No. 12 Texas will return home and look to get back on the winning track when it squares off against Houston Christian on Saturday afternoon in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (6-2) have little time to lick their wounds after they were thoroughly outplayed on Wednesday in an 86-65 loss at No. 8 Marquette as part of the Big East/Big 12 Battle. Texas surrendered a 13-0 run late in the first half to fall behind 42-28 at halftime and then never made up any ground after the break.
“We were where we wanted to be late in the first half, and then their run allowed them to get some separation,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “We didn’t close the half the way we needed to. When you give a really good team on their home court that kind of separation, it’s really hard to come back from.”
Max Abmas led the Longhorns with 25 points while Chendall Weaver added 10 points off the bench and Dillon Mitchell grabbed 10 rebounds. Texas, which came into the contest limiting opponents to 27.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc, allowed Marquette to make 14 3-pointers (on 30 attempts).
“We didn’t bring the energy and intensity that we needed to,” Abmas said.
The Longhorns hit 4 of 16 from 3-point range and were outscored 42-12 from deep. Marquette also won the rebounding battle 37-30. It was Texas’ biggest loss of the Terry era.
“In terms of offensive rebounding, we just weren’t able to get the job done after we thought coming into the game that was an aspect we had an advantage in,” Terry said. “But give Marquette credit — they were physical.”
The Longhorns are 5-0 in home games and 1-1 on a neutral floor. The Marquette contest was their first true road game. Texas, which is 0-2 against Top 25 opponents, will have four home games and a neutral-floor contest against LSU in Houston before starting Big 12 play.
Houston Christian heads to Austin after a dominating 95-58 win at home over Southwestern Adventist on Wednesday. The Huskies (1-6) scored the game’s first 14 points, led 52-33 at halftime and did more than enough to hold on for their first win of the season.
Five players scored in double figures for Houston Christian, led by Jay Alvarez’s season-high-tying 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Michael Imariagbe added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies, while Bonke Maring had 13 points and 12 boards, Dominic Capriotti hit for 12 points and Marcus Greene contributed 11 points and seven assists.
Houston Christian held Southwestern Adventist to 31.7 percent shooting from the floor — and just 25.7 percent after halftime.
The Saturday game at Texas will be Houston Christian’s fourth this season against a team from the Big 12 Conference, as the Huskies fell against BYU, Oklahoma State and TCU. Houston Christian’s six losses were by an average of 21.8 points.
The Huskies will visit No. 21 Texas A&M on Dec. 22 before opening their Southland Conference schedule at home against Nicholls on Jan. 6.
–Field Level Media