Jeff Howe

Texas 10, Florida 6 15:16 to go, 1H

Texas is 2-for-2 from 3-point range, 4-for-8 from the field in the first four minutes.

Heide has at least held his own defensively early on.

ICYMI, Lassina Traore is out for tonight's game.

The challenge for Matas will be to be physical without fouling.

After having its five-game winning streak snapped, Texas returns to Moody Center to face arguably its toughest test of the 2025-26 season when it hosts No. 7 Florida on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN2). While the Longhorns remain on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, a win over the Gators would likely lock Texas (17-10, 8-6 SEC) into the field of 68. Getting by Florida (21-6, 12-2), which sits atop the SEC standings and enters Wednesday’s game on a seven-game winning streak, will take nothing short of an exceptional performance by the Longhorns. “Obviously, any time you host the national champion from a year ago, it has amazing meaning,” Sean Miller said on Tuesday. “Really, credit Todd Golden and his program. “I think it's very impressive to see him and his staff how they've built Florida, especially in the NIL/transfer portal era,” he added. “I think there's a lot you can learn from just watching how they've added and developed their roster. I also think they're playing their very best basketball of this season right now, on a win streak in dominant fashion the last several road games in our league — not easy to do. They've gone on the road and they've won by big, big margins. We know we have our hands full.” TEXAS vs. No. 7 FLORIDA When: 6 p.m. CT Where: Moody Center (Austin, Texas) TV: ESPN2 Betting line Florida -6.5 O/U: 157.5 Texas 2025-26 roster Starters: Jordan Pope, CG, 6-0, Sr. (13.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists) Tramon Mark, CG, 6-6, Gr. (13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.9 steals) Camden Heide, F, 6-7, Jr. (6.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 49.4% 3PT) Dailyn Swain, F/G, 6-8, Jr. (17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.8 steals) Matas Vokietaitas, C, 7-0, Soph.(15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 0.9 blocks) Reserves: Simeon Wilcher, CG, 6-4, Jr. (6.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists) Chendall Weaver, G, 6-3, Sr. (6.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists) Lassina Traore, C, 6-10, Sr. (3.4 points, 5.1 rebounds) Nic Codie, PF, 6-9, Soph. (4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds) Declan Duru, F, 6-8, Fr. (1.4 points, 1.3 rebounds) Redshirts: John Clark, PF, 6-8.5, Fr. Lewis Obiorah, C, 7-1, Fr. Texas splits: 49.7% FG/ 74.9% FT/ 35.4% 3PT Sean Miller file Career record: 504-206 (71%) NCAA Tournament record: 22-13 NCAA Tournament: 4 Elite Eights and 8 Sweet 16s Conference Championships: 8. Five in the Pac-10/Pac-12, and three in the Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year awards: 4. Three in the Pac 10/Pac 12, and one in the Atlantic 10. Also the 2015 USA Basketball National COY in 2015 Texas in the rankings — Texas is currently No. 37 in the NCAA NET rankings with five Quad 1 wins. https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings — KenPom ranks Texas 32 (down from No. 28 last week) https://kenpom.com/ — Bart Torvik T-Rank checks in at No. 43 https://barttorvik.com/# — Texas strength of schedule is currently around No. 23, and will likely finish in the top 25 https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other Remaining schedule *- projected NCAA Tournament team *Feb. 28 - at Texas A&M (No. 42 in NCAA NET) - Quad 1 game *Mar. 3 - at Arkansas (No. 18 in NCAA NET) - Quad 1 game Mar. 7 - vs. Oklahoma (No. 68 in NCAA NET) - Quad 2 game View full news story

That's it for Sean Miller. Again, it's a 6 p.m. start tomorrow for Texas and Florida at Moody Center.

Miller: "We've grown and improved a lot over the last two months." He said he doesn't know that he's coached a team that's improved in the ways this team has in the last few weeks/months.

"They're blowing teams out," Miller said of Florida. "We don't want to be one of them."

One of the things that makes the SEC so tough, Miller said, is that everyone is playing for something every night, whether it's the conference championship, NCAA Tournament seeding, trying to get off the bubble, etc.

Miller: "It'll be interesting to see how our offense is able to score on them." Florida is currently No. 4 in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.

Miller: "You have to have a great night taking care of the ball" to have a chance against Florida. Texas can't give Florida easy buckets off turnovers.

When Florida is shooting it well from the 3-point line, Miller said, "it puts them into a position to be the best team in the country" because of everything else the Gators do well.

Miller: "If we can be the best version of what we can be defensively, I think we've got some great moments in us over the next few weeks."

Miller: "We've had a difficult time getting stops... Against Georgia, we just could not guard their perimeter players."

Miller said he was disappointed in his starters at the first media timeout against Georgia because of "how it felt." He's challenged the starters to be better in the first four-plus minutes of the game.

Miller isn't ready to change the starting lineup. However, he'll change it if he sees "guys who are incapable of fighting that fight early on." He wasn't happy at all with the defensive start against Georgia.