Jeff Howe

They did.

Can they protect a five-point lead with 7.8 seconds left?

Getting the ball in and across half court shouldn’t be this hard.

Probably the best play Kadin Shedrick has made all season.

Tre has been so fun to watch.

Great pass by Tre.

That doesn’t erase Pope’s bad pass, but it’s a start.

Mark took a bad shot and had no intention of giving up the ball.

Only this team, right?

Unfortunate right there. Missed the foul call it goes down as a turnover charger to Johnson.

Jason Flores struck out two batters after hitting one with one out. Nothing for the Islanders in the top of the first. Texas is batting in the home half with no score.

Chendall Weaver is out, according to the conference injury report. Tramon Mark isn't on the report, which is good news.

GameDay Quick Facts • TELEVISION: The game will be televised nationally by SEC Network (7 p.m.) with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Mark Wise (analyst) on the call. • RADIO: The Longhorn Radio Network broadcasts every UT game on the statewide network. Craig Way (pxp) and Eddie Oran (analyst) will call the action. Check TexasSports.com for a listing of affiliates carrying the game. • SERIES: Texas leads, 5-3. Last meeting: Texas 69-55 (Nov. 21, 2012; Maui, Hawaii) Notables • IT'S BEEN A MINUTE: Tuesday's contest marks the ninth all-time matchup between Texas and Mississippi State and first since the 2012-13 season. This marks UT's first trip to Starkville since Dec. 11, 1976. • TRE IS TERRIFIC: G Tre Johnson (SEC-best 20.6 ppg), who claimed his FIFTH SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Monday, is looking to become just the sixth freshman in league history to lead the conference in scoring. Over his last five contests, Johnson is averaging 27.2 ppg while hitting 48.5-percent from the field, including a 43.2-percent mark from three-point range, and 92.3-percent from the free throw line. • KENT CONTINUES TO SURGE: Graduate F Jayson Kent recorded 14 points (4-7 FG, 2-3 threes) and five rebounds in 24 minutes during Saturday's contest against Georgia. Over his last six contests, Kent is averaging 9.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg while hitting 65.6-percent (21-32) from the floor in 20.5 mpg.

After winning a share of the SEC regular-season championship in its first season as a conference member, Texas dominated the league’s women’s basketball postseason awards for the 2024-25 season, which were announced Tuesday. Sophomore forward Madison Booker was named SEC Player of the Year while Vic Schaefer was named SEC Coach of the Year. Booker was a first-team All-SEC selection, senior guard Rori Harmon earned a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team and guard Jordan Lee rounded out the Longhorn honorees with her selection to the SEC All-Freshman Team. Named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press as a freshman, Booker’s SEC honor comes after being named the Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season. Booker paced her team’s scoring, averaging 16 points per game (tied for 13th in the SEC) on 46.4 percent shooting while grabbing 6.5 rebounds and dishing out 2.9 assists per game. Booker also recorded 1.6 steals per game. Along with Harmon, who averaged 2.3 steals per game, Booker helped Texas (29-2, 15-1 SEC) finish the regular season with the top-ranked scoring defense in the conference, allowing only 55.6 points per game. The Longhorns head into the SEC Tournament ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring margin with a positive point differential of 25.4 points per game. Schaefer’s club is fifth in the country in turnover margin (plus-8.42 per game), seventh in rebounding margin (plus-9.9 per game) and No. 11 in scoring offense (81.1 points per game). Texas is No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 for the second consecutive week and was the projected No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament according to the selection committee’s top-16 reveal last Thursday. Nevertheless, the Longhorns lost a Sunday afternoon coin flip with SEC co-champion South Carolina for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Schaefer ribbed SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who conducted the flip from SEC headquarters after Texas secured its piece of the league crown with a 72-46 rout of Florida in the regular-season finale on Sunday. “He said he'd been practicing for two hours, so what was he practicing? Was he practicing for South Carolina to be heads up or Texas to be heads up? I mean, why do you have to practice for two hours? What are you trying to get accomplished?” Schaefer said. South Carolina’s (27-3, 15-1) only loss in SEC play came on Feb. 9 when it dropped 66-62 to the Longhorns at Moody Center. Even though Schaefer credited coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks for proving itself to be one of the top teams in the country, he wasn’t overjoyed that the Longhorns have to take the court for their conference quarterfinal at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. on Friday (5 p.m., SEC Network) as the No. 2 seed. “I'm not [Georgia football coach] Kirby Smart, I'm not going to hang [Sankey] out, but I don't understand,” said Schaefer, who was named SEC Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career. “Why does it take two hours to practice flipping a coin unless you've got some motivation for that? “I'm just saying.” Regardless, Texas is prepared for the postseason after accruing only two losses while playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules. The Longhorns won nine games against opponents ranked inside the top 10 of the AP Top 25 and became the first program since the 2004-05 season to record three consecutive victories over top-10 opponents (the Gamecocks, No. 8 Kentucky on Feb. 13 and No. 5 LSU on Feb. 16). “These kids have earned an SEC championship, y'all,” Schaefer said. “I can't tell y'all how hard that is to do in basketball. It is extremely difficult and, by the way, we did it the hardest of anybody that could have possibly done it because of who we had to play, where we had to play them and, at this point, I don't think we really care who we're gonna see next week. “We're just gonna show up and play like we have all year.” View full news story

