The Texas Longhorns are now 2-4 in conference play, and Wednesday night’s 85-80 loss to Kentucky at Rupp Arena was another tough pill to swallow-especially after junior wing Dailyn Swain put on a show. Swain dropped a game-high 29 points and looked like the best player on the floor for stretches, but even that wasn’t enough to overcome a wave of self-inflicted damage by Texas.
Fouls were the story of the night. The Longhorns racked up 23 of them, gifting Kentucky 35 trips to the free-throw line.
That kind of disparity (+12 in made free throws for the Wildcats) usually sparks conversation about officiating, but not this time. As head coach Sean Miller bluntly put it, “This is a Texas problem.
We have a virus called fouling. It has plagued us...
We will foul the living shit out of you.”
And that wasn’t just hyperbole. Swain, despite his offensive brilliance, fouled out after 36 minutes.
He was efficient-10-of-16 from the field, a perfect 7-for-7 from the line-and added six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. But even he couldn’t stay out of foul trouble.
Texas also struggled mightily from beyond the arc. Swain hit two of his six attempts; the rest of the team went 0-for-12.
Senior guard Jordan Pope had a particularly rough night, finishing with just eight points on 2-of-9 shooting, missing all six of his threes, and failing to record an assist. His -13 plus/minus told the story of a night where the offense never quite found its rhythm with him on the floor.
Graduate guard Tramon Mark didn’t fare much better, posting a -20 in his 26 minutes.
Kentucky wasn’t exactly lighting it up from deep either-just 5-of-18-but that was still enough to outscore Texas by 12 points from long range. Combine that with the free-throw margin, and the Longhorns were fighting uphill for most of the night.
The rotation was thin to begin with, and it got thinner when junior forward Cam Heide was ruled out late due to illness. That pushed junior guard Simeon Wilcher into the starting five for the first time in his Texas career.
He logged 26 minutes but managed just two points. With sophomore forward Nic Codie not getting minutes, Miller leaned heavily on three-guard lineups and a rare pairing of graduate forward Lassina Traore and sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis.
Early on, both teams were cold from the field. At the under-12 timeout in the first half, it was 14-13 Kentucky, with both squads shooting just 6-of-15. Still, Texas managed to get into the bonus midway through the half thanks to Vokietaitis drawing contact on a post-up.
But turnovers and transition defense started to bite the Longhorns. Kentucky converted three early steals into six fast-break points, part of an 8-2 edge in transition by the under-eight mark. Swain and Vokietaitis did their part to keep Texas in it, combining for 17 of the team’s first 23 points.
Kentucky pushed the tempo and forced a Texas timeout after a breakaway dunk made it 30-25. But the Longhorns answered with a 7-0 run of their own. Mark turned a Swain rebound into a transition layup, Wilcher threw down a dunk after a Swain steal, and Swain finally broke a cold streak from deep with a pull-up three-Texas had missed its first seven from beyond the arc.
That Wilcher dunk also ended a streak of 13 straight missed shots by the Longhorns dating back to their previous game against Alabama.
The first half ended tied at 40, and credit to Kentucky: they committed just one foul in the final nine minutes of the half, a stretch when Texas had been living at the line.
Midway through the second half, Texas went on another 7-0 run behind two baskets from Weaver and another tough three from Swain, this one off the dribble. That forced a Kentucky timeout, but the Wildcats quickly regained control.
The turning point came when Wilcher was called for a flagrant foul on Otega Oweh, who was fouled from behind on a transition layup attempt. The officials reviewed it and upgraded the call-Wilcher never made a play on the ball.
Oweh hit both free throws, and Kentucky capitalized on the ensuing possession with a lob that drew another foul. Four points in one trip down the floor.
From there, Kentucky guard Collin Chandler took over. He found his rhythm with a jumper and then went off, scoring 14 of the next 15 points for the Wildcats. That stretch included a transition dunk after Vokietaitis lost the ball in traffic, pushing the lead to 11-the largest of the night.
By the time Miller called timeout with 5:41 left, Kentucky’s win probability had jumped from 64.8% to 96%.
Texas made one final push. A 7-1 run, capped by a Mark steal and layup, cut the deficit to three.
But Mark followed that up with a costly foul 30-plus feet from the hoop, allowing Kentucky to add another free throw. Mark hit a jumper to bring it back to two with under a minute left, but the Longhorns just couldn’t get over the hump.
Vokietaitis bit on a pump fake by Denzel Aberdeen with 26 seconds left, leading to a back-breaking bucket. Pope missed a three on the other end, and Texas was slow to foul. After a Kentucky miscue gave Pope two free throws, he knocked them down, but Aberdeen iced the game with two more at the line.
Final score: 85-80, Kentucky.
For Texas, this one stings. Swain was electric, but the Longhorns' issues-fouls, three-point shooting, and depth-proved too much to overcome.
If they’re going to turn this season around, they’ll need more than just one standout performance. They’ll need discipline, shot-making, and a little help from a rotation that’s still searching for answers.