Texas lets second-half lead slip despite Johnson's 26, falls 74-70 to No. 1 Tennessee
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Top-ranked Tennessee survived Tre Johnson's big night to top Texas 74-70 in Southeastern Conference men's basketball action Saturday at Moody Center.
The No. 1 Volunteers shot above their season average of 34% from 3-point range, draining 10 of 23 attempts for 43%. They also helped neutralize Johnson's 26-point night with a 41-27 rebounding advantage, scoring 17 second-chance points on 17 offensive rebounds.
"They had a little more physicality on the glass, especially during winning time," Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry said. "This is a physical league. Every team you play in the league is a good offensive rebounding team, so we've got to try to match that physicality. It's a grind in January during conference play."
Johnson shot 11-for-17 from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range. His percentage was hurt by a couple of forced 3-point attempts to get Texas back in the game, but he gave the Volunteers defense fits the entire night. The Longhorns shot 42% from the field, seven percentage points above what Tennessee has held its opponents to this season.
Texas held the lead for the better part of the second half, but after Jordan Pope hit a tough midrange jumper with 4:15 left in the game, Tennessee's Darlinstone Dubar drained a 3-pointer to give the Volunteers the lead for good with 3:57 remaining. Pope's bucket ended a stretch of 3:30 that Texas went without a field goal.
Johnson scored 10 consecutive points for the Longhorns in the middle of the second half, burying a pair of 3-pointers and then following it with a jump shot and a dunk to keep Texas afloat.
"He got great looks tonight and he's a guy that makes the right plays," Terry said. "He's just as good passing the ball as he is shooting it."
Felix Okpara grabbed a big offensive rebound for the Volunteers and stuffed a putback dunk, and then Jordan Gainey drilled a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 Tennessee run with 2:41 left.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
Texas played good defense for most of the game, creating 15 turnovers and turning them into 21 points, but the Volunteers were tough inside with 28 paint points to Texas' 14. The Tennessee reserves outscored the Longhorns bench players 28-9 led by 12 from Dubar and Gainey.
Zakai Zeigler led the Volunteers with 16 points and eight assists and Chaz Lanier chipped in nine points. Okpara had nine rebounds while Igor Milicic Jr. and Dubar each had six. Tennessee had 16 assists on 25 field goals.
For the Longhorns, Pope had 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting and Tramon Mark had 10.
The loss drops Texas to 0-3 in the SEC and 11-5 overall. The Longhorns take on No. 19 Oklahoma on Wednesday in Norman. Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) hosts Georgia on Wednesday.