Texas holds off South Carolina in 84-75 win

AUSTIN, Texas — Behind a strong all-around performance from junior wing Dailyn Swain and some late scoring punch from graduate guard Tramon Mark, the Texas Longhorns overcame a 35-point performance by guard Meechie Johnson in a much-needed 84-75 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Moody Center on Tuesday.

So Texas was able to avoid a shocking loss like the one it suffered in overtime to Mississippi State to open SEC play a month ago, aided by the 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two steals by Swain, who made winning plays down the stretch. So did Mark, who finished with 18 points and six rebounds despite a tough shooting start to the game. Junior forward Cam Heide added 12 points, five rebounds, and two important late assists to Swain in addition to hitting two threes midway through the second half that created some separation for the Longhorns.

That separation was nearly overcome single-handedly by Johnson, who scored almost half of the team’s points, took 14 of the 24 free throws attempted by the Gamecocks, and recorded six of the team’s nine assists. Only one other player for South Carolina, forward Elijah Strong, reached double figures with 12 points.

In front of an unusually empty Moody Center on the early tip off, neither team got off to a quick start with Texas missing several open threes before South Carolina got into the lane for baskets on back-to-back possessions. The Longhorns finally got into the scoring column when sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis drew a shooting foul at the 17:12 mark, converting both at the line.

The misses from three continued for Texas as senior guard Jordan Pope and Heide each missed two open shots and the defense struggled to contain the South Carolina offense, which had made five straight shots heading into the under-16 timeout up 10-4, all on layups or dunks.

After a 1-of-10 shooting start for the Horns, junior guard Simeon Wilcher became the first player other than Vokietaitis to score when he hit a floater in the lane at the 13:45 mark. At the second media timeout, the deficit was nine points behind 7-of-11 shooting for South Carolina and a 2-of-12 effort for Texas as the Gamecocks held Swain in check early.

Getting out in transition after a defensive rebound helped Swain’s playmaking, finding Wilcher for a three to end the shooting slump from distance after five straight misses to open the game, and Mark got a friendly bounce on a corner triple on the next possession, cutting the deficit to one point.

An off-balance three by Mark missed and Weaver threw the ball away on the ensuing offensive rebound, ending the Texas momentum as the defense faltered again, giving up consecutive baskets to Johnson and sending the game into the under-eight timeout with South Carolina leading by five points after an empty trip to the line by Vokietaitis.

The Florida Atlantic transfer made his next trip count before Johnson hit the first three of the game for South Carolina, but couldn’t convert a subsequent three-point play. Nonetheless, an offensive rebound on the missed free throw led to Swain dribbling into a made three.

Texas took its first lead, 28-27, on two free throws by graduate forward Lassina Traore, just before the under-four timeout as both teams tried to battle through a field-goal drought. Shooting foals by the Horns late in the half benefited the Gamecocks, who scored six straight points at the line as the visitors failed to hit a shot from the floor over six-plus minutes until Johnson scored a driving layup that left Texas head coach Sean Miller furious at the lack of help defense from Vokietaitis.

But after a timeout by South Carolina, Vokietaitis made a good decision passing out of a double team that led to a driving layup by Heide one pass later to give Texas a 35-31 lead at halftime despite shooting 30.8 percent in the first half.

Trying to work through Vokietaitis in the post early in the second half didn’t pay off for the Horns, leading to a turnover and an offensive foul on a hook that sent the sophomore to the bench. Another turnover, by Pope trying to connect with Heide, resulted in his departure from the game in favor of Wilcher, in another flat start to a half for Texas.

Defense finally turned into offense, however, when a steal by Swain led to a breakaway dunk by Mark on a good feed from Wilcher. It took another steal by Swain to score again a minute and a half later on a transition layup as the Gamecocks pushed back into the lead, 42-41, at the under-16 timeout.

Swain took advantage of an extra possession gained by a successful challenge, scoring through contact and converting the three-point play to energize the home crowd, but difficulties defending Johnson continued as Weaver wasn’t quite vertical enough to avoid a foul that sent the South Carolina star to the line. A smart cut, however, produced a dunk by the Texas glue guy.

After the under-12 timeout, Heide hit two big threes for the Longhorns, but trying to feed Vokietaitis resulted in another turnover and sloppy defense by the Texas center resulted in two personal fouls in less than 30 seconds that forced his removal from the game with four fouls.

South Carolina stuck around thanks to Johnson bullying whoever was put in front of him, recording back-to-back three-point play opportunities by scoring through contact against Traore and Weaver, but the Ohio State transfer missed his second free throw. At the under-eight timeout, the Texas lead was six points, close enough for Johnson to have a chance to decide the game himself down the stretch.

Two free throws after the break cut into that margin, but Swain found Weaver for a three in transition with the seven-point lead for Texas the biggest of the game for the Horns, prompting a timeout by Lamont Paris. Even with the benefit of a timeout, Texas struggled to slow down Johnson, who blew by Wilcher on a ball screen with Wilcher only recovering enough to trade a foul for a missed dunk, the fourth on Wilcher.

The fouling virus hit the Horns again when Weaver got caught reaching on Johnson even though he was double teamed and trapped near the baseline. For a second straight trip to the free-throw line, however, Johnson only converted one before Traore had a layup blocked, leading to a layup on the other end and a timeout by Miller up five with 4:46 remaining.

A good set drawn up by the Texas staff produced a layup for Swain on a back cut with Johnson out of the game, but Vokietaitis couldn’t convert multiple point-blank looks and the Longhorns responded defensively by allowing a drive and finish on a reaching foul by Swain that cut the lead to three with 3:23 remaining and a free throw pending after the under-four timeout.

Swain flipped in a big spinning, driving basket to push the lead back to four and another back cut led to a dunk before Johnson got to the rim once again for a layup, this time beating Swain. After a timeout by South Carolina, Mark hit Vokietaitis for a layup and cut off the ball to get a look at the rim that required a tip in to convert to extend the lead to eight points. Vokietaitis fouled out on the other end when he couldn’t quite manage verticality on a drive by Johnson, who made one at the line.

With the clock under a minute, South Carolina opted not to foul, instead giving up a contested jumper made by Mark that sealed the outcome.

Texas remains at the Moody Center on Saturday, hosting Ole Miss and former head coach Chris Beard at 1 p.m. Central on ESPN2.