Brian Schottenheimer was at the Texas pro day last year. I was told he liked what he saw from Quinn.

I have a few other items I might add later.

This week, I’m Scattershooting while wondering how much better Longhorn legend Eric Metcalf’s chances of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame would be if he hadn’t played in the NFL three decades before his time. Texas hasn’t produced three first-round picks in a single NFL Draft since 1980, when Johnny “Lam” Jones (No. 2 overall to the New York Jets), Johnnie Johnson (No. 17 overall to the Los Angeles Rams) and Derrick Hatchett (No. 24 overall to the Baltimore Colts) had their names called. With the NFL Scouting Combine in the books, the conditions are ripe for the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft to feature three Longhorns after what Jahdae Barron and Matthew Golden ran in Indianapolis (4.39 and 4.29 in the 40-yard dash, respectively). If I’m putting money down on the first Texas player picked in another noteworthy draft for coach Steve Sarkisian’s program, I’m more convinced to bet on Kelvin Banks Jr. Banks measured over 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 315 pounds with verified 33.5-inch arms, a wingspan of over 84 inches and 10-plus-inch hands. Those vitals should silence the crowd eager to kick him inside to guard at the next level. The Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award winner has a tailor-made skillset for playing tackle in the NFL in 2025, namely his elite track record in pass protection. Few lingering concerns should exist regarding Banks’ body, which lends itself to playing a premium position, either on the right or left side, where he started 42 games in a decorated career on the Forty Acres. — LSU’s Will Campbell topped Banks’ height (just shy of 6 feet 7 inches) and weight (319 pounds). Still, the top contender vying with Banks to be the first tackle selected in the draft, it’s verified that Campbell has shorter arms, a shorter wingspan and smaller hands than the Longhorns’ 2024 unanimous All-American. Banks is positioned to be the first Texas offensive lineman to go in the first round since Mike Williams in 2002 (No. 4 overall to the Buffalo Bills). That’s also the last time the Longhorns produced the first offensive lineman selected in the draft (it happened in consecutive drafts; the Arizona Cardinals used the No. 2 overall pick on Leonard Davis in 2001). Banks, Campbell, Missouri tackle Armand Membou and Alabama guard Tyler Booker are among the notable candidates to be the first lineman picked. I can’t see Banks being available after the San Francisco 49ers go on the clock for the No. 11 pick; lifetime Longhorn Kyle Shanahan could draft an immediate starter at right tackle who can move to the left side whenever Trent Williams decides to wrap up his Hall of Fame career. — I don’t want Andrew Mukuba’s 4.45 40-yard dash, which tied for the fifth-fastest time among safeties at the combine, to get lost in the shuffle of a newsworthy weekend for the Longhorns who were in Indianapolis. Mukuba only ran the 40 at the combine, opting to perform his other tests during his pro day on March 26. The 5-foot-11-inch, 186-pound Austin LBJ product showed he’s an impact player when healthy; recording better-than-expected verified speed should boost his stock. I’ll be surprised if Mukuba is on the board beyond the fourth round. His one season in a Texas uniform proved that safety is his best position, but he also played cornerback and in the slot at Clemson. His striking ability, nose for the football, and speed make him a candidate to be a core special teamer. — Mukuba, Golden and