Texas coach Vic Schaefer tried to lighten the mood four days ago. No sense in getting all knotted up about facing No. 2 South Carolina, he said last Thursday. Come Sunday, it’s just a basketball game.

“We’re pretty good. They’re pretty good,” the Texas women’s coach said. “Let’s go play.”

It’s a make-or-miss game, and for whatever reason, the fifth-ranked Longhorns simply couldn’t get the ball to go in the hoop at Colonial Life Arena. Madison Booker had her worst day in burnt orange, making only three of 19 shots. Aaliyah Moore went 2-for-9 and Shay Holle 1-for-5.

By the time it was over, South Carolina had easily secured a 67-50 victory while Texas shot 27.8% for the third-worst day in Schaefer’s five seasons at UT.

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“Yeah, they’re a tough and scrappy team. We knew that. But we were like 12-for-32 at the rim,” associate head coach Elena Lovato said. “So we were getting to the rim. We knew that we could attack, and just didn’t finish tonight.”

Texas’ nine first-quarter points was the lowest scoring quarter output of the year. The 22 first-half points was a season low. It’d be a little funny if it wasn’t so unbelievable.

Booker started the game 0-for-9 missing shots in the paint she’ll make in her sleep. The Horns had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half and only six second-chance points.

On the other end, the Gamecocks (16-1, 4-0 SEC) couldn’t miss. Dawn Staley’s bunch went 15-for-21 in the first half and didn’t need second chances. In fact, South Carolina had zero second-chance points in the first half en route to a 39-22 lead at the break.

The last time Texas (16-2, 3-1) got dominated like this? South Carolina in the 2021 Elite Eight. In that NCAA Tournament loss, Texas shot .230. There was another miserable night against Baylor a few weeks prior when Texas shot .246.

“We’ll break down film, we’ll get them in by position, and we’ll have one-on-ones with them, and then, of course, coach (Schaefer) will have the team film session,” Lovato said. “But there was a lot of kind of selfish play on our end. We usually share the ball a little bit better than that.”

Lovato gave full credit to the Gamecocks’ defense. “They’re scrappy. They’re greedy. They sped us up a little bit.” Maybe the Horns need to turn their men’s practice players loose, Lovato suggested, “so we can have more composure in a game like this.”

There some bright moments here and there. Guard Rori Harmon drew two charges, prompting Staley to kick the scorers’ table. Kyla Oldacre had a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Freshman Justice Carlton hung in there, going 4-for-9 and had eight points.

But this wasn’t anything close to what Schaefer had in mind this early in SEC play. Definitely not what he wanted to kickstart a three-game road trip. Texas plays at Auburn on Thursday and then at Maryland next Monday in the Coretta Scott King Classic.

Texas isn’t back home at Moody Center until the Jan. 23 matchup with Tennessee.