For 20 minutes on Saturday, everything clicked for Texas basketball - and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Facing No. 21 Georgia, the nation’s top-scoring team averaging nearly 95 points per game, the Longhorns found themselves trailing by nine in the first half. But what followed was a second-half clinic that flipped the script and sent a message: when Texas locks in, they can hang with anyone in the country.
The final score - 87-67 - doesn’t just reflect a win; it reflects a transformation. After a sluggish first half, Texas came out of the locker room and played their best 20 minutes of basketball this season, outscoring Georgia 57-30 in the second half. They moved to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in SEC play, but more importantly, they looked like a team with real postseason potential.
“We just weren’t matching their energy,” said guard Tramon Mark, who poured in 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting. “We came out in the second half really aggressive, really enthusiastic just to play basketball - and that’s what we did.”
And did they ever.
Texas opened the second half by hitting their first seven shots and 14 of their first 18. By the time the dust settled, they had shot a scorching 68.8% from the field in the half - 22-of-32 - while dishing out 12 assists after managing just five in the first 20 minutes. The ball moved, the offense flowed, and the energy in Moody Center - packed with 10,523 fans despite freezing temperatures outside - turned electric.
Leading the charge was Dailyn Swain, who followed up a 29-point night at Kentucky with 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting. He was perfect in the second half - 7-of-7 - and looked every bit the offensive engine Texas needs him to be.
But this wasn’t a one-man show. Mark caught fire during a 12-2 run, scoring 10 straight points to flip a four-point deficit into a six-point lead. Then came the knockout punch: a 17-2 run featuring five different Texas scorers, including Matas Vokietaitis, who had a breakout second half with 11 of his 14 points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting, plus six of his eight rebounds.
And while the box score won’t show it, one of the most impactful plays came from Chendall Weaver. With the ball sailing out of bounds on a full-court pass, Weaver hustled, saved it, and called timeout before losing possession.
Out of that timeout, Simeon Wilcher found Camden Heide for his second three of the run, pushing the lead to 19 with under seven minutes to play. That’s the kind of hustle that doesn’t just win games - it sets the tone for a team trying to turn a corner.
This win marked Texas’ fourth over a ranked opponent this season, and it came against a Georgia team that had been lighting up scoreboards all year. But for all the good Texas showed in the second half, the inconsistencies that have plagued them this season still linger.
Free throws. Fouls. Finishing.
Those issues have cost Texas in tight losses - to Arizona State, Mississippi State, and most recently at Kentucky, where they sent the Wildcats to the line 35 times. After that game, head coach Sean Miller didn’t mince words.
“We have a virus called fouling,” he said. “It has plagued us from the opening tip of the first game until tonight… You describe the foul, and the team that I’m coaching will commit it.”
Even in Saturday’s win, the Longhorns sent Georgia to the line 25 times. That’s still a red flag.
But the difference this time? Texas didn’t compound those mistakes.
They didn’t unravel. They played smart, connected basketball when it mattered most.
And for once, they looked like a team having fun doing it.
We’ve seen flashes before - the road win at then-No. 13 Alabama, the home win over then-No.
10 Vanderbilt. But we’ve also seen this team stumble in winnable games.
The challenge now is stringing performances like Saturday’s second half together, especially with road tests looming at Auburn and Oklahoma.
The good news? The blueprint is there. The ceiling is clear.
“It’s still a lot of things we’ve got to work on,” Mark said. “It’s kind of still early in conference play. Still a lot of things we got to get better at, and we’re going to do that.”
If Texas can bring that same energy, that same urgency, and that same commitment to playing smart, unselfish basketball, they won’t just be a tough out in the SEC - they’ll be a team no one wants to face in March.