Tag: Rodney Terry

Texas Hoops cruise past Chicago State behind super freshman Tre Johnson

The Texas Longhorns dominated Chicago State with a 105-58 win Tuesday night at Moody Center, led by freshman Tre Johnson’s game-high 19 points. Head Coach Rodney Terry praised Johnson’s growth, calling him “a totally different guy” from the summer. Texas, now 2-1, jumped out to a 12-0 lead and kept control throughout, with strong contributions from Ze’Rik Onyema (18 points, 6 rebounds) and Arthur Kaluma (15 points, 8 rebounds). Texas shot 57.1% from the field and outrebounded Chicago State 46-30. The Texas soccer team was also recognized for their recent SEC Championship win. Texas will host Mississippi Valley State next on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

The Texas Longhorns registered another non-conference game in the books with stellar victory 105-58 over Chicago State on Tuesday night at Moody Center, with freshman guard Tre Johnson leading the charge. Johnson scored a game-high 19 points, pacing five Longhorns in double figures as Texas improved to 2-1 this season.

Head Coach Rodney Terry shared words following the game about the freshman’s performance. “You take Tre Johnson the summer, and you take him where he’s at right now, he’s a total different guy in terms of the coaching piece and taking coaching — he’s grown so much in his maturity in that regard.” Johnson was No. 5-ranked nationally in the class of 2024 by 247 Sports Composite, ESPN and Rivals.

The Longhorns opened the game with a 12-0 run and quickly established control, building their lead throughout the night. Senior Ze’Rik Onyema added 18 points and six rebounds, while Arthur Kaluma recorded 15 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Kadin Shedrick and Julian Larry also contributed with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Texas shot 57.1% from the field, including 50% from three-point range, while holding Chicago State to 29.7% shooting. The Longhorns dominated in the paint and on the boards, posting a 46-30 rebound advantage. By halftime, Texas led 50-18, and a 20-2 run in the second half sealed their second-largest margin of victory in Moody Center’s history.

The Texas soccer team was briefly recognized at the game for their SEC Championship win on Sunday.

Next, Texas will face Mississippi Valley State at home on Saturday, with tipoff set for 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

Texas Longhorns basketball lands commitment from elite FG John

Texas Basketball secures 4-star PF John Clark, adding elite talent and versatility to strengthen the 2025 class and impact their SEC future.

Highly-rated Bellaire (Houston, TX) power forward John Clark announced his commitment to the Texas Longhorns. The four-star prospect, standing at 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds, chose the Longhorns over offers from Houston, Texas A&M, and Kansas, according to a Nov. 1 report from On3.

Clark’s commitment gives Texas an elite talent with significant upside in the front court, providing athleticism, versatility, and a powerful inside presence. Ranked No. 35 in the nation for the 2025 class by the On3 Industry Ranking, Clark is also rated as the eighth-best power forward and the third-highest recruit from Texas.

Projections from On3 had Clark slight interest in Houston, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. He also had an offer from LSU that he was projected unlike to take. Ultimately the Longhorns were the right choice for him. He will join the Longhorns in their second season as Southeastern conference members, his decision was fueled by the atmosphere and feel of the program.

“The school felt like home more than any of the other schools recruiting me. The coaches, players, the alum and the campus are things that I want to be a part of.”

Clark had multiple visits to Texas, including an official trip in September. He told 247 Sports earlier that strong connections with the coaching staff and the proximity to home as key factors in his decision to join the Longhorns.

Clark’s long-term potential under Terry’s guidance with the Longhorns is exceptionally promising. His athletic profile, combined with his two-way versatility, positions him as a key contributor for Texas in the years to come. Clark’s size, skill, and defensive agility offer the Longhorns a dynamic front court presence capable of impacting the game on both ends.

Texas Longhorns basketball preview: Coach Terry prepares for Ohio State, early challenges

Texas Longhorns Basketball kicks off the 2024-25 season against Ohio State in Las Vegas. Coach Rodney Terry shares insights for season.

