville on Feb. 8.
Vanderbilt's second-chance points dooms the Longhorns
In the first half of this game, it felt like sophomore power forward Jaylen Carey was going to be able to do anything he wanted in the paint against the Longhorns early on. Carey had 12 points and seven rebounds just in the game's first 10 minutes through the first half.
Vandy's dominance in the paint early on in the first half was a repeating theme throughout this game for the Longhorns' big men. Texas lost the points in the paint battle by a margin of double-digit points (38-28). And Vandy had the edge in second-chance points by a margin of over a dozen points.
Texas's inability to protect the rim resulted in Vandy getting plenty of high-percentage buckets in the paint and late free-throw attempts that helped put away the defeat for the Longhorns. Regarding putbacks alone, Vandy had double-digit points from offensive boards where Texas was getting outmatched physically down low in the paint.
Devon Pryor and Jayson Kent make a big impact off the bench
Two bright spots in a tough loss for the Longhorns this afternoon was the play off the bench from forwards Jayson Kent and Devon Pryor. Kent and Pryor gave the Longhorns a much-needed boost on the offensive end of the floor in the first half.
Pryor was a very pleasant surprise in this game for the Longhorns. He's been providing big stretches of valuable good production minutes off the bench in the past few weeks for Terry and the Longhorns in SEC play.
This afternoon, Pryor led Texas in bench scoring, with nine points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
Kent had one of his best games of the season in conference play today for the Longhorns. He was effective spacing the floor and providing support around the paint and the boards on both ends. Kent finished up with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds (four on the offensive glass).
Texas's NCAA Tournament chances are slipping down the stretch in SEC play
Coming into this game, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Texas was already one of the lower-seeded teams projected for the NCAA Tournament from the SEC, as a 10-seed in the Round of 64.
Losing this game to Vandy is a missed big opportunity for the Longhorns to pick up a Quad 1 win in SEC play to bolster the Selection Committee resume for the Big Dance. Texas has now lost two games consecutively against unranked teams, before the SEC schedule down the stretch run ramps up against two top-20 teams in the next week against No. 3 Alabama and No. 14 Kentucky.
It's difficult to say given this scenario, but the Longhorns might have to classify one of those two SEC matchups against Alabama and Kentucky as "must-win" games over the next week.