Texas Basketball: Longhorns keep rolling with dominant win over IU 66-44

Another big win was delivered for Texas basketball on the afternoon of Dec. 1, by beating the upstart Indiana Hoosiers by 22 points.

There is a ton of momentum rolling in the direction of head coach Shaka Smart and the Texas basketball program at the moment. Texas got off to about as good of a start as the fans on the Forty Acres could ask for in the Maui Invitational, beating the Davidson Wildcats in the first round on Nov. 30, and then taking care of business in dominant fashion against head coach Archie Miller and the talented Indiana Hoosiers on the afternoon of Dec. 1.

Texas got the win over Indiana in the second round of the Maui Invitational (played in Asheville, NC, this year) by a very convincing final score of 66-44. That was a much improved performance off an already tough win for Smart and the Longhorns over a stingy Davidson team the day prior. Texas got the win over Davidson by the narrow final score of 78-76 on the afternoon of Nov. 30.

Now Smart and the Longhorns will wait and see who they get to face in the Championship Round of the Maui Invitational, on the afternoon of Dec. 2, as the North Carolina Tar Heels take on the Stanford Cardinal. The winner of the other second round game between UNC and Stanford will determine who the Longhorns face in the Championship Round.

But in this impressive win over the Hoosiers, the Longhorns proved that this team can be for real. No. 17 ranked Texas got huge performances in this game out of senior guard Matt Coleman and sophomore forward Brock Cunningham.

Coleman registered a team-high 16 points to go along with two rebounds, three assists, and two steals. He shot a solid 6-of-11 from the field, 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. This was the best game of the season so far for Coleman.

Meanwhile, Cunningham contributed a lot for the Longhorns coming off the bench. He registered six points, a whopping 11 rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Cunningham shot 2-of-3 from the field (all of which were attempts from downtown).

Texas also got solid performances out of junior guard Courtney Ramey (who continued his streak to start the season of scoring in double figures), senior big man Royce Hamm Jr., and sophomore power forward Kai Jones. Before fouling out, Jones gave the Longhorns four points (on a perfect 2-of-2 from the field), five rebounds, and two assists.

Indiana didn’t get much out of their starting five, as the Texas defense largely suffocated any of their offensive efforts. Sophomore star big man Trayce Jackson-Davis did give the Hoosiers a game-high 17 points to go along with four rebounds, no assists, one steal, and one block.

With the win over Indiana in the books for Texas, they move their record on the season so far to a perfect 3-0 (0-0 Big 12). Meanwhile, Indiana moves to a record of 2-1 (0-0 Big Ten) following their decimating loss this afternoon.

Indiana will now face the loser of the second round Maui Invitational matchup between UNC and Stanford. The opponents for both Texas and Indiana are determined as UNC and Stanford tip off on the afternoon of Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. CT.