Veterans lead the way in season-opening rout
AUSTIN — Texas forward Brock Cunningham slung a lead pass into the paint, right into the chest of a 6-foot-9 freshman who can do remarkable things in the air.
The youngest player on the Texas roster harbored aspirations of doing just that, planting his feet outside the restricted area and springing into the sky for what would surely have been the most legendary debut bucket in programhistory. Greg Brown III wanted the poster, wanted the SportsCenter highlight, wanted to demolish the rim and the man in his way, UT-RIO Grandevalley 6-foot-8 forward Sean Rhea.
That expected eruption never happened.
Brown missed the dunk. Then hegrabbedthe caromandwentup for a flat-footed two-hand jam. Effective, if not the flashiest first field goal in the history of col-lege hoops.
The debut of Brown, local Vandegrift basketball prodigy andconsensus five-star recruit, was a little rickety. But most heartening for No. 19 Texas (1-0) is how he was able to work through some of those early trials in aconvincing9155 win over the Vaqueros (0-1) inside a socially distanced Erwin Center.
“It’s great to be back on the court tonight,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said.
Brownwasn’t going to bewalled off fromthe paint all night. Eventually, the 6-foot-9 forward found a seam, found a victim and created his opening night highlight.
Stretching tocorral apassonthe wing, Brown whirled around his defender and drove into the paint. He took off after a couple strides, cocked the ball back with the right arm and detonated on UT-RGV
guard Uch Dibiamaka. He sank the and-1 free throw for goodmeasure.
“I think it’s a sign of things to come,” sophomore forward Kai Jones said. “He’s a freak. I can’t wait to see him catch many more of those this season.”
But Brown (11 points, 10 rebounds) wasn’t the star of the show Wednesday night. He shot just 2 of 9 from the field, often settling for tricky pull-up jumpers or losing control on chaotic treks to
the rim. He committed five turnovers and three fouls.
“For him to not play very well and still get a double-double is a good sign because he can play much, much better,” Smart said. “You know, this was a debut for him where I think he was really nervous coming in. He did some good things, but there’s a ton of stuff to take from the tape that we can improve on.”
The veterans delivered in the
first win of Smart’s sixth season while their starry teammate got acclimated to college hoops.
Senior guard Matt Coleman and junior guard Courtney Ramey piloted the offense and pushed the tempo. The former finished with17 points, five assists and two 3-pointers; the latter put up a game-high 19pointsandsix assists, adding five rebounds and two 3s.
“I thought Courtney and Matt did a nice job of leading,” Smart said. “Neither one of them necessarily played a flawless game, but theymade a lot of really goodplays for us.”
Jones was the breakout performer, scoring 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting with eight rebounds. The wiry sophomore’s ability to streak in transition and catch lobs at the rim meshed well with a more uptempo attack than Smart has employed in the past.
“I want to get better at being violent,” Jones said. “With my finishing, getting to the rim, better with my catch-and-shoot 3s — I didn’t shoot any tonight, but I’m gonna continue repping those and working on those.”
Texas limited UT-RGVTO just 26.1 percent shooting, the team’s second-best defensive mark since Smart took over. Texas also won the rebounding battle, 54-36, and allowed only four 3-pointers.
The Longhorns will remain in Austin during Thanksgiving before departing for this year’s Maui Invitational, being held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in Asheville, N.C., due to COVID-19 travel complications. Texas will open the tournament Nov. 30 against Davidson.