At one point, Texas was up seven points with just two minutes remaining. Star wing Dailyn Swain had a 34-point triple-double, and the Longhorns had all the momentum in this game. It looked like a great chance for Texas to start SEC conference play in the Sean Miller era, 1-0.
But as the final seconds of regulation dwindled down, and Jordan Pope’s jumper didn’t fall, the Longhorns found themselves headed to overtime down their star player after a 7-0 run.
After Texas took that lead, MS State got two straight offensive rebounds, a theme of the game, and Swain committed a foul on the second-chance effort from Achor Achor. It was his fifth, and he was fouled out for the rest of the game.
I would be remiss to write this article without mentioning the controversial officiating of this game. Both of Swain’s final two fouls were ticky-tacky, at best, and a lot of decisions by the referees, whether calls or no-calls, angered a surprisingly raucous crowd in Austin at the Moody Center.
A three from Josh Hubbard, who would end up scoring 38, and a second-chance jumper would tie the game up, and we were headed to OT.
In overtime, the Longhorns were clearly missing Swain, and only scored one bucket in half-court offense in the overtime period. Every other point came from free throws or an out-of-nowhere fast break steal by Tramon Mark to tie the game with just under a minute left.
But without Swain and eventually Pope, who also fouled out, the half-court offense just wasn’t the same. Texas relied on Mark and Matas Vokietatis, but missed free throws and costly turnovers cost them late in this game.
MS State continued to make its shots on the other side. Hubbard and fellow guard Jayden Epps combined for 65 of the team’s 101 points. No other player had over seven.
While Texas fans are going to look towards the refs for the collapse late in the second quarter, the Longhorns shot themselves in the foot.
Even if you want to chalk most of the Bulldogs success to fantastic shot-making from the leading duo, the Longhorns gave up 19 offensive rebounds in this game. MS State was +7 on a team that prided itself on its rebounding, and Vokietatis had just two defensive boards. That can’t happen from your 7’1 center matched up against a guard-heavy lineup.
“Sometimes it’s just toughness, sometimes it’s your coverage,” Swain said about struggles rebounding the ball. “They might get better positioning than you under the basket, but no matter what it is, we just have to be better as a team.”
The Longhorns were out-rebounded by eight total, and even with a better fg%, fewer turnovers and far more fastbreak points, they still couldn’t come out on top.
“One thing we’ve done really well this season is defensive rebound. And tonight, that left us,” Texas head coach Sean Miller said. “A big reason it left us is that we played Dailyn Swain more at the four and played him with three guards. We’re smaller. We lost our size. I didn’t think our bigs were as steady or did as good of a job as they usually do rebounding, and that’s a credit to Mississippi State. And although we might have had the advantage on offense. Those 19 second-chance shots really, really hurt us.”
The one bright spot today for Texas was Swain.
As mentioned above, he ended the night with 34 points and 14 rebounds, carrying the Longhorns with his double-double performance, his third of the season. If not for those controversial calls for his fourth and fifth fouls of the game, fouling him out with just under two minutes left in regulation, Swain could’ve pushed for 40.
“I’ve coached Dailyn Swain for three years, and clearly I thought tonight he played the best game that he’s played in college,” Miller said.
He was relentless offensively, attacking the glass on numerous occasions and finishing And-ones and fast-break chances at a high clip. He showed energy on defense, somehow only being credited with one steal, and was the motor Texas needed to get over the hump.
Unfortunately for Texas, Swain is playing at the level of a clear first-round draft pick, the second season in a row the Longhorns have a true star who may be too good to last two seasons.
The Longhorns fall to 0-1 in conference play, losing to a team they were favored by 9.5 points at home. Though the Bulldogs probably aren’t the second-worst team in the SEC, KenPom had them ranked outside of the top-80 heading into the game.
This wasn’t a must-win by a literal sense, but if Texas wants to make it to the NCAA Tournament, it, frankly, cannot lose home games to bottom-seven SEC teams.
The Longhorns have a tough road ahead, facing top-20 Tennessee and Alabama in the next seven days. Its next home matchup will be against Vanderbilt 11 days from now.