OTF Premium Three takeaways from Texas scrapping out a gritty 82-78 win over No. 15 Kentucky

AUSTIN, Texas — Riding a three-game losing streak and their NCAA Tournament hopes fading fast, the Texas men’s basketball team needed Saturday’s 82-78 win over No. 15 Kentucky in the worst possible way.

Coach Rodney Terry watched his club battle back from a five-point deficit with 3:51 remaining to end the skid. Texas (16-10, 5-8 SEC) also got one step closer to the likely magic number of eight conference wins needed to feel good about its March Madness chances on a night when freshman phenom Tre Johnson set career highs with 32 points and nine rebounds, while Tramon Mark poured in a season-high 26 points (9-for-14 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range).

“I thought our guys really guarded really hard tonight, played probably as hard as we've played all year long, defensively, and found a way to grind this one out,” Terry said. “This is a grind-out game, and I give these guys a lot of credit for working the game really hard and working it for 40 minutes.”

I’ve got three key takeaways from watching the Longhorns finish off the Wildcats down the stretch en route to a much-needed win in front of 11,060 fans at Moody Center.

— Johnson’s big night came despite going 1-for-8 from beyond the arc. What helped his cause and lifted Texas to the victory was the combination of Johnson and Mark going a combined 12-for-14 from the foul line in the second half.

Kentucky (17-8, 6-6) overcame a 1-for-11 shooting slump to take a 65-60 lead with 5:35 to play when Terry called a 30-second timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Mark was fouled by Koby Brea on a 3-pointer. While he couldn’t convert the four-point play, it halted the Wildcats’ momentum and was the counterpunch the Longhorns needed to get back in the game.

The team's sense of urgency down the stretch was palpable. Once Texas got into the double bonus, the intent was clear: either get Johnson or Mark to the basket or get the ball into the paint to force the issue and get to the foul line.

When the dust settled, the Longhorns were 17-for-21 from the stripe in the second half. It was a stark contrast from a 2-for-2 showing in the first half.

— No two Longhorns exemplified the gritty nature of the win than Kadin Shedrick (five points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals) and Jayson Kent (six points and eight rebounds).

Amari Williams, the Wildcats’ 7-foot center, was a problem for Texas, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Still, Shedrick and Kent stayed in the fight, with Shedrick getting a tip-in and a clean block of Williams on the other end to extend the lead to four points, 74-70, and preserve inside of the game's final 90 seconds.

“The first 35 minutes of the game, I was kind of struggling to get things going. I wasn't playing up to my expectations. I was getting frustrated with myself,” said Shedrick, who threw down a two-handed slam with 4.5 seconds left on the clock for the exclamation point on the win. “I give credit to my teammates and my coaches for keeping me locked in and helping me remember that I'm going to make a play down the stretch to help us win the game.”

The play down low wasn’t a masterpiece, but the Longhorns won the rebounding battle (41-40) and had a plus-4 edge in points in the paint (38-34). On a night when, as Terry said, "[Texas] just had to find a way,” the Longhorns did.

— The 1-for-11 slump contributed largely to Kentucky’s 37.9-percent shooting performance in the second half (11-for-29 from the field). The Wildcats committed 10 of 15 turnovers after halftime, with the Longhorns stringing together enough stops to overcome their dismal 1-for-9 stretch from the field in the second half.

Kentucky coach Mark Pope pointed to his club's lack of execution late in the game as the difference between the Wildcats and Texas on Saturday. Part of that was the job the Longhorns did, using their aggressiveness on defense as fuel to get things going on the other end of the court and close out a quality opponent in a must-win situation.

“If it's the last few minutes and the game [is] close, we're thinking we’re going to win regardless, even if we're down by a lot,” Johnson said. “When all five guys are locked in on defense, I have no problem, no doubt in my mind that we can make any comeback.”