Shooting woes plague Texas in last-second loss to Radford

Burn the tape.

On an evening that was almost entirely forgettable, the Texas Longhorns suffered through one of the more disappointed showings of the Shaka Smart era, struggling to find points throughout in a 62-59 loss to the Radford Highlanders.

The Longhorns did have opportunities to swing things in their favor, however, especially late.

After owning an early 24-12 lead, Texas could hardly buy a bucket going forward as Radford chipped away at the Longhorns lead, and eventually captured it, 26-25, with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. The Longhorns did regain the lead moments later and entered intermission with a 34-33 edge, but the shooting woes that plagued Texas in the first half — 3-of-11 from three and 5-of-10 from the free throw line — continued coming out of the break.

In what amounted to a back-and-forth second half saw extensive scoring droughts with the Highlanders continually holding narrow leads over the Longhorns.

This theme persisted down the stretch, and each time Texas attempted to battle back and tie things up, Radford answered. No example of this is more notable than the Highlanders 57-51 lead being eradicated after back-to-back and-one opportunities from Kerwin Roach II and Jericho Sims before a subsequent Sims dunk saw the Longhorns take the 59-58 lead with only 1:01 to play.

It was all Radford from there, though.

After Ed Polite Jr. missed a wild free throw attempt, Jericho Sims was fouled following the rebound, but missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity with only 47 seconds remaining. Radford capitalized on the following possession, as Carlik Jones fought through a Roach foul and converted an and-one of his own to give the Highlanders the 61-59 edge with 24 seconds to play.

In an attempt to not only respond, but recapture the late lead, Roach heaved a look from deep, but was unsuccessful. After Devin Hutchinson split his free throw attempts, Texas was gift-wrapped with one final, game-tying opportunity, but Jase Febres was unable to connect from the perimeter, solidifying the poor shooting theme that plagued the Longhorns on Friday night.

All totaled, the Longhorns shot 36.9 percent from the field (24-65), 28.6 percent from the perimeter (6-21), and only 53.3 percent from the free throw line (8-15).

Sims led the way with 16 points, but no other Longhorn cracked double-digits in the scoring column.

Next up, the 5-2 Longhorns will host VCU on Wednesday as the second portion of a six-game home stand.