New-look Texas will look to interrupt into the win column when it hosts Lafayette in Saturday’s dwelling opener in Austin, Texas.
It’s the first of 4 straight dwelling video games towards mid-major opponents for Texas upfront of a visit to Hawaii to play within the Maui Invitational on Thanksgiving week. The stretch ought to give the Longhorns loads of time and recreation exercise to get higher acclimated to one another and to the calls for of recent coach Sean Miller.
The Longhorns opened their season and Miller’s tenure with a 75-60 loss to No. 6 Duke on Tuesday within the inaugural Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte. Dailyn Swain scored 16 factors to guide Texas within the loss whereas Matas Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope had 15 factors apiece.
Texas led by a degree on the break however surrendered a 10-0 Duke run to open the second half. The Longhorns rallied to inside 51-48 halfway by means of the second however have been in the end doomed by one other Blue Devils surge.
The Longhorns shot 32.2% from the ground, made simply 5 of 17 3-point makes an attempt and have been harm by 16 turnovers.
“The extra we play video games, the longer we’re collectively, I consider that we’ll be a greater crew, a extra aggressive crew, and a crew that may win greater video games later within the 12 months,” Miller mentioned. “That does not imply we’re beginning off with a bunch of excuses. I’ve to remind myself that that is the beginning line, not the end line.”
The Longhorns have received 23 straight dwelling openers and are 104-15 all-time in home-opening contests.
Lafayette (1-1) heads to Austin after a 79-44 win over Division III Dickinson on Wednesday. Caleb Williams scored a game-high 16 factors and Andrew Phillips added 15 earlier than the Leopards emptied their bench.
The win allowed Lafayette to bounce again from an 85-76 loss at Saint Joseph’s on Monday of their season opener.
The Leopards have adopted a “win in any respect prices” perspective this season, in response to Williams.
“We knew final 12 months we had an excellent crew, however this 12 months we got here again with youthful guys,” Williams mentioned. “Everyone doubted us, and we’re simply making an attempt to flip the script.”
–Discipline Degree Media
