Texas suffered a hard-fought 81-71 loss to Purdue in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday evening.
Chris Beard’s squad showed incredible fight and consistently responded when the odds were against them. The Longhorns scrappy defense even held Purdue’s Jaden Ivey scoreless through the first 16 minutes of the game.
Unfortunately for Texas, the Boilermakers lived on the free throw line all night. The discrepancy between the two teams at the free throw line was an astonishing 46-12.
The same issues that plagued Texas all season showed up on Sunday evening as well. The Longhorns had a lengthy scoring drought of nearly 10 minutes in the first half. That’s hard enough to battle back from in itself, but the Longhorns remained in the game until the final minute.
Although Texas fans may be disappointed by the second round exit, the Longhorns put together one of the most successful seasons in recent memory. They broke the NCAA tournament curse by defeating Virginia Tech in the first round, and won 22 games with a new squad of transfers.
Beard feels that the team is just getting started and he’s happy with everything his players were able to overcome throughout the season. Let’s take a look at everything the first-year head coach had to say after the loss to Purdue.