Shotmaking matters.
Five three-pointers over six minutes by the Xavier Musketeers spurred head coach Sean Miller’s team to an 86-80 victory over the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday in Dayton in a First Four matchup of No. 11 seeds.
Playing poor basketball late doomed the Longhorns. When Xavier took the lead on a three-pointer with 5:07 remaining, Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson had an unusual meltdown on the court, losing poise by taking and missing a bad three off the dribble, failing to get back in transition, and committing a soft foul from behind on a layup that turned into a three-point play.
The key swing in the game came as the Longhorns gave up a lead that reached 13 points because of some bad plays and missed free throws by Johnson and superior shotmaking by the Musketeers.
Another important exchange helped define the game — Texas was down by one point after Johnson missed a free throw with 1:39 remaining when senior forward Kadin Shedrick committed an inexplicable foul shoving Xavier forward Zach Freemantle on a roll to the basket when Shedrick was in strong defensive position.
Freemantle made both free throws to extend the Xavier lead to three points, Johnson misfired on another forced jumper on the Texas end, and an absolutely bricked three by Freemantle hit hard off the backboard right to a Musketeers player under the basket for an easy layup with 20 seconds left that effectively ended the game.
In the immediate aftermath of the unsurprising loss by a team that barely made the tournament in the first place, reports from Jeff Goodman and Chip Brown of Horns247 indicated that athletics director Chris Del Conte will fire head coach Rodney Terry after two years of diminishing returns.
Rodney Terry took over after Chris Beard was fired midseason a couple years ago and took Texas to the Elite Eight to keep the full-time job.
But sources have told @TheFieldOf68 that Texas is likely to make a move on Terry after two straight years of barely making the NCAA…
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 20, 2025
As I reported in the @Horns247 Insider last Thursday, without a run in the NCAA Tournament, Texas basketball coach Rodney Terry wouldn’t be retained.
Sources tell @Horns247 Terry is expected to be let go after three seasons on the job after taking over for Chris Beard.
— Chip Brown (@ChipBrown247) March 20, 2025
