Chris Beard begins his tenure with a 92-48 win over Houston Baptist
The Chris Beard era of Texas basketball began with a resounding 92-48 win over Houston Baptist, and provided a glimpse of what the Longhorns hope the future of the program under the first-year head coach looks like.
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Not only did Texas top the Huskies, but it did so in the Beard style. Texas’ defense, which held HBU to a thin 0.81 points per possession, led to offense, with Texas scoring 29 points off 17 Husky turnovers. The Longhorns shot a blistering 64 percent from the field, including 57 percent from behind the arc.
The best evidence of the UT defense stifling almost every Husky effort? A handful of HBU possessions across the entire contest shut down by 30-second defense, with a chunk of those ending in shot clock violations.
Overall, it was as good a start Texas could have asked for before they take on the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs this Saturday. Especially after only allowing 48 points in front of a packed lower bowl in the Erwin Center.
“That’s what our identity has to be if we’re going to win the kind of games we came here to win,” Beard said of the defense. “I’ve always thought the season starts with defense. You’ll see that in tonight’s games and this week’s games. Teams that defend give themselves a chance because everyone is a work in progress in other areas.”
Texas trailed HBU early in the first half, with the Huskies jumping to a quick 7-3 lead. From there, Texas relied on its defense and three-point efforts, quickly jumping to a seven-point lead thanks to makes from Marcus Carr and Jase Febres.
Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey joined the party, defending on one end, getting out on the break, and finding spaces to shoot from distance on the other side of the floor. Texas went on an 11-0 run between the first half under-12 and under-8, with a sequence of excellent defense leading into a Ramey three capping the double-digit run.
Texas hit 7-of-12 from three in the first half. Even though they were hot from distance, the Longhorns found success inside the arc, too. Carr had five assists in the game, including two in the first half finding teammates cutting to the rim for easy scores against HBU’s man defense.
“Athletic, hard for us to stay in front of and guard,” HBU head coach Ron Cottrell said of Carr postgame.
Carr finished with 10 points and three rebounds in addition to his five assists. He led the Longhorns in minutes with 26, and boosted Texas to a 43-27 lead entering halftime.
BOX SCORE: Texas 92, Houston Baptist 48
“He’s an elite point guard,” Ramey said. “He showed that in the schools he was at before. With us, he plays his game. I just tell Marcus to play him and do him. Tonight, he did a good job of sharing the ball and scoring. He just had a complete game.”
Said Beard about his point guard: “This team’s got a long ways to go, but the key is for these veteran players to calm us down early. It’s a player’s game, so we’ll need some great performances, as we build this team, from individual players. We got that tonight.”
Texas kept the foot on the gas in the second half, taking a 29-point lead into the under-16 timeout. Tre Mitchell scored 13 points in the second 20:00, while true freshman Jaylon Tyson scored nine points in nine second-half minutes. Tyson finished in double figures and didn’t miss any of his five shots in his Longhorn debut.
There were plenty of reasons for the home crowd of 14,683 to remain excited throughout the game. From fast-break dunks, to looks at the entire roster, to six players reaching double-figures, to Division III transfer Tristen Licon hitting two of his three shots from distance.
Ramey led all scorers with 14 points, Jones and Tyson added 11 points, and the trio of Mitchell, Bishop, and Carr added 10 points.
Beard’s only nitpick?
“Tonight, obviously an eye-opening problem: 16 offensive rebounds for Houston Baptist,” Beard said. “We’ve got to clean that up. I would fire the rebounding coach but I think that’s me. So, I’ve got to figure that out quickly.”
It’s one he’ll have to solve quickly before traveling to Spokane, Wash. to face the Zags, who have plenty of height on their roster.
But tonight was a night of celebration for Beard, who invited students to the floor to celebrate his first win as the Longhorn head coach. He’ll deliver a party with them in front of the tower after students filled up their entire section, keeping up his end of a promise.
Tonight, though, the party was on the Erwin Center floor marking beginning of a new era of Longhorn basketball.