With the 2024-25 season set to tip off, the Texas Longhorns are ready to make a statement as they face off against Ohio State on opening night in Las Vegas. Head Coach Rodney Terry spoke to the media before the team’s departure for highly anticipated matchup, giving fans insight into the team’s preparation and competitive mindset.

On facing a Power 5 team on opening night:

“Can we change that? (laughs) You know what, you get challenged right off the bat. (Ohio State is a) well-coached team, Jake (Diebler) has done a great job with this program there. He’s got some great returners in (Bruce) Thornton, Thornton is one of the best guards in the country. I think you want to find out early where you are, we played two Big 12 teams to this point right now (in closed-door scrimmages). We jumped right in there in terms of playing well-coached teams, teams with older players, which we will play on Monday night again. I think what it does for you, really helps set the tone for us in November, it’s going to be about our identity. Who are we going to be in November? We’re going to be a team every night that comes in and tries to guard really hard, or we’re going to be a team that values taking care of the basketball. We’re going to get tested on all those things at an elite level at a neutral court. So I think it will be great for us. It’s great exposure, we’re playing in a prime time slot, so there will be a lot of eyeballs around the country on Texas basketball.”

On the scrimmages against TCU and Colorado:

“I think we had great effort, great energy. I thought we had great bench energy. We didn’t have any guys moping around about or pouting about playing time. I thought everyone was really connected and locked in together in both the scrimmages. I thought we did a better job in our second scrimmage taking care of the ball than we did in the first one, which is again to be expected, especially early in the year, just learning the value (of) taking care of the basketball, making simple plays, and then at the end of the day just getting used to playing with each other. Familiarity on the game situations. Familiarity with the game situations. You can only assimilate so much in practice. When you get out there between the lines in the game situation, guys have to have a feel for what guys are capable of doing, what they’re not capable of doing, what positions they’re good at…That all comes into play in game situations. But we did a better job of taking the ball (against Colorado). We had something like 21 turnovers in the first game, and in the last game, we had nine, three at half. So we did a much better job of just keeping the game simple.”

On closing the gap between veterans and newcomers:

“Young players, we always have those guys try to have an attitude and approach every day. And practice is a game. Every day is a game, right? The one thing with young players, is you’re fighting experience, but experience every day in practice is much different than the high school experience for them…Everybody’s been the best player on their team. A walk-on has been the best player on their high school teams. It teaches those guys really quick that they’ve got to play with a lot of effort and energy on every play. We have an energy and effort chart that we have up after every practice, after every game, and it shows guys energy and teaches them how to be effort players. You can’t say ‘You know what, run the floor really hard.’ No, we charted running the floor. You ran it about five times, really hard in practice today or in the game…Just teaching guys how to play hard and how to be a multiple-effort player. They gain experience in practice every day…They’re going to be learning every day for the rest of their lives that they make this an occupation, just like coaching. Veterans, coaches, are learning every day.”

2024-25 Texas Longhorns November Schedule

DATE OPPONENT TIME
Mon, Nov 4 vs Ohio State * 9:00 PM
Fri, Nov 8 vs Houston Christian 7:00 PM
Tue, Nov 12 vs Chicago State 7:00 PM
Sat, Nov 16 vs Mississippi Valley State 4:00 PM
Thu, Nov 21 vs Syracuse * 6:00 PM
Fri, Nov 29 vs Delaware State 8:00 PM

 

Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope commits to Texas Longhorns basketball

Sophomore guard Jordan Pope is transferring to Texas to play for the Longhorns in 2024-25.

On3Sports reported Wednesday that sophomore guard Jordan Pope, who averaged 17.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for Oregon State in 2023-24, is transferring to Texas to play for the Longhorns in 2024-25. Continue reading “Oregon State transfer Jordan Pope commits to Texas Longhorns basketball”

What a successful portal haul looks like for Texas hoops offseason

How head coach Rodney Terry approaches the transfer portal will indicate what he learned last offseason.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry is a good basketball coach. That much seems evident through two seasons in Austin. Whether or not he is good enough at roster building is up for debate.

