3 thoughts as Texas overcomes sluggish first half to beat Maryland-Eastern Shore, 94-71

“Crab cakes and football! That’s what Maryland does!”

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If you’ll notice, the above quote from Wedding Crashers does not include the phrase “basketball” anywhere in it, but after watching the first 20 minutes of the Texas–Maryland-Eastern Shore game tonight, I was thinking that maybe it should.

Texas had a downright miserable first half defensively against a team not ranked in the top 300 in KenPom. They gave up 34 points and 6-for-12 from beyond the arc. They clung to a six-point lead going into the break against a UMES Hawks team that has lost six consecutive games, including a 29-point loss to Virginia Tech and a game against Georgia earlier this year where they managed 29 total points.

Though Texas rallied in the second half and came out on top, 94-71, these spurts of porous defense are not as few and far between as one would hope for a Longhorns team that ostensibly has some physical talent. I’ve made note several times of their struggles with perimeter rotations throughout this year, and it showed tonight against one of the weakest teams they will play in 2025.

This leads me to thought one of my three thoughts heading into conference play:

1. This is a bad defensive team.

This is going to be a problem that haunts them throughout this entire season against any opponent with a pulse. Teams like Alabama will easily score 100+ points against Texas if nothing changes between now and January 10, when the Longhorns travel to Tuscaloosa. The way that Nate Oats and company spreads out defenses and create driving lines and open looks on the perimeter is a proven way to beat this ‘Horns defense in its current iteration.

Part of the struggle is personnel related; part of it is scheme. The thing that has to sting for Sean Miller is that most of it has to do with lacking energy. There is just not enough effort on post digs, recoveries, and other schematic elements that require buy-in from the team. Whether this is fixed during conference play will have to be seen, but the same issues were evident as soon as the Virginia game began to slip away from them. I figured the UVA loss would be a much-needed reality check, but they’ve still put forth mediocre effort since then in plenty of first halves.

2. This team needs to get into the lane to win games.

This point is two-fold; they need to get into the lane because (a) they can’t shoot from beyond the arc and (b) they need to draw fouls. They’ve been very successful at getting to the line this season, and coming into tonight, were a top-15 team in the nation in free-throw attempts per game. Of course, their percentage from the stripe leaves much to be desired, but at least they’re manufacturing points.

Part of this strategy is also getting into transition. They have to be able to push the pace in order to take advantage of some of the athletes they have, even though some of those athletes need to learn how to play on the break. For example, Dailyn Swain needs to learn when to dump the ball off instead of taking it himself. If the Longhorns can learn to be more efficient in fast break situations, they may be competitive in games where they’re overmatched.

3. A 10-8 record in the SEC is going to be required to make the NCAA Tournament this year.

I talked about this preseason, but the non-conference slate was so weak for the Longhorns that it would have required at least an average performance against their few high-major opponents. They didn’t get that, instead going 1-4 with losses to UConn, Virginia, Arizona State, and Duke. Their lone win came against an NC State team that has been unimpressive this year, despite having decently high expectations coming into 2025.

10-8 in the SEC feels like the minimum record to get to the postseason; the conference is significantly weaker than it in 2024-25, where a losing record was enough to land oneself in the NCAAs. That will not fly in 2025-26, where the SEC is the third-best conference in the country behind the Big XII and Big 10.

This means the Longhorns are going to have to win some games they are not projected to win, most likely on the road in hostile environments. Considering a bulk of their toughest opponents are away from the Moody Center, this Texas team is really going to have to find its defensive identity if they want to overachieve.