The end of the matchup between Texas men’s basketball and No. 7 Florida on Wednesday was a brutal one to watch for the fans in burnt orange.

Longhorn fans watched their team go toe-to-toe for 32 minutes against the reigning national champions, just to then collapse in the final eight minutes of the game, losing 71-84.

Most of the fans were already walking toward the exit by the time Florida ran down the clock. They walked through what must’ve been hell — Gator fans throwing the Horns Down hand signs and doing their signature Gator Chomps.

One Texas fan yelled at a group in the away section, letting his frustration out as he walked toward one exit. A few minutes later, a woman flaunting Florida colors danced toward another exit, flashing the Horns Down hand signs to any Texas fan she saw.

While all of this happened, the Longhorns on the court gathered for the singing of “The Eyes of Texas.” Unlike the fans from both teams, they seemed to remain level-headed from afar. No one tried to leave early for the locker room, instead gathering unified as a team with all 15 players staying for the end-of-game tradition.

No one may know what was said or how everyone reacted in the locker room afterwards, but the level of calmness shown during “The Eyes of Texas” after a heartbreaking loss is exactly what is needed more than ever. 

“You can’t panic when you lose, and you just can’t celebrate as if the season ended if you win,” head coach Sean Miller said. “It’s paramount towards the end that we stay the course and we don’t overreact to the tough loss or a last-second win.”

With only three more conference games and the Southeastern Conference tournament left to play, the Longhorns are running out of time to make their claim as a March Madness-worthy team. Before the Florida matchup, Texas was projected to be a No. 10 seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Bracketology with the next update coming later Friday.

Despite adding to its loss column, Texas needs to remain calm and realize that, despite the loss, its performance was one worthy of a March Madness bid. Even Todd Golden, Florida head coach, gave credit to Miller’s team.

“They’re fantastic offensively. They do a good job of not making it too complicated in terms of getting their guys where they want it and they have a lot of really tough individual, offensive players,” Golden said. “Obviously, Sean’s a great coach. He’s won a lot of games in the NCAA Tournament. He understands what it takes to win. And they’re much better now than what they were early in the season, similar to us. They are not a team that I would want to see in March.”

If Texas is to find success in its final stretch against Texas A&M, No. 20/17 Arkansas and Oklahoma, the Longhorns will need to learn to play at their best — not for 32 minutes like the team did against Florida, but for the entire 40 minutes.

“(We’re) trying to win every game that we can,” sophomore forward Nic Codie said. “(It) doesn’t matter what position we are in. Just trying to find a way to come together and win every game. Play a full 40 minutes every game, and come out with a W after.”