No. 19 Texas basketball trailed the Ohio State Buckeyes and head coach Jake Diebler for most of the game in the Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas Opening Night at T-Mobile Arena on Nov. 4. Ohio State built a decent early lead in the first half, which it held for nearly the entire game against a Texas squad that still looked to be piecing all the new parts of the puzzle together in the opener tonight.
Scoring struggles for most of the rotation contribute to Texas basketball coming up short vs. Ohio State in the opener
Head coach Rodney Terry's squad didn't lead for a single second of this game. Texas did keep it close for most of the contest, but Ohio State's diverse offensive scoring ultimately put the Longhorns away down the stretch in the second half.
This was a disappointing start for Terry and the Longhorns, who came into the regular season opener against Ohio State as 2.5-point favorites in Las Vegas. Despite Texas being favored in the pregame betting odds, Ohio State looked like the more cohesive and consistent team tonight, leading to the 80-72 defeat for the Longhorns.
Here are three takeaways from Texas's opening night loss on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas to Ohio State.
Three-ball doesn't fall for Texas
Outside of true freshman shooting guard Tre Johnson lighting up from three for much of this game, the Longhorns really struggled to hit their looks from beyond the arc against Ohio State. Outside of Johnson going 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, the Longhorns made just two three-point attempts on 18 attempts.
Texas was forcing up too many contested shots and wasn't getting its best three-point shooters good catch-and-shoot and pull-up jumper looks from deep.
There are too many good three-point shooters on this team for the Longhorns to consistently have these types of performances from deep. I think the Longhorns will bounce back with its shooting efficiency from beyond the arc, it will just take time for this squad to gel and start moving the ball around the perimeter more effectively.
It will also help when the Longhorns get senior shooting guard Tramon Mark back from the ankle injury that caused him to miss the regular season opener tonight.