Texas forward Dailyn Swain attempts a three-pointer during the game against Georgia on Jan. 24.
A team in pure desperation mode can be one of the hardest challengers to overcome. Texas men’s basketball learned that lesson against the worst team in the Southeastern Conference, the Oklahoma Sooners.
However, down by 14 points within the first half, Texas built upon its strong push to close out the half. The momentum translated into the second half to top the Sooners, 79-69, Saturday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
“We’re getting to that point in the season where we have a lot of games behind us and a lot of experience,” head coach Sean Miller said. “And I would say that today was one of our top moments as a team.”
The Sooners, the worst team in SEC play, opened up the game hot, quickly taking control of the game by limiting the Longhorns’ primary scoring threats.
Faced with the daunting task of marching back from a large deficit, an area Texas has struggled with this season, the Longhorns were able to dig out of the hole in the last 10 minutes of the first half.
Texas hit nine straight field goals, completely changing the outlook of the game as the team entered the locker room for halftime down by just three points.
“I thought our guys really came into today’s game focused,” Miller said. “I know we didn’t get off to a good start, but we put that behind us and ended up having a great performance, especially in the second half.”
After keeping pace with a rejuvenated Longhorns offense for the majority of the second half, the Sooners completely fell apart towards the end, failing to score a single point from field goals in the game’s final three minutes. It gave Texas all the ammunition it needed to take the game over late.
Junior forward Dailyn Swain was able to flip the script, reeling in a rebound and connecting with senior guard Jordan Pope mid court to get the offense set. Pope, with the ball in his hands, waited patiently along the perimeter and found graduate forward Lassina Traore open to set up Swain to finish off the possession.
Swain, with some speed behind him, drove into the paint full of Sooners and cashed in on the driving layup to make it a 67-63 game.
On their next possession, Pope hit a deep three-pointer to grow the lead to five points for the Longhorns, their largest of the game at that point, forcing Oklahoma to burn a timeout. Pope was able to make back-to-back threes after getting the ball back in his hands.
Texas closed out the game going 8-9 in the field, a complete inverse of how the afternoon started.
Swain continued his dominant play this season, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
“There’s no player in the SEC that means more to his team than what Dailyn Swain means to us, and he’s played at an incredible level,” Miller said.
Junior guard Simeon Wilcher and junior forward Camden Heide, both getting out to a slow start in conference play, played big roles, accounting for 23 points and making big-time plays in crunch time.
“Today was a sign, a good sign for our team, because a big reason we won was because of our bench,” Miller said. “Simeon Wilcher, who’s a very good player, and we believe in (Simeon), he came off the bench, had 10 points, two assists, not a single turnover (and) he made two threes, both big threes when the game was in doubt.”
Texas will face the South Carolina Gamecocks next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.