Texas had no answer for Lofton

Sophomore A.J. Abrams, the "experienced" old guy, couldn't stop him.

It was unanimous.

Texas basketball players walked out of Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday afternoon marveling at Tennessee's junior guard Chris Lofton.

"He hit some great shots and I guess he was just feeling it today," Abrams said after the Vols' rallied for a dramatic 111-105 overtime victory that was nationally televised on ESPN.

"They were good shots. I think one of them he was about at the second 'E' in Tennessee."

Lofton's career-high 35 points -- including two long 3-pointers in the final one minute, five seconds -- ignited an already rambunctious crowd of 20,778 fans.

They left Durant shaking his head as he twice came out to defend Lofton on the perimeter.

"He's unbelievable, man," Durant said. "I really respect his game.

"I was in his face. I thought it was good defense, but he hit two long 3's on me. Credit goes to him. He played a great game."

Wowed by Lofton, Texas players still couldn't believe they let a 17-point second-half lead disappear.

As young as the Longhorns are -- starting four freshmen and a sophomore -- it's not like they were intimidated or played themselves out of this one.

Texas (8-3) hit 45.3 percent from the field, went 13-of-31 from 3-point range and committed just 11 turnovers.

"I think we played better in this game than we did against LSU (a 76-75 overtime Texas victory)," Abrams said. "Everybody -- even our bench -- played great tonight.

"But it's a Catch-22. We lost because we let one get away and didn't execute down the stretch."

Durant -- thought to be a potential NBA lottery pick -- used his 6-foot-9 frame and long arms to score 26 points and grab eight rebounds.

Freshman D.J. Augustin scored 20 points and dished out 13 assists before cramping up and needing intravenous fluids after the game.

After going scoreless in the first half, Abrams temporarily held UT at bay with his five 3-pointers and 17 points.

"We had a lot of good things happen," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "We had the game won. We just had two bad possessions."

Barnes pointed to questionable clock management on the part of his Longhorns late.

Texas had an 86-78 lead with 2:30 remaining when Durant put up a quick 3-pointer that missed the mark.

Duke Crews scored for UT on the other end and later blocked a Durant shot inside with 1:18 remaining, Texas still clinging to an 87-82 lead.

"We had it," Barnes said. "We just needed to finish it."

But it was Lofton who did the finishing, hitting two NBA-range 3's.

"It's two good teams going at each other," Barnes said. "We just never got in the flow in the second half because of the foul trouble."

Justin Mason and Connor Atchley each fouled out for the Longhorns. Durant spent much of the second half parked on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 10:16 remaining.

"I know we lost, but we got some good out of this," Durant said. "We played hard and came together as a team under some adversity.

"We're just going to learn from this."

Texas already had beaten LSU and Arkansas as the Longhorns finished a three-game series against SEC competition.

The loss to Tennessee is the one they'll try to forget.

"They kind of made a quick surge and hit some unbelievable shots," Durant said. "We bounced back and played a good game, but Tennessee was just great tonight."

That included Crews and his 16 points, eight rebounds.

"Duke's my man for life," Durant said. "He's one of my best friends and we met playing on the (AAU) circuit.

"He played well and you can't take anything away from Tennessee. They all played well."