Texas nearly pulled off an improbable comeback Saturday afternoon, overcoming a 16-point second-half deficit to give themselves a chance at a victory against a solid LSU squad. Ultimately, the comeback came up just short, as the Longhorns offense faded down the stretch in a 69-67 loss against the Tigers. The loss drops the Longhorns record to 12-7 overall, a far cry from the 9-1 start Texas had to begin the season.
The first 30 minutes of the game featured an offensive clinic by LSU, who was seemingly scoring at will behind big performances by Trendon Watford, Skylar Mays and Javonte Smart. Watford scored a game-high 22 points and also added 6 rebounds along with 3 assists.
The Tigers entered halftime with a 42-32 lead and stretched the lead out to 52-36 with a little over 15 minutes remaining in the game. The Longhorns responded with a 16-2 run to pull within 2 points following a layup by Andrew Jones, who led Texas with 20 points off the bench. Shortly after, the Longhorns re-took the lead on a jumper by Jericho Sims to, who had a big second half to finish with 14 points and 7 rebounds. LSU responded though, using clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to pull away and hand the Longhorns their 3rd straight loss.
The Longhorns had an improved offensive showing, shooting 48% from the field, but continued to be trigger-happy from beyond the arc (26 three-point attempts) and only had 6 free throw attempts on the afternoon. Texas will return to Big 12 play on Wednesday when they travel to Fort Worth to face TCU.
