The Texas Longhorns recorded the first win of the Sean Miller era with a convincing 97-60 victory over the Lafayette Leopards on Saturday at the Moody Center, marking the 24th straight win in a home opener for the Longhorns.
Texas shot 52 percent from the field and accomplished Miller’s goal of playing with better pace and ball movement, turning 15 Lafayette turnovers into 24 points and notching 20 fast-break points. After recording only six assists in Tuesday’s season-opening loss to the No. 6 Blue
Devils, the Longhorns shared the basketball often and effectively in recording 21 assists on 33 made baskets with senior guard Jordan Pope and junior wing Daily Swain each recording six.
Both players were among six Horns to reach double digits, led by 16 points from graduate guard Tramon Mark, who only scored two points in Charlotte. Mark was efficient inside the arc, making 4-of-5 two-point attempts and adding steals. Senior guard Chendall Weaver also bounced back from a subpar performance against Duke, scoring 15 points and flashing his athleticism with several impressive finishes, getting to the free-throw line, and grabbing four offensive rebounds among his eight total boards.
The Longhorns took an 18 point lead into halftime and extended it by outscoring the overmatched Leopards by 19 points in the second half. Despite the expected blowout, Lafayette did provide some challenges to the Texas defense with its Princeton-style offense that forced the Horns to regularly defend back cuts, which resulted in some mixed results for the home team, which allowed the visitors to shoot 40 percent overall and record 11 layups.
Defending the three-point line went better for Texas, which held Lafayette to 5-of-20 shooting from three.
Meanwhile, the Longhorns showed some positive signs of development, not only because they hit 39.1 percent, but also because of who made them.
Offseason work by Swain continues to pay off as the Xavier transfer hit 2-of-4 attempts from distance, although his deliberate, low release requires plenty of space and time that may not continue to exist in SEC play. Against Lafayette, which generally preferred to go under screens, Swain had enough of both.
A 73.7-percent free-throw shooter at St. John’s last year, junior guard Simeon Wilcher entered the season as a candidate to show significant improvement from his 29.7-percent shooting mark from distance, according to Miller, and went 3-of-4 on Saturday, including demonstrating the confidence to pull up in transition.
So while Pope and Mark combined to go 2-of-9 from three, those players have combined to make 263 three-pointers in their respective careers — they will both have better days this season.
Texas remains at the Moody Center for a Wednesday matchup against Farleigh Dickinson in the second game of a four-game homestand. Tip is at 7 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