Isaiah Bond (his 4.39 clocking in the 40 would be getting more buzz if he hadn’t called his shot while making a run at Xavier Worthy’s record; he did, however, record the highest mph among the wideouts at the combine) headlined the program’s transfer portal haul for 2024. Those three — along with defensive linemen Jermayne Lole, Bill Norton and Tia Savea, running back Velton Gardner, tight end Amari Niblack, cornerback Jay’Vion Cole, linebacker Kendrick Blackshire (transferred to UTSA after spring practice), wide receiver/return specialist Silas Bolden and EDGE Trey Moore — helped Texas tie the school record for single-season wins (13) and reach the College Football Playoff semifinals for the second consecutive season. Is it the best portal class of the Sarkisian era? It’s the clubhouse leader among the four due to the group’s unmatched combination of quality and quantity compared to Sarkisian's other portal classes. — With that said, everybody in the 2023 group (wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, defensive lineman Trill Carter, cornerback Gavin Holmes, safety Jalen Catalon and punter Ryan Sanborn) contributed to the Longhorns winning the Big 12 and advancing to the CFP for the first time. The haul was light on numbers, but it was chock-full of productive players and void of notable blemishes (other than Catalon’s play and playing time declining severely after a leg injury in a loss to Oklahoma). It was feast (quarterback Quinn Ewers, linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey and cornerback Ryan Watts) or famine (wide receivers Agiye Hall and Isaiah Neyor and tight end Jahleel Billingsley) for the 2022 crop Texas recruited out of the portal. Keilan Robinson emerged as the crown jewel of the 2021 portal class. It was one in which the Longhorns took fliers on largely unproven commodities from then-Power Five programs (Robinson at running back and outside linebackers Ovie Oghoufo and Ray Thornton), players with known injury issues (linebacker Ben Davis) and small-school products (cornerback Darrion Dunn and linebacker Devin Richardson) to fill out the roster ahead of Sarkisian’s first season (Dunn signed under the previous regime, making his way to Texas from FCS McNeese State). — I don’t know exactly what Neal Brown’s role will be on Sarkisian’s staff. What I hope the former West Virginia head coach brings to the Longhorns are fresh ideas to help a running game that needs to be more diverse and dynamic in 2025 than it was in 2024. Raw numbers can get skewed when the sample size is 16 games. Still, Texas averaged 4.3 yards per rushing attempt last season, which isn't good, no matter what lens it's viewed through. It's the first time the Longhorns failed to average at least five yards per carry under Sarkisian. It also marked he program’s lowest output since 2018 (3.8 yards per attempt). Brown was a wide receiver for Hal Mumme at Kentucky, making his offense a direct descendent of the Air Raid. What separates Brown’s version of the Air Raid from others is his desire to run the football utilizing heavier personnel, whether it’s using a fullback, an extra running back, a sniffer or an extra tight end. The Longhorns will start replacing four departed starters along the offensive line in earnest when spring practice gets underway. Not to mention Texas needing to account for the losses of Jaydon Blue, Juan Davis and Gunnar Helm. Quintrevion Wisner and D.J. Campbell are the only key members of last season’s rushing attack returning in their same roles. Brown’s addition to the staff is coming at the perfect time if Sarkisian wants to revamp the ground game. View full news story