Terry is 4-2 in the NCAA tournament at Texas. An Elite Eight finish and Big 12 tournament title headline Terry’s accomplishments on the Forty Acres. If given a talented roster, he can guide it to tournament wins. That his current team won a game in March Madness is impressive in its own right.

The team that Terry assembled for the 2023-24 campaign was lacking. It was incomplete because of a lackluster effort in the portal or an inability to close enough big time players. They were certainly available in the last transfer portal class. Texas just didn’t bring in the same volume of quality players it brought in over the prior two offseasons.

The last portal class didn’t yield a guard combo of Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice. It didn’t come close. There was no alpha forward or leader like Timmy Allen. A successful portal haul has to include a lot more of players like that for the Longhorns this offseason.

To his credit, Terry has an excellent recruiting class. Five-star shooting guard Tre Johnson headlines a class that includes two other big time players in Cam Scott and Nicolas Codie. Three freshmen likely aren’t going to transform the Texas basketball team on their own. They will probably need more help.

Texas has to do better in the transfer portal this offseason. It can’t afford to pass or fail to sign prospects like Arizona guard Caleb Love and Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht who we wrote about last offseason. Those players are still playing. The Longhorns are watching at home.

How Rodney Terry approaches this transfer portal will indicate whether or not his roster building philosophy has changed. It might need to change if Texas wants to get back to playing after the first weekend.

What Texas’ tournament draw means for its postseason chances

The Longhorns couldn’t have asked for a better first weekend than their 2024 tournament draw.

The Texas Longhorns (20-12) have been a frustrating team to watch on the basketball court this season. From inconsistent offense to lackluster defense, the team has looked disjointed for much of the year.

Despite the above concerns, this season’s tournament draw gives Texas a chance to reach the Sweet 16.

Winning in the NCAA tournament isn’t easy as Texas knows well. The program is 39-40 all-time in the NCAA tournament. That resume includes plenty of first round exits. The Longhorns suffered losses to the likes of No. 11 seed Northern Iowa, No. 14 Abilene Christian and No. 11 Nevada when Shaka Smart led the team.

Chris Beard and Rodney Terry had better success as head coaches in Austin. Beard earned the team’s first NCAA tournament victory since 2014 in his first season. Terry took Texas to its first Elite Eight since 2009.

The dysfunction for the current squad is more reminiscent of the Smart era than the last two tournament runs. Albeit, the Longhorns’ potential opponents provide matchups that could give Texas a chance to win a couple of games.

Texas is set to play the winner of the No. 10 seed play-in game between the Virginia Cavaliers and Colorado State Rams. Some question whether or not the Cavaliers should be in the tournament given their lackluster resume. The two teams weren’t worthy of a tournament bye. They were among the last teams in the field. That favors Texas.

Stylistically, some suggest Virginia’s suffocating defense is a bad matchup for Texas. If the Longhorns run through guard Max Abmas they could certainly see the matchup go in Virginia’s favor. Abmas isn’t very tall or fast and seems to have limited vertical jump. While an effective scorer, his lack of ability to create space for himself has created issues not only in consistent scoring but in protecting the basketball.

Despite the issues Virginia’s defense present, the Cavaliers’ offensive limitations were enough to keep them on the bubble. Should Texas get high scoring forward Dylan Disu and efficient forward Dillon Mitchell shot opportunities in the first game, they could advance to face the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers.

Tennessee, like Texas, did not have the most impressive entrance to the tournament. The Volunteers lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in their first SEC tournament game, 73-56.

While Mississippi State is a good team, Tennessee’s launch to March Madness is similar to how it has fared in the NCAA tournament. Barnes’ squads have struggled in the postseason since he took over at Tennessee. The Vols should be favored in the potential matchup, but the Longhorns would have an opportunity to win.

There is plenty of reason to doubt Texas entering the weekend. The inconsistent product is among the top concerns. Even so, if the team was going to make another Sweet 16 appearance you would expect their tournament draw to look like it looks this year.

Texas HC Rodney Terry: ‘We’re one of the best teams in the country’

Rodney Terry thinks Texas is one of the best teams in college basketball.

