{"id":611642,"date":"2026-02-19T13:01:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/611642\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:01:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:01:29","slug":"it-isnt-always-pretty-but-texas-basketball-is-rolling-toward-ncaa-tournament-golden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/611642\/","title":{"rendered":"It isn’t always pretty but Texas basketball is rolling toward NCAA Tournament | Golden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas basketball <\/a>rolled out the red carpet for their Cajun visitors Tuesday.<\/p>\n

From serving up gumbo and fried catfish in the media lounge to the talented jazz quintet playing music befitting of Bourbon Street at the half, the Longhorns were the\u00a0picture of hospitality.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas guard Jordan Pope (0) as he and teammates guard Tramon Mark (12), center Matas Vokietaitis (8), forward Camden Heide (5) and forward Dailyn Swain celebrate a foul call late in the SEC college basketball game against LSU on Feb. 17, 2026, at Moody Center in Austin. (Icon Sportswire\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Generous almost to a fault, they nearly gave last-place\u00a0LSU the ballgame.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns forward Dailyn Swain (3) and guard Simeon Wilcher (7) smile after a run of points in the second half of the Longhorns\u2019 game against the Ole Miss Rebels at the Moody Center in Austin, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Texas won the game 79-68. (Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman)<\/p>\n

There is zero chance of the 88-85 win<\/a> getting confused with a Picasso but at this time of the year, neither style points nor artistic value matter.<\/p>\n

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Wins do, and the vital stats showed the Horns notching a fifth straight conference game for the first time in six seasons. Better yet, they improved to 17-9 overall and 8-5 in the SEC play, moving the program another step away from that troublesome NCAA bubble<\/a>. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Texas as a No. 9 seed<\/a> facing Iowa in the Greenville Regional with No. 1 Duke looming as a second-round opponent.<\/p>\n

All of this good stuff happening\u00a0despite a near collapse down the stretch.<\/p>\n

MORE CED: Why Texas football ticket hike is a sign of prosperity<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas entered the game as the best free-throw shooting team in the SEC with a .795 success rate but bricked seven of its final 11 attempts over the last four minutes, allowing the Tigers \u2014 playing without point guard DJ Thomas who is out for the season with a foot injury \u2014 to come oh-so-close to stealing one.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe kind of choked a little bit at the free throw line but we were still tough down the stretch the last three four and we were able to get the win,\u201d said guard Tramon Mark. \u201cSo I think that defines the character of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Texas can learn from this<\/p>\n

The Horns turned a 48-33 halftime lead \u2014 one that was largely built with Swain on the bench sporting a pair of fouls \u2014 into a nail-biter because they simply aren\u2019t very good with prosperity. Their head coach knows better than most.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt halftime, you could have almost predicted what was going to happen ahead of time,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe had a big lead. \u00a0You know, we have to guard against complacency. We have to set the tone. We have to be a two-way team, meaning we have to be able to connect defense with offense and offense with defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas head Coach Sean Miller reminds players of one-an-one foul shots during the second half against LSU Tigers at Moody Center on Feb. 17, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Scott Wachter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

MORE HORNS: Texas, Arizona State cancel upcoming series\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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The good news is they have figured out how to close out games during this win streak, and it hasn\u2019t been just Swain leading the way. Mark and Pope have shown their experience and their mettle while the 7-foot\u00a0Matas Vokietaitis, who can flash greatness in one instant \u2014 he had couple of sweet drop-step finishes at the bucket \u2014 but then flub a simple play as evidenced by a missed layup and a blown dunk down the stretch.<\/p>\n

As usual, any Texas struggle will start on the defensive end and it\u2019s a large part of what allowed the Tigers to climb back into the game.\u00a0Max Mackinnon was unstoppable for most of the night and 6-foot-10 post Michael Nwoko gave Vokietaitis all he could handle as the recipient of some nice screen-roll passes.<\/p>\n

The Horns, to their credit, kept their poise, unlike the SEC opener at Mississippi State when they blew an 86-79 lead with 1:42 left and lost 101-98 in overtime.<\/p>\n

MORE CED: Why baseball\u2019s Ruger Riojas has the look of a Friday starter\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"LSU<\/p>\n

LSU guard Max Mackinnon(3) drives to the basket against Texas forward Nic Codie during the first half at Moody Center on Feb. 17, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Scott Wachter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Texas strengthened its case for NCAAs<\/p>\n

The Horns are great position to make the NCAAs but they left Moody knowing the defense they played in the second half could easily get them beat at a desperate Georgia on Saturday or back home on Feb. 25 when the Florida Gators \u2014 in the midst of an 11-1 heater \u2014 arrive.<\/p>\n

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The biggest two messages coming out of the\u00a0LSU win are: No. 1, make your freaking free throws and No. 2, play smarter.<\/p>\n

Miller shook his head when reminded of Jordan Pope, his most experienced guard, missing out on a defensive switch that freed up Mackinnon \u2014 who led all scorers with 29 points \u2014 for a triple that cut the lead to 82-76 with 3:15 left.<\/p>\n

MORE HORNS: Texas football announces spring schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

Pope got the hook for the lapse because Miller and the coaches had reminded the guards to switch out to avoid just that scenario.<\/p>\n

The other head-shaker came at the 9:36 mark of the second half when\u00a0Dailyn Swain<\/a>, Texas\u2019 best player, committed his fourth foul on far too aggressive defense while guarding Mackinnion\u00a0above the 3-point circle. Miller advised his young charge that giving up a bucket at that point \u2014 Texas was up 67-61 \u2014 is far less painful than having to sit because of foul trouble.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) turns away from the pressure by LSU guard Rashad King on Feb. 17, 2026, at Moody Center in Austin. (Icon Sportswire\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

These are all fixable issues but the Horns understand that the little miscues can add up to losses against better competition, especially on the road in this league.<\/p>\n

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Texas has shown the ability to win in different ways and with tournament veterans like Mark, Pope, Chendall Weaver and Cam Heide in the locker room, Miller likes the potential to do some damage in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The NCAA tourney) is a big reason why they\u2019re here,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThey’s what they’ve set their sights out to accomplish a long time ago. So they’re guys who show up every day and work, and I have no doubt that they’re determined and focused for for the stretch run.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have the look of a tournament team, having moved up to No. 29<\/a> in Ken Pom’s latest NET ratings. For all of the the imperfections, the Horns are just good enough to be dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas basketball rolled out the red carpet for their Cajun visitors Tuesday. From serving up gumbo and fried…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[2096,7,217,20708,950,568,19769,4258,4253,19777,20835,231,772,1544,32582,2098,2398,19761],"class_list":{"0":"post-611642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-college-basketball","11":"tag-dailyn-swain","12":"tag-florida-gators","13":"tag-getty-images","14":"tag-jordan-pope","15":"tag-lsu","16":"tag-lsu-tigers","17":"tag-matas-vokietaitis","18":"tag-moody-center","19":"tag-ncaa","20":"tag-ncaa-basketball","21":"tag-ncaab","22":"tag-sean-miller","23":"tag-texas","24":"tag-texas-longhorns","25":"tag-tramon-mark"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116097430310001740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}