Everything Texas Longhorns Coach Rodney Terry Said After Loss to Ohio State Buckeyes

Texas Longhorns men's basketball head coach Rodney Terry met with the media after the loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Zach Dimmitt | Nov 5, 2024

Nov 4, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry watches play against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the first half at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

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AUSTIN -- Texas Longhorns men's basketball head coach Rodney Terry met with the media following Monday's 80-72 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in Las Vegas.

Here's what he had to say:

Opening statement:

"Would like to give Ohio State a lot of credit tonight. The guard play was outstanding. I thought (Bruce) Thornton, we knew coming into this game that we had to do a really good job on their older guards and try to contain those guys. Bruce was one of the top pick-and-roll guys all the last year in college basketball. And Meechie (Johnson) came out and made a few shots. Those guys shot the ball extremely well in the first half. Our shooter defense in terms of being able to go out those guys, you know, we were much better in the second half. I think they made four threes in the second half. But 10 threes in the first half is a lot to overcome. We kept battling through it, gave ourselves a chance down the stretch, but give them a lot of credit. They made a lot of shots tonight, and we've got to continue to work on our defense, continue to get better defensive, and we will. I'll put a lot of that on myself for us to get better in that regard."

On Tre Johnson:

"Tre works every day. He has an incredible work ethic in terms of how hard he works every day. He trusts the process. Super competitor in terms of competing. And again, I think the best is still yet to come for him. He's playing really hard on defense as well as trying to score the ball on offense. Tre is one of those guys that, again, plays the game to win. He's not all caught up in how many points he has. He's out there thinking 'win,' and you don't have a lot of young players thinking that way in this day and time. He thinks that way, we're going to be better for it. And we're excited about having him in Texas."

On preparation for Ohio State:

I think for us, we've faced three Power 5 teams. Two scrimmages (against) Power 5, we have a Power 5 to start the season right now. I think you learn a lot about your team early in the year, when you challenge yourself early in the year, neutral court game, older team that we're competing against. You talk about a Thornton, who's in his third year. You talk about Meechie Johnson, who's a senior, second team all-league SEC. (Micah) Parrish played in the National Championship game. You got two returning guys that are McDonald's All-American guys that are in their second year. So they put together a loaded team. We knew (Devin) Roy was going to be a problem. He's an undersized post guy, gave them some continuity as well. So played a loaded team that again, they're still trying to get their identity. November is about identity. We're all trying to establish who we're going to try to be every night. We know we've got to continue to work on what we're going to try to hang our hat on every night. And you learn those lessons through wins and losses early in the year. Unfortunately for us, we've got to learn some lessons through a loss, and we got to continue to come back and get better."

On staying competitive despite injuries:

"All season long you've got to have a next-man mentality, you know, you don't know from game to game if someone's going to get injured and not be able to play. I thought again tonight, we handled some adversity. I thought we executed a few things down the stretch, especially our ATO execution was really good for the baseline and sideline. We had some really good execution from times, out of our actions. We're going to continue to get better. We'll learn a lot from this. A lot of great teaching moments from the tape in this ball game here, give them a lot of credit, and made a lot of big shots tonight. They played well. And you know, we we're going to be better for it."