No. 18 Texas looks to continue its impressive start to the season and get closer to determining its true player rotation when it hosts Delaware State on Friday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (1-0) opened the season with a resounding 88-56 win at home over Incarnate Word on Monday. Four of Texas’ top five scorers in the win transferred into the program in the offseason, led by UCF transfer Ithiel Horton’s 17 points.
Kadin Shedrick (Virginia) and Max Abmas (Oral Roberts) added 12 each and Texas also got 11 points apiece from returner Tyrese Hunter and Ze’Rik Onyema (UTEP). The Longhorns hit the visitors with wave after wave on both ends of the floor, leading by 31 points at halftime and by as many as 38 in the second half while continually rotating its players.
Every Longhorn who appeared in the first half made a field goal, part of a 55 percent effort from the field over the first 20 minutes.
“It’s always an exciting time to start the season,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “So much of this time of year is about us establishing an identity, which is going to be us guarding really hard, playing fast in transition and doing an excellent job on the boards. We did a good job at those things in the win.”
Terry won his first game as permanent head coach and improved to 23-8 as the leader of the Longhorns’ program dating back to his time as acting and interim head coach last season.
Shedrick’s performance was the most surprising as he had been nursing a shoulder injury in the offseason and wasn’t even cleared for full-court practice until Tuesday. He hit all three of his field goals and was 6 of 7 from the free throw line in 12 minutes of court time.
“I’m working to get my wind back, but it felt good to be out there,” Shedrick said. “I’ll definitely still need to work on it over the next few games. I can’t lie, it’s definitely different from Virginia in terms of the style of play.
“We’re gonna keep working through our next few games and keep building on Tuesday,” he added. “You know, it’s just a starting point.”
Delaware State (0-1), which plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, heads to Austin after a 79-45 loss at Penn State on Monday. Corey Perkins and Martaz Robinson scored nine points each to lead the Hornets, who also got 19 points from their bench but shot just 28.8 percent from the floor.
Delaware State scored just 18 points in the first half, after which it trailed by 21. The Hornets’ defense did its part in the Penn State game, forcing 21 turnovers.
Robinson was selected to the preseason All-MEAC First Team after playing all 30 games last season, averaging 11.8 points per game. The Hornets were picked to finish sixth in the league’s preseason poll after ended up in seventh in the conference.
Delaware State’s non-conference slate also includes a game at the ACC’s Wake Forest on Dec. 18.
“We will have learned a great deal about ourselves before entering conference play,” Hornets coach Stan Waterman said.
–Field Level Media