Sean Miller’s first real test with Texas men’s basketball under the spotlight didn’t go the way the preseason buzz suggested it might.
The No. 7 Longhorns took the floor Sunday afternoon against No.
13 St. John’s in an exhibition and left with a double-digit loss, falling 87-74.
It was a jarring result for a team that came in with high expectations after Miller led Texas to the Sweet Sixteen, added a recruiting class and transfer portal group both ranked in the top five nationally, and spent the offseason talking up the talent in his locker room.
What stood out most was how little of that hype showed up in the final box score. Of the nine players Miller used, only one finished with a positive margin on the court.
That player was Bo Ogden, one of Texas’s true freshmen and a local Austin product whose father has been on the Horns’ coaching staff for a few years. Notably, that wasn’t one of the highly regarded freshmen such as Marcus Spears Jr. or Austin Goosby, and it wasn’t one of the headline transfer additions like David Punch or Isaiah Johnson.
Texas also got a rough number from its only returning starter. Center Matas Vokietaitis finished at minus-21, a mark that made the afternoon even tougher for the Longhorns.
The strange part is that Texas did a few things well. The Horns committed fewer fouls, outshot St.
John’s from beyond the arc, and even scored more bench points than the Red Storm’s reserves. None of it was enough to overcome the areas where St.
John’s was far more efficient.
That was the story of the game: Texas created chances, but St. John’s cashed them in.
The Red Storm turned 20 points off turnovers, while Texas managed only seven points off St. John’s miscues.
And in a game where possessions mattered, Texas came up short again on the glass and in the second-chance battle, with St. John’s scoring 14 points in that area while the Longhorns generated only 12 second-chance opportunities.
For Miller, the lesson was plain. Texas has to turn the openings it manufactures into actual production, because against St.
John’s, that never happened. The Horns looked cleaner in some areas, but they weren’t good enough when the Red Storm forced mistakes.
The result won’t go in Texas’s record, but it still sent a message. The preseason No. 7 team doesn’t look fully settled yet, and if it wants to stay in the top-10 conversation, it has to play with more control and more bite.
Texas opens the regular season Monday, Nov. 2, at home against Chicago State. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT, and the game will air on SEC Network.
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