Texas Longhorns Wake Up, Beat St. Edward's in Exhibition After Early Scare
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns hosted head coach Rodney Terry's alma mater for a preseason exhibition game at the Moody Center on Monday night, as Austin-based D-II St. Edward's Hilltoppers made the short 15-minute drive from south of downtown up to the Forty Acres.
The Longhorns hosted the Arkansas Razorbacks for an exhibition last season and dominated en route to a blowout win.
Things were hardly as simple against St. Edward's.
After heading into halftime down 39-32 after a mistake-filled first half, the No. 18 Longhorns woke up and dominated in the final minutes, out-scoring St. Edward's 52-24 in the second half before cruising to a 84-63 win.
Texas guards Max Abmas (18 points) and Tyrese Hunter (22 points, nine assists) led the way while Dillon Mitchell added 14 points and nine rebounds. Ithiel Horton (nine points) and Ze'Rik Onyema (eight points, nine rebounds) also had notable contributions in their unofficial Texas debut.
"We found out a lot about ourselves," Terry said. "At halftime, guys buckled down and knew they had to come out and really set the tone defensively. We really changed the game with our intensity."
St. Edward's was led by guard Blake Nielsen (16 points, eight rebounds) while center Sean Elkinton (13 points, six rebounds), guard Gavino Ramos (12 points) and forward Aleu Aleu (11 points) all added double-digit scoring efforts.
The Longhorns, still without injured big men Dylan Disu and Kadin Shedrick, had a starting five of Mitchell, Horton, Abmas, Brock Cunningham and Hunter.
Tyrese Hunter
© Mikala Compton, Austin American-Statesman
Texas came out a bit flat against a St. Edward's team that was no doubt energized by the large number of Hilltopper fans that came to support them behind the away bench and student section.
St. Edward's had 10 total rebounds, five offensive boards and two blocks by the 15:42 mark of the first half. The Hilltoppers had an impressive defensive possession right before the 12-minute mark where the Longhorns dribbled and passed for the entire shot clock and didn't get a shot off before being called for a violation.
St. Edward's went on an 17-5 run over about a four-minute stretch to take a 31-21 lead. The Longhorns were only able to cut the deficit to as little as six from that point until halftime. A triple from Hunter - who led Texas with 10 points at halftime - a few seconds before the final buzzer cut the lead to seven headed into the locker room, as St. Edward's led 39-32 after an impressive opening 20 minutes.
The Longhorns committed seven turnovers in the first half. Making up for this with points was hard to come by, as the St. Edward's defense allowed very few easy shots Texas got log-jammed on the perimeter before forcing a jumper on a few occasions.
The second-half alarm clock went off quickly for the Longhorns to start the second half. Improved defense and rebounding led to some run outs in transition for Abmas and Hunter, who combined to score 13 of the team's first 15 points of the second half.
“I had fun tonight," Hunter said. "Me and Max just out there gelling with each other. First one really in the books with each other, but I feel really good out there with him. Just keep learning each other’s game."
The Longhorns went on a 10-0 run to take a 44-40 lead while holding St. Edward's without a field goal for nearly the first seven minutes of the second half.
From this point on, Texas started running away with it - and quickly.
Mitchell had 12 of his 14 points in the second half, as some easy scores in transition helped swing momentum and make the game a blowout in a blink,
The Longhorns will host Incarnate Word in the season opener next Monday.
