No. 13 seed Texas runs out of gas against No. 4 seed Tennessee in 83-72 loss

Now the question is whether the Horns did enough to make the NCAA Tournament with two wins in the SEC Tournament.

A big first half by Chaz Lanier and a big second half by Zakai Zeigler propelled the No. 4 seed Tennessee Volunteers to an 83-72 victory over the No. 13 seed Texas Longhorns on Friday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, ending the three-game run by head coach Rodney Terry’s team.

After Tennessee star Chaz Lanier struggled with 10 points in a 3-of-11 shooting performance in the previous matchup between the two teams in Austin in January, the North Florida transfer got off to a scorching start, scoring 13 of the first 17 points for the Volunteers at the under-12 timeout on 6-of-8 shooting as the individual and team defense of the Longhorns failed to slow him down. Lanier finished the first half with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting before settling for four points in a much less active second half.

Zeigler played a facilitating role in the opening 20 minutes with three assists and one shot attempt that missed, but asserted himself after halftime, scoring 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting. While it wasn’t a perfect performance, as Zeigler also turned the ball over four times while dishing out three assists and missed five of his nine free-throw attempts, Tennessee was never threatened in the second half.

The Volunteers were never threatened through most of the game, in fact — the Longhorns never led and only tied the game twice in the early going, falling behind by as many as 15 points in the second half and never making a big run.

Beyond a plus-six advantaged for Tennessee in made free throws, there wasn’t a lot of separation in other significant statistical categories beyond the final score and the foul trouble that Texas players experienced.

But it was clear that the Horns didn’t get enough from some key players.

Senior wing Tramon Mark fouled out after playing 30 minutes, scoring eight points on 4-of-12 shooting while missing all four three-point attempts. Freshman guard Tre Johnson, the focus of the defensive gameplan for the nation’s No. 3 defensive in adjusted efficiency, only got off eight shots in 32 minutes, scoring 11 points and only taking four free throws.

The leading scorers for Texas were junior guard Jordan Pope and senior forward Kadin Shedrick with 14 points apiece with Shedrick making all five of his shot attempts, including two rim-rattling dunks over Tennessee big Igor Milisic.

Texas was within three points when a shooting foul on Lanier by senior guard Julian Larry sent the game into the second media timeout thanks to 5-of-11 shooting, but Mark, the team’s new primary ball handler for the SEC Tournament, aggravated his lower back injury in the early going. It was a concerning development for Terry and his staff because of the physical grind of playing 42 minutes against Texas A&M on Thursday and 29 minutes against Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

Lanier managed to beat the Horns during the timeout, too, having a two ruled a three during the break before making both free throws.

But Texas still managed to keep pace — for a while — with Johnson finding Mark on a cut for a layup and hitting a tough baseline two, Pope making a jumper of his own, and senior forward Jayson Kent working downhill on a pick and roll for a layup.

When other players started to contribute for Tennessee, however, the lead started to stretch with a dunk, free throws on a another jump-shooting foul by Texas, a three by Milicic, and a drive by Milicic that drew a foul on Johnson to send the game into the under-eight timeout with the Vols up 28-22.

As the Horns have throughout the SEC Tournament, they hung tough, continuing to get improved results from the pick and roll, especially the middle pick and roll that produced a drive by Mark with a finish at the rim, and Johnson’s tough shotmaking continued, too, side stepping into a corner three off the dribble to trail 37-33 at the final media timeout of the first half.

During that stretch, Texas hit four straight shots as Tennessee missed six straight attempts, a cold shooting streak for the Vols mitigated to some extent by the ability to secure offensive rebounds and create second chances.

When Mark hit a jumper in the lane to end the first half, the Longhorns trailed 41-38 because the Volunteers had an 11-3 edge in points off turnovers and a 13-5 margin in second-chance points thanks to eight offensive rebounds, twice as many as Texas.

Tennessee came out of halftime with intent to attack the paint, producing four layup attempts out of its first four shots and converting three. Defensively, the Volunteers were able to keep the Longhorns on the perimeter, forcing five jump shots, of which Texas made two, heading into the under-16 timeout trailing by five points.

After the break, Tennessee threatened to put the game out of reach for Texas when the Longhorns allowed three straight baskets at the rim, including a driving layup by Milicic against Kaluma, an assist by Lanier for a dunk, and a fast-break layup by Zeigler, extending the lead to a game-high 10 points and forcing a timeout by Terry with 13:47 remaining. Texas had compounded the problems by turning the ball over twice and missing a free throw.

The timeout didn’t immediately help the Horns when Johnson missed a long three and poor defense on Lanier against a screen resulted in a three-point play.

Shedrick threw down a big slam over Milicic and made a layup, but Texas was struggling to get stops or to finish effective defensive possessions, allowing a three and committing a foul on a Tennessee player going after an offensive rebound.

Playing a third game in three days, including 10 extra minutes against the Aggies on Thursday, the Longhorns needed to make a quick run to get back into the game or risk the Volunteers slowly squeezing the game to its conclusion.

By the under-four timeout, Texas was trying to push its way back into the game with Weaver forcing a backcourt violation, Shedrick posterizing another Tennessee player, and a forced turnover leading to Weaver earning a trip to the line down by 12 points.

But the Horns weren’t able to sustain anything and now the team’s postseason fate is in the hands of the NCAA selection committee and the vagaries of the basketball gods with how other conference tournaments finish.

What’s clear is that Texas is firmly on the bubble, more on the right side of it than they’ve been in quite some time, but with the understanding that all the missed opportunities during SEC play may officially define the season on Selection Sunday.