The Texas basketball program has won five of its last 12 games. It currently sits at 19-11. Still, its head coach Rodney Terry believes the Longhorns are one of the top teams in college basketball.

Terry said the following of his team on Monday.

“We’ve played one of the hardest schedules in the country. Have we had a stumble here or there, just like every other team in this league has? Yeah, we’ve had that. But we’re one of the best teams in the country. We can play with anybody.”

It’s unclear how widely Terry is expanding the list of college basketball’s best teams, but he paints a different picture than the team’s record would indicate. While the Longhorns have played a difficult schedule, they haven’t performed to the level of a college basketball contender.

The Longhorns lost their two marquee nonconference games in the early going. They lost by 10 points to reigning national champion UConn before losing by 21 points against former Texas coach Shaka Smart and Marquette.

The conference slate has only been marginally better. The Longhorns are 3-6 in ranked games in conference play. That’s to say nothing of ugly losses to unranked West Virginia (9-20) and UCF (15-13).

Texas is good enough to make the NCAA tournament, but hasn’t earned much more acclaim than that. While there is still time to improve heading into college basketball’s postseason, there is work left to do for the Longhorns.

Texas will play Oklahoma for a higher tournament seed in Saturday’s regular season finale at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Texas secures third Big 12 road victory in win over TCU, 77-66

Road warrior Longhorns take home third road victory of Big 12 play.

The Texas basketball team found its footing on Saturday after a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Houston Cougars. The Longhorns earned a 77-66 win over the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.

Entering the game, the Horned Frogs were 16-5 and on the positive end of the Big 12 standings at 5-3. The team held a 10-1 record at home on the year leading up to the game. Texas just wanted, and needed, this game more.

The Longhorns improve to 15-7 and 4-5 in conference play after a forgettable start to their Big 12 slate. The game saw Texas rally from an early 10-point deficit and go on a 37-16 run to close the first half. It was that level of resilience the team needed after digging an early hole in Big 12 play.

Texas shot a scorching 50.9% from the field as well as 50% from three-point range. Surprisingly, TCU shot even better from outside the three point arc with a 58.3% rate. The combination of strong shooting and interior presence was the difference.

The Longhorns out-rebounded TCU, 34-21. It was a welcomed change after watching Texas get bullied at the backboard in past games.

Texas guard Max Abmas and forward Dylan Disu had special performances for the game. Abmas led the team in scoring with 21 points followed by Disu with 15 and forward Dillon Mitchell with 13 points on 66% shooting.

The team’s 13-for-15 free throw rate adds to perhaps the Longhorns’ most complete performance of the year. They will look to stay in the win column in a tough matchup against Iowa State on Tuesday.

What to make of Texas basketball’s sudden resurgence

After two top 11-victories, is Texas basketball capable of moving off the NCAA Tournament bubble?

The Texas Longhorns (14-5) are a different basketball team than they were a week prior. After two impressive wins in four days, it might be time to reconsider where they could be playing this postseason.

Through 17 games, Texas looked like it would be playing in the NIT. The lowlights from what was then a 12-5 team included an embarrassing loss to West Virginia followed by head coach Rodney Terry’s battle against opposing teams turning the Longhorns’ hand sign upside down.

We are past those low points now. Texas followed a buzzer-beating win over No. 9 Baylor on Saturday with a dominant 15-point road win over the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners. All of the sudden, a team that seemingly had no impressive victories on the season now has an NCAA Tournament resume.

There’s plenty of basketball left to play with several conference matchups remaining. Texas will have plenty to prove in regard to how it can perform night in and night out. Even so, what we saw from the team over the last two games indicates if we get more of the high upside Longhorns, the team can move off the NCAA Tournament bubble and toward a No. 8 seed or higher.

Social media reacts to Rodney Terry being upset about horns down

Rodney Terry didn’t take kindly to the Golden Knight’s post-game handshakes.

Texas basketball lost an embarrassing game on Wednesday to UCF, 77-71. Continue reading “Social media reacts to Rodney Terry being upset about horns down”