Brown’s debut seen as ‘sign of things to come’ for Longhorns
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 program history. Greg Brown III wanted the poster, wanted the Sportscenter highlight, wanted to demolish the rim and the man in his way, UT-RIO Grande Valley 6foot-8 forward Sean Rhea.
That expected eruption never happened.
Brown missed the dunk. He grabbed the carom and went up for a two-hand jam. Effective, if not the flashiest first field goal in the history of college hoops.
The debut of Brown, local Vandegrift basketball prodigy and consensus 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 a convincing 91-55 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.
Brown wasn’t going to be walled off from the paint all night. Eventually, the 6-foot-9 forward found a seam, found a victim and created his opening night highlight.
Stretching to corral a pass on the 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 good measure.
“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.
“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 with 17 points, five assists and two 3pointers; the latter put up a gamehigh 19 points and six assists.
“I thought Courtney and Matt did a nice job of leading,” Smart said. “Neither one of them necessarily played a flawless game, but they made a lot of really good plays 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 up-tempo 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.”