Rodney Terry Reveals More About Texas Longhorns' 'Secret' Scrimmage vs. Colorado Buffaloes
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns will soon be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, and through their departure will come a former member of the conference in the Colorado Buffaloes.
Though the two teams won't meet on the court as Big 12 foes in the 2024-25 season, they still helped each other get game-ready for the upcoming campaign by playing a not-so-secret scrimmage on Saturday in Boulder. Per multiple reports, No. 18 Texas fell to Colorado, 87-78. College basketball insider Jeff Goodman reported that Texas forward Dillon Mitchell led all players with 22 points, though the Longhorns were without Dylan Disu and Kadin Shedrick.
All of this info - and the additional words coach Rodney Terry provided when speaking to reporters Wednesday - hardly makes the scrimmage "secret," but that's what makes finding out about what happened more fun.
Terry provided tons of feedback about the closed-door scrimmage, and even shared some impressive numbers about Texas' defense from the game.
“That was a great scrimmage for us,” Terry said. “I mean, they're gonna be a top 25 team, one of the best teams on the West Coast. And for better part of that scrimmage you were talking about two teams that look like they're already kind of in midseason form in a high-level game, a highly competitive game."
Ithiel Horton
© Scott Wachter, USA TODAY
Colorado received the second-most AP preseason votes (49) among teams that will enter the season unranked in the Top 25. The Buffaloes are also just one of two Pac-12 teams to have a pair of players named to the All-Conference preseason first team, guard KJ Simpson and forward Tristan da Silva have warranted praise headed into the season.
Terry said that, while the Longhorns need to improve their transition defense, he was pleased with how the Texas backcourt defended against Colorado's guards.
"We forced 19 turnovers, 22 points and a lot of that was pressured out here," Terry said as he motioned toward the halfcourt line at Texas' practice facility. "Our guards are pretty pesky and pretty good defensively."
"We played really hard against really good players. I mean, first-team, all-league players on that team and they they didn't like it. They didn't like the pressure."
Texas still has a ton to prove a season after making its first Elite Eight in 15 years. A loss in a scrimmage to Colorado should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Longhorns will still have to figure out why they couldn't come out victorious in a game that could've served as an early test of where they stand right now.
"They were super competitive, we were super competitive," Terry said. "We did some really good things in that scrimmage. And then obviously just like anything in any game, you're gonna come back you have things you have to continue to work on and get better with and I think for us, we learned a lot about ourselves and, in more importantly, areas where we have to continue to improve.”
