After an incredible season including 31 wins, a conference championship, and a point guard on numerous All-American teams, the Texas Longhorns finally met their match in Houston’s Reliant Stadium. Despite making a valiant effort to come back from an 11-point halftime deficit, Rick Barnes’ club was unable to keep up with Memphis’ length, athleticism, and speed in an 85-67 loss.

Texas shot itself in the foot during a first half that saw eight Longhorn turnovers which led to nine Memphis points. Coming into the game, the Longhorns led the country with less than 10 turnovers per game, but found themselves frustrated against a much taller Tiger team that pressured guards beyond the perimeter and doubled over the Texas ball screens.

With the turnovers and poor shooting scuttling the Texas offense for the first twenty minutes, the Longhorns found themselves down 11 points coming out of the locker room to start the second half. But solid defense and a suddenly assertive Damion James brought Texas within five points after a 12-0 run that spanned both halves. With the strongly partisan burnt orange crowd finally coming alive and making noise in the cavernous football arena, Memphis snapped back to reality and rattled off seven points to kill any chances of a Longhorn comeback.

The win and Final Four appearance seemed only fitting for a Memphis team coming off of back-to-back seasons in which they lost in the Elite Eight. The current Tiger squad is nearly a mirror image of last year’s team, with the key change coming in the form of freshman point guard Derrick Rose, a mortal lock for a top three pick in this summer’s NBA draft.

With three other 1-seeds making up the rest of the final four, Memphis will certainly have its work cut out for it next weekend in San Antonio. But after a march through the South Regional in which the Tigers beat both Texas and Michigan State by 18 points, Coach Cal’s team seems to be peaking at just the right time.

We’ll take another look at this historic season of Texas basketball later this week and preview what could be one of the best Final Fours in recent memory. The “Horns in the League” feature should also soon make a comeback, and we’ll follow the coaching carousel and NBA draft early entries as the April 27th deadline approaches.