2 studs 1 dud from Texas basketball’s routine win over UTRGV

The fifth straight win to open up the regular season arrived for head coach Chris Beard and No. 4 ranked Texas basketball to close out the Leon Black Classic at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin on Nov. 26. Texas also rounded out the Leon Black Classic this week with two wins in two games.

Beard and the Longhorns got the win on Nov. 26 in Austin over the UTRGV Vaqueros. And the other win in the Leon Black Classic this week came over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Edinburg, TX, on Nov. 21 by a convincing final score of 73-48.

The win over UTRGV this weekend was even more comfortable for Texas, though, coming by the final score of 91-54.

There was never a point in this game when it looked like Texas wasn’t in complete control. We even got to see Beard and the Longhorns empty the bench for the third game this season before even the midway point of the second half.

Texas was consistent in this one, beating UTRGV by at least a margin of 15 points in each half of the game.

Here’s a look at the studs and duds for the Longhorns in this Nov. 26 win over UTRGV.

Studs and one dud for No. 4 Texas basketball after downing UTRGV

Stud No. 1: Dylan Disu, C

Heading into this game, it looked like senior big man Dylan Disu could be in for a big afternoon given the matchup advantage he had against a physically-overmatched UTRGV frontcourt. And that’s exactly what Disu delivered at Gregory Gym in this game.

Disu was a stud end-to-end for the Longhorns, delivering a half dozen points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field. But it wasn’t the point tally that distinguished Disu in this one.

The Vanderbilt transfer was a menace on defense for Texas, and he was a monster on the boards on both ends of the floor. Disu gave Texas a game and season-high 10 rebounds (including four offensive boards), four assists, a whopping five blocks, three steals, and just a couple of turnovers.

Any way that Disu could make an impact on this game he did at some point.

It’s crazy to think that all this production from Disu came in just 19 minutes on the floor.

Dud No. 1: Timmy Allen, F

It was good that Texas got a big performance out of the frontcourt trio of Disu, senior big man Christian Bishop, and freshman forward Dillon Mitchell in this game. That’s because senior forward Timmy Allen continued his slump to start the season.

Allen just couldn’t get anything going on either end of the floor, posting just two points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field while missing one attempt from beyond the arc. He also posted four rebounds, two assists, no steals, no blocks, and two turnovers in this game.

In all but maybe one game this season, Allen was sluggish on both ends of the floor and largely held this unit back.

Hopefully, we see a rejuvenated version of Allen in Texas’ huge non-conference game in the Big 12/Big East Battle on Dec. 1 against the top-10 ranked Creighton Blue Jays.

Stud No. 2: Sir’Jabari Rice, SG

Another Longhorns player that I talked about leading up to this UTRGV game on Nov. 26 was the former New Mexico State Aggies graduate transfer and senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice. The three-time All-WAC honoree was fantastic coming off the bench for the Longhorns this weekend.

In 25 minutes played off the bench, Rice came up with a game and season-high 19 points on an efficient 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.

But what made this performance so special in terms of the offensive efficiency from Rice was the fact that he posted 19 points and five assists while turning the ball over just once.

That was largely a positive takeaway coming out of this game as Texas forced twice as many turnovers as it coughed up, with UTRGV turning it over 22 times compared to 11 for the Longhorns.