3 takeaways from Texas's loss to No. 25 UConn

Texas basketball and star freshman guard Tre Johnson couldn't rally back to overcome a sizable 18-point halftime deficit at home at the Moody Center on Sunday (Dec. 8) against the No. 25 UConn Huskies. UConn jumped out to a big double-digit less than 10 minutes into the game in the first half.

Tre Johnson and Texas basketball fall to No. 25 UConn at home

The Longhorns tried to fight back in the second half against UConn, cutting the Huskies' lead down to single digits a couple of times in the game's final 15 minutes. At one point in the second half, it looked like the Longhorns could close the UConn lead to a possession or two. Texas was on a 9-2 run around the middle of the second half.

UConn had four players scoring in double figures, including a team-high 21 points from junior forward Alex Karaban. It was huge for the Huskies to get Karaban back from a head injury for this game against Texas. He was a +10 in this game for the Huskies.

The 76-65 loss to the Huskies (7-3, 0-0 Big East) snaps the Longhorns' (7-2, 0-0 SEC) seven-game winning streak. Head coach Rodney Terry and the Longhorns have four more tune-up games before SEC play begins on Jan. 4 against Texas A&M.

Here are three takeaways from Texas's double-digit loss to No. 25 UConn at the Moody Center on Dec. 8.

Lack of rebounding and tertiary scoring

In the season's first eight games, the Longhorns were much better rebounding the basketball than they were ranking in the bottom five in the Big 12 in total rebounding percentage last year. Texas won the rebounding battle in all but two games to start this regular season in 2024-25.

For only the second time this season, the Longhorns lost the battle on the glass by double digits against the Huskies (39-25). UConn controlled the paint and was completely dominant on the boards against the Longhorns on both ends of the floor.

The absence of senior forward Jayson Kent, the team's leading rebounder among all bench players for the Longhorns, definitely hurt in this game against Karaban and UConn. Beside senior forward Arthur Kaluma, Texas didn't have a single player who reeled in over four rebounds in this game.

There's no way Texas was going to win this game getting outrebounded by a margin of 14 boards, and getting outscored in the paint by a margin of 20 points. Texas hadn't given up over three dozen points in the paint on the defensive end of the floor in a game until today.

Texas lacked scoring support from any of the experienced and proven players in the guard and wing rotations against UConn. Outside of 20 points from Kaluma and a game-high 24 from Johnson, the Longhorns' third-leading scorer was senior big man Kadin Shedrick, with six points.