Texas Basketball: Matt Coleman’s clutch basket beats UNC, wins Maui

A huge game-winning basket from senior guard Matt Coleman very late in the second half pushed Texas basketball to win Maui and beat UNC.

The Championship Round of the Maui Invitational saw head coach Shaka Smart and No. 17 ranked Texas basketball take on head coach Roy Williams and the No. 14 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Texas got through the Davidson Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers in their first two round of their Maui Invitational run.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels got through the UNLV Rebels and Stanford Cardinal to reach the Maui Invitational final. And both Texas and UNC came into this key Maui Invitational Championship Round showdown with a record of 3-0. The lone other win this season came over the UTRGV Vaqueros at home back in their opener on Nov. 25.

Moreover, this Maui Invitational was truly a dream run for Smart and the Longhorns. They slid by Davidson in the first round, by the final score of 78-76, and then dominated Indiana by a score of 66-44. Indiana actually came into that second round matchup with Texas as a 1.5-point favorite ahead of tip off.

UNC was also the favorite over the Longhorns in the Championship Round of the Maui Invitational, by less than two points. And Texas proved why that betting line was so close, despite the Tar Heels coming into this season with a lot more hype.

The driving force to the win for the Longhorns over the Tar Heels was senior standout guard Matt Coleman. After a near-double-double in Texas’ win over Indiana, Coleman had another huge game against the Tar Heels.

Coleman led the way for Texas, with a game-high 22 points, on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. He also amassed three assists and one steal. It was the game-winning bucket that Coleman hit with less than one second remaining in the second half that truly made this performance special for he and his team.

Moreover, Coleman did get a good bit of help from the likes of true freshman power forward Greg Brown and sophomore big man Kai Jones. Brown finished up this game with 10 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Meanwhile, Jones was huge off the bench once again.

The perfect shooting streak from the field to start the season was snapped for Jones in this game, but he still had a very solid outing. He registered 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Jones shot 4-of-5 from the field, hit his one attempt from beyond the arc, and was perfect in three tries from the charity stripe.

Texas shot really well from three-point range. They hit on 9-of-22 attempts (40.9 percent) from beyond the arc. And they did well for most of the game to minimize turnovers, coughing up the ball just 11 times compared to 14 for the Tar Heels.

Once again, the Texas defense was stout. They held UNC below 42 percent shooting from the field and a dismal 1-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Texas also got 10 steals compared to four for the Tar Heels.

Where Texas started to get into trouble in the second half was with fouls. They did have a whopping 25 personal fouls, compared to just 14 for UNC. That is not a mark that needs to continue for Smart and the Longhorns.

Texas now moves to a record of 4-0 (0-0 Big 12) on the season after taking down the Tar Heels. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels now own a record of 3-1 (0-0 ACC) after this game. Although, things won’t get much easier from here as the Longhorns take on the Villanova Wildcats in the Big 12/Big East Battle on Dec. 6.