Texas Basketball Finds Its Spark - and Its NCAA Tournament Pulse - in Second-Half Surge Over Georgia
AUSTIN, Texas - The road to March is rarely smooth, and for Texas basketball, it’s been a bumpy ride through SEC play. But after a dominant second-half performance in Saturday’s 87-67 win over then-No. 21 Georgia, the Longhorns may have finally found the traction they’ve been looking for.
Now sitting at 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the SEC, Texas has quietly started piecing together a résumé that could earn them a spot in the NCAA Tournament - but there’s still work to be done. With 11 conference games left before the SEC Tournament, the Longhorns are slated to face three more AP Top-25 teams: on the road at Georgia (Feb. 21), at home against Florida (Feb. 25), and at Arkansas (March 4). In other words, opportunity is still knocking.
The win over Georgia wasn’t just another tally in the win column. It was Texas’ fourth victory over an AP Top-25 team this season and, perhaps more importantly, their third Quad 1 win - the kind of high-value victories that the NCAA Selection Committee pays close attention to when building the tournament field. For context, Quad 1 wins are the gold standard in résumé building: home wins over top-30 teams, neutral-site wins over top-50, and road wins over top-75, all based on the NCAA’s NET rankings.
Right now, Texas is projected among CBS Sports’ “Last Four In,” which would land them in the First Four in Dayton for a second straight year. In that projection, they’d face Missouri in a battle of 11 seeds, with a spot in the main 64-team bracket on the line.
That First Four scenario might feel familiar - and a little ironic. Last March, Sean Miller was on the other sideline coaching Xavier when his Musketeers erased a 13-point deficit to beat Texas in Dayton, 86-80.
That loss marked the end of Rodney Terry’s tenure as head coach. Fast forward to this season, and Miller is now steering the Longhorns, trying to guide them back to the dance - this time from the other bench.
According to CBS’ bracket forecast, 11 SEC teams are currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament, just three shy of last year’s record-setting 14-team showing. That depth has made the SEC a gauntlet this season - and it’s also helped Texas' metrics.
The Longhorns currently sit at No. 39 in the NET rankings and No. 37 in KenPom, with an overall strength of schedule ranked 26th nationally. Their non-conference schedule?
Not quite as strong - KenPom has it at No. 292 out of 365 Division I programs - but the SEC slate has provided plenty of chances to prove themselves.
And Texas has taken advantage of some of those chances. Their 4-3 record against AP Top-25 teams includes wins over then-No.
23 NC State, then-No. 13 Alabama, then-No.
10 Vanderbilt, and the recent victory over Georgia. Losses came against elite competition: then-No.
6 Duke, then-No. 5 UConn, and then-No.
21 Tennessee.
Still, not all ranked wins are created equal in the eyes of the NET. Despite Georgia being ranked No. 21 in the AP poll, their NET ranking of 32 means that Texas’ home win over them doesn’t qualify as a Quad 1 victory - only home wins over top-30 NET teams do. That nuance underscores just how fine the margins are in March Madness positioning.
What made Saturday’s win so significant wasn’t just the opponent - it was the way Texas responded when things looked bleak. After dropping two straight games and four of their first six in SEC play, the Longhorns looked like a team in search of answers. And when they trailed Georgia 37-30 at halftime, those questions only grew louder.
That’s when Miller delivered a message that resonated.
“I thought at halftime, it was a moment of truth for us in our season,” Miller said postgame. “We were disjointed. We weren’t a smart group, and Georgia was the better team.”
Whatever was said in that locker room clearly struck a chord. Texas came out in the second half like a team reborn - focused, cohesive, and relentless. They hit 14 of their first 18 shots (77.8%), flipped a 9-point deficit into a 20-point win, and looked every bit like a team with postseason aspirations.
“There was no magic wand,” Miller said. “We kind of talked about what we needed to do and wanted to get back on the court and get off to a good start in the second half, and we did that.
Obviously, I didn’t think we would end up winning by 20 points, but I knew we were a better team than we [showed] in the first half. So, I credit our guys - the leadership on our team.”
That leadership, and that second-half surge, may end up being a turning point in Texas’ season. With the SEC schedule offering more chances to stack quality wins, the Longhorns are still very much in the mix. But they’ll need to keep stacking performances like Saturday’s - not just for the résumé, but to prove to themselves that they belong in the NCAA Tournament conversation.
Because if the second half against Georgia was any indication, this team might just be figuring it out at the right time.