The Moody Center made Texas' win even more fun
Inside the Moody Center last night, a party started for the No. 11 Texas Longhorns’ game versus the Gonzaga Bulldogs. And it never stopped.
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While I had been inside the Moody once before, I’d yet to be for a game, until last night.
And it was raucous. The student section nearly encircles the arena; it’s wrapped behind both benches and both baskets. “270 degrees” as minister of culture Matthew McConaughey would say.
Perhaps the best description of the atmosphere last night is the simplest. It was fun, from the start to the finish.
The Horns, led by the energy and speed of Tyrese Hunter, played hard.
Typically, Texas and any college basketball team suffer a prolonged lag somewhere during the game. For Texas, the only “lag” I felt was to begin the game.
Other than that, Texas took it to the Gonzaga Bulldogs in waves of athleticism, size, tenacity and execution.
Whether it was Hunter hitting an open three, Sir’Jabari Rice smoothly operating within the confines of the offense or Marcus Carr hitting a mid-range jumper, the three guards gave Gonzaga fits in a variety of ways.
Then there was the relentless defense that caused multiple turnovers. A group of Brock Cunningham, Christian Bishop and Dylan Disu solved the problem of Drew Timme. And Gonzaga, after the first ten minutes, rarely got open looks the rest of the way.
Freshmen Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris may be more prized for their offense but both played extremely hard on defense, too. Those thunderous dunks of Mitchell to close the game nearly brought the house down.
In all, it was a complete performance for Texas, one of the best and most complete Texas basketball wins in recent memory. And Chris Beard appears to be the perfect conductor of the concert.
