Ithiel Horton scored 17 points, and Kadin Shedrick and Max Abmas added 12 each as No. 18 Texas used a dominating first half to set the table for an 88-56 win over visiting Incarnate Word Monday in Austin, Texas, in the season opener for both teams.
Texas (1-0) hit the visitors 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 on the court.
The Longhorns’ top three scorers transferred to the team in the offseason. Horton played last year at UCF, Abmas came to Austin from Oral Roberts and Shedrick was at Virginia.
Shedrick 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.
Texas also got 11 points apiece from Tyrese Hunter and Ze’rik Onyema.
Incarnate Word’s Sky Wicks led all scorers with 26 points.
The Longhorns trailed only once, 6-5, after a layup by Wicks with 15:21 to play in the first half. Texas then ripped off 21 straight points, with those points scored by seven different players and capped by a jumper by Chendall Weaver at the 9:54 mark of the half.
That decisive surge was followed by a 15-6 run over the next six-plus minutes, with a 3-pointer by Brock Cunningham eventually staking the Longhorns to a 41-12 advantage. There was no letup from Texas in the final stretch of the half, scoring six of the final seven points to take a 48-17 lead to the break.
Eight players scored for the Longhorns in the first half, led by Shedrick’s 10 points. Texas outshot the Cardinals 59.1 percent to 20.6 percent over the opening 20 minutes and forced 11 turnovers that led to 18 points. The Longhorns’ bench scored 15 points in the half, nearly matching Incarnate Word’s team total.
Wicks had 8 points (on 13 shots) to lead the Cardinals in the first half.
–Field Level Media