3 takeaways from Texas's OT loss vs. Arkansas

Behind an offensive outburst from freshman guard Tre Johnson in the second half, Texas basketball (16-12, 5-10 SEC) stormed back to take the lead for the first time since right after tip-off in the first half with a little over one minute left in regulation. The Arkansas Razorbacks (17-11, 6-9 SEC) led this game for over 30 minutes of regulation against Texas.

Tre Johnson has a historic night in Texas basketball's overtime loss to Arkansas on the road

But Johnson's game-high 17 second-half points helped the Longhorns come all the way back from down 14 points on the scoreboard at one point in the second half against Arkansas.

Despite Johnson's herculean effort to keep the Longhorns in this game, Texas wasn't able to overcome Arkansas in overtime in Fayetteville on Wednesday night. Arkansas hit some clutch free throws and took advantage of a couple of Texas misses and turnovers to pull out the 86-81 overtime win for the Hogs.

This was essentially a "must-win" game for head coach Rodney Terry and the Longhorns to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive down the stretch this regular season in SEC conference play.

After the five-point overtime loss to Arkansas, Texas has now dropped five of its last six contests in SEC play. The Longhorns would either have to make a big run in the SEC Tournament or win each of its three remaining regular season games to ensure a spot in the NCAA Tournament this postseason.

Here are three takeaways from Texas's 86-81 overtime loss to Arkansas in Fayetteville on Feb. 26.

Tre Johnson lights up Arkansas in the second half

This was a huge game for Johnson on the offensive end of the floor. He scored in double digits in both halves of basketball, helping keep the Longhorns' chances alive against Arkansas coming out of the locker room for the second half.

Johnson is now one game away from tying the all-time SEC freshman record for 30-point games in a season. He joined the likes of Anthony Edwards, Collin Sexton, and Jamal Murray tonight back, scoring his third 30-point game of this season against Arkansas.

This was truly a historic showing for Johnson, given that he scored a program-freshman record 39 points. That is the highest point total in a single game by a Longhorns freshman since Kevin Durant in the 2007 Big 12 Tournament against the Kansas Jayhawks (per Stathead).

He finished up this game with a career-high 39 points on 14-of-28 shooting from the field, 7-of-11 from beyond the arc, and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Texas still lacking secondary scoring options

For the second game in a row, Johnson outscored Texas's second leading scorer by a margin of more than double vs. Arkansas. In the bad loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks this past Saturday, Johnson was the only Longhorns player who scored in double figures.

Thanks to the big second-half run and overtime, senior forward Arthur Kaluma and senior big man Kadin Shedrick were able to reach double figures scoring, joining Johnson for the Longhorns.

In overtime, the whole dozen of the Longhorns' points in the game's final five minutes were scored by Johnson. Texas needed more from the secondary scorers on this team, especially from upperclassmen guards Jordan Pope and Tramon Mark.

Pope and Mark combined for seven points on 3-of-15 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Tournament chances nearly gone

Coming into tonight's game against Arkansas, ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Longhorns as one of the last four teams getting a bye in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field. Both Texas and Arkansas were on the bubble coming into this high-stakes late-regular season game in the SEC.

That said, with the Longhorns dropping another game in SEC play late this regular season, it's hard to see Texas's tournament chances being very optimistic with a couple of weeks remaining before March Madness in the postseason.

Texas likely needs to beat the No. 24 Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville next week, along with convincing wins over the Oklahoma Sooners and/or Georgia Bulldogs at the Moody Center during the next two upcoming Saturdays of college hoops.

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