COLLEGE STATION — Basketball was supposed to be easier in the football-crazy SEC. No more frustrating winter trips to Phog Allen, Hilton, the Hub City or even Waco.

This new league has welcomed Texas with open arms. Well, the soccer, volleyball and football coaches seem happy, anyway.

Rodney Terry? Not so much.

His Longhorns looked disjointed from start to finish Saturday night as the 13th-ranked Aggies demolished their rivals 80-60 inside a roaring, sold-out Reed Arena. 

The thing was all tied at 37 at halftime. Then, the Aggies got six rebounds in the first three minutes after the break, and “they came out and punched us in the second half,” UT’s Kadin Shedrick said. This iteration of the Lone Star Showdown was more like a Lone Star smashup.

“Just a learning lesson” Shedrick added, “You gotta play all 40 minutes.”

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Granted, A&M (12-2, 1-0 SEC) is led by Wade Taylor IV, someone who will soon become the school’s all-time leading scorer. But the majority of this Aggies’ roster has been together for three years. They know the drill. They get it. Zhuric Phelps had a team-high 18 points and Pharrel Payne had 15 more.

These Horns (11-3, 0-1) are mostly transfers and freshmen They’re still learning who’s all in the SEC.

But as Terry pointed out, the Aggies didn’t exactly tower over the Horns. The nation’s best offensive rebounding team was plus-10 on the glass and turned it over just seven times. A&M attacked the rim and got an eye-popping 48 points in the paint.

“It’s what in your chest. They’re not a big team themselves. It’s 6-8 over there, 6-9 at most. Size got nothing to do with it,” Terry said. “You’ve got to be able to out-compete other teams.”

How does the new Lone Star Showdown work between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies?

Just like the previous version, a points system will be implemented determined by on-field results over the year

On most nights, if the Horns can get four players in double figures, they’ll be in good shape. Tramon Mark had 14 points, Arthur Kaluma had 13 and Jordan Pope got 12.

But it really stands out when freshman Tre Johnson had just 11 points on 2-of-13 shooting. The Horns have banked on their star shooter to fill up the stat sheet, and it was noticeable when he missed two recent games with a right hip problem.

The Aggies got in his face and made Johnson shoot off the bounce. He went 0-for-5 from 3-point range. As a team, Texas was 7-for-26 beyond the arc.

“Anytime you’re a young player, you know you’re going to have nights where you have to continue to grow and understand and continue to work the game,” Terry said. “He’ll learn from this in terms of knowing, hey, this game is a 40-minute game. You can’t pick and choose when you want to be aggressive and get things done.

“But you can’t ever fault his want-to, his competitiveness and will to win.”

It didn’t help that Texas went ice cold down the stretch. The Horns scored just five points over a five-minute stretch late when the Aggies turned a five-point game into a blowout.

Jump shots alone won’t get it done, regardless if this was the Big 12, the SEC or the NBA. It’s all about going to the rim, forcing contact and converting every opportunity.

“Definitely have to have more penetration getting towards the rim and not just to score but also to kick out opportunities,” Kaluma said. “We’re very talented team. We got very talented individuals. And at the end of the day, we’re just still piecing it all together.”

Unfortunately, there’s no more directional schools to bully — and no easy quad one victories left on paper. Texas hosts No. 2 Auburn on Tuesday and then No. 1 Tennessee — led by Terry’s mentor Rick Barnes — on Saturday at Moody Center.

“I feel like we don’t have to stress it. I mean, we’ve got a pretty old team now,” Kaluma said. “Everybody’s been around the block. Everybody understands what it takes to win. And so now we just got to get one step closer every single day, 1% better every single day. And I feel like we getting it.”