Four Point Play: Longhorns open the Moody Center with a 72-57 win over UTEP

Texas’ first regular season outing in the Moody Center was a successful one, with the No. 12 Longhorns taking the victory over UTEP in a game the Miners led for just 26 total seconds. Transfers, newcomers, and program veterans alike made contributions in the first game on Texas’ 2022-23 slate.

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Transfer guard Tyrese Hunter was the focal point of the Texas offense, leading all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He added five rebounds and an assist. He and his teammates put on an efficient shooting performance, shooting 55 percent on the evening despite a mediocre 29 percent from behind the arc.

There were some tenuous moments at times, as the Miners cut what was often a double-digit lead to eight in the last 10 minutes of the second half. But the Longhorns buttoned up lapses and gave the announced 11,313 in attendance something to stand and roar about.

Those roaring moments, mostly transition dunks facilitated by Hunter, brought the crowd to their feet and rattled a UTEP team that gave a game effort but was eventually overmatched.

Transfer health, roster wealth

Hunter was the leading scorer for the Longhorns with his 18 points. Behind him? Fellow transfer Sir’Jabari Rice and his 14 points with six rebounds.

Hunter, an Iowa State transplant, showcased a ball-handling acumen and quickness not seen at Texas since Matt Coleman was on the Forty Acres. He took opportunities in transition, helping the Longhorns to 16 fast-break points. He was the victim of some sloppiness in the first half, with four turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, but he cleaned things up in the second half to be the driving force in the Longhorn offense during his game-high 31 minutes.

Rice drew praise from UTEP head coach Joe Golding, as well as Hunter and Texas head coach Chris Beard. When the Miners cut the Longhorn lead to eight in the second half, Rice stabilized the offense with his work on and off the ball, culminating in a three-pointer that put the lead at 20 with 3:56 left. Those two made the biggest impact in the game.

They were part of a generous rotation. Eleven Longhorns received minutes on Monday night, with nine playing at least 10 minutes. Hunter and Carr led the way with 31 and 30, respectively, followed by Rice and Timmy Allen.

The only two players without previous college basketball experience to play extended minutes on Monday were Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris. Both showed flashes of what made them such highly-touted prospects, but also signs of their inexperience, especially against a team like UTEP built in a similar philosophical mold to the Longhorns.

For those two to be the only green players relied upon for significant contributions shows the work done by Beard and company in the transfer portal. While it isn’t a perfect roster, it is no doubt an experienced one and that experience was evident.

Defensive effort

The Longhorns forced 19 turnovers and scored 21 points off of those miscues. They even were the beneficiary of a rare 10-second violation, though that was more the fault of the UTEP ball-handler as opposed to the Longhorn defense.

Beard preaches effort above all else. That was evident on both ends of the floor, but it was stringly apparent that the offensive was playing in its first true game together, secret scrimmages and exhibitions notwithstanding. The defense, however, looked like that of a typical Beard team save for the brief stretch in the second half where the Miners cut the lead to eight.

The Longhorn head coach used a timeout late in the first half in the midst of a brief UTEP run instigated by a three-plus minute scoreless stretch by Texas. It wasn’t the shooting he had a problem with, it was the defensive and rebounding effort. Aside from that brief stretch, Texas defense did well to put pressure on an overmatched team. They played the style Beard prefers.

Rebounding

This was one of the few areas where the Longhorns were topped by the Miners, and what Beard called the first thing his team will work on during Tuesday’s team activities.

UTEP outrebounded the Longhorns 32-27, including a 12-5 advantage on the offensive glass. There was no menacing 7-foot-3 mountain with size but no skill, nor a 6-foot-8 dynamo who could leap and track the ball better than other players on the court. UTEP’s starting forwards were akin to other college forwards, yet they made life difficult for the Longhorns on the boards.

The most revealing aspects of Texas’ rebounding struggles were who led the team in that metric in the the 15-point win. Hunter’s five boards and Rice’s team-high six were tops on Texas despite both being primarily backcourt players. That’s not a bad thing for those two individually, but Beard would certainly want more than 13 rebounds from Timmy Allen, Dylan Disu, Dillon Mitchell, and Christian Bishop, with none having more than four.

The Mood

The Moody Center lived up to everything Texas could have imagined when it elected to replace the Erwin Center. The crowd, including the capacity student section that forced those who didn’t arrive early enough to a section near the rafters, was engaged for most of the game. The music was louder, but it was night one in the arena and something that can be fixed.

The crowd, all 11,313 in attendance, acted like a regular Texas basketball crowd. The Corral, however, was something most opponents aren’t used to seeing on the Forty Acres. Golding gave credit to the student section surrounding the floor for making life difficult for his players, even rattling them on occasion.

The loudest roar came on a few Texas possessions with under nine minutes left. With the margin only eight, Hunter found Allen in transition for a dunk that brought everyone to their feet. After UTEP made a basket in response, Texas went on a 7-0 run that had the place at its loudest.

The floor seemed a tad slick, maybe still needing more wear for players to get better traction. That seemed to be the only complaint as the surroundings didn’t affect Texas’ shooting.

Texas’ dream arena had a dream opening, and it already feels like it is on its way toward being recognized as a a premier venue for college basketball.