Junior Dailyn Swain attempts a layup during Texas’ game against Virginia on Wednesday.
With seven minutes still left on the clock, the Moody Center was already looking empty on Wednesday night — it was as if the janitorial crew could already start their post-game duties of cleaning the arena.
Fans were making their way up the stairs, not even bothering to stay for the second playing of the Eyes of Texas. When the clock turned to zero, Virginia had claimed its victory 88-69 over Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
In the post-game press conference, Miller focused on the poor defensive performance and highlighted how it may have affected his offense. The inability to force turnovers and having to start most plays from the inbound didn’t allow Texas to find its rhythm.
“When you’re getting destroyed defensively like we were … when that happens, you try to get it all back at once on offense,” Miller said. “We weren’t nearly as good on offense as we can be disciplined, patient movement, playing the team game on offense, because I thought that we were taking such a punch down the other end, we had no answer. And there was really never a point in the game where you felt like we had an answer.”
Texas sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis, one of the Longhorns’ most prolific point scorers in the early part of the season, struggled in his battle with Virginia’s big men. Vokietaitis recorded a season low, seven points, shooting 2-7 from the field and missing the majority of his free throws at the line.
Virginia freshman center Johann Grünloh had his way with Vokietaitis on offense, shooting 6-7 in the field and 2-3 from deep for 15 points.
“I thought (Virginia) also did a good job (defending) him,” Miller said. “They have two seven-footers, and they’re physical, and some of the shots around the basket maybe weren’t as uncontested as they appeared.”
Missing easy layups and failing to get the ball into the net, the Longhorns shot 40.7% from the field. It wasn’t any better from beyond the arc, only making four three-pointers on 21.1% shooting.
While there weren’t many positives to take from the offensive performance, the Longhorns still had two double-digit scorers. Junior forward Dailyn Swain scored 15 while senior guard Jordan Pope produced 10 of his own.
With four more games left in its non-conference schedule, including a trip to No. 5 UConn, Texas will need to refine its offensive systems before Southeastern Conference play starts.
“We got to play through adversity, some things we have to learn from,” Swain said. “Obviously, we’re not going to start every game on top, so I feel like we just have to learn from this game.”