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Still winless in league play, Longhorns and Sooners finding life hard in SEC men’s basketball

By JIM VERTUNO AP Sports Writer

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and Oklahoma thought they were leaving the toughest basketball league in the country, only to land right in the middle of this season’s version.

Or fall straight to the bottom of it, really.

The Longhorns and Sooners both left the Big 12 after last season when that league had a reputation as the roughest, toughest conference out there. But their move into the muscular Southeastern Conference dropped them into a league that has emerged as the nation’s toughest gantlet this season with five teams rated in the top 10 and nine overall in the Associated Press Top 25.

The Longhorns (11-5) and Sooners (13-3) are both 0-3 in league play heading into their rivalry matchup Wednesday night, and the Sooners dropped out of the rankings this week from No. 17. Both are among five teams still looking for their first SEC win this season.

“This is a super-duper physical league,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said.

He should know. Texas’ first three SEC games were bruising matchups against No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Tennessee.

“We’ve had some slugfests. The three teams we’ve played, they can throw some haymakers at you in terms of the bodies they can throw at you … You’ve got to match that physicality,” Terry said.

Next up is the road trip to Norman to face the Sooners. Another loss and the Longhorns could find their NCAA Tournament hopes and expectations in real trouble already. Oklahoma, meanwhile, has missed the tournament the last three seasons, and an 0-4 start in the SEC would put the Sooners at risk of missing it again.

Oklahoma sure looked good when this season started. The Sooners’ 13-0 start made them one of the last undefeated teams in the country. That included wins over No. 20 Michigan, and over rising programs Arizona, which has started 4-0 in its first Big 12 season, and Louisville. Texas doesn’t have quality wins like those.

But the confidence building in coach Porter Moser’s fourth season has faltered. League play began with a 28-point road loss at No. 4 Alabama. Then the Sooners blew an 18-point lead at home and lost to Texas A&M, which was without injured leading scorer Wade Taylor IV.

A common thread for the Sooners and the Longhorns in SEC play is how opponents are beating them up in rebounding. Both have been giving up lopsided rebounding edges in their losses.

“You can’t play 13 minutes and have one rebound,” Moser said after the Sooners were mugged on the boards 51-26 by Alabama. “You can’t. And we’ve called guys out, we’ve challenged them.”

To little effect yet. The Sooners were also handily outrebounded the next two games.

At Texas, a couple of exceptional individual games have been pushed aside by more physical opponents.

Senior transfer Arthur Kaluma scored a career-high 34 points against Auburn. Freshman Tre Johnson posted 24 points in the first 30 minutes against Tennessee, then scored just two more the rest of the way.

Johnson is one of the top freshmen in the country. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard averages 18.9 points, but Terry said the Longhorns won’t just ask him to bail them out every game.

“Tre’s a focal point in any game right now. He has a big bullseye on his back in every game,” Terry said. “As a young player, I never think you have to go in the game thinking you have to carry the whole burden scoring for us.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article