Texas basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from Sweet 16 win over Xavier

A huge commanding win for interim head coach Rodney Terry and the two-seed Texas basketball was delivered on March 24 over the three-seed Xavier Musketeers and head coach Sean Miller. Texas essentially controlled this game end-to-end, leading for more than 98 percent of the contest.

The Longhorns jumped out to a double-digit lead with a little more than five minutes remaining in the first half. And Texas held that double-digit for most of the remaining 25 minutes of the Sweet 16 contest against the Musketeers.

This win showed a lot of resilience for the Longhorns. Texas dealt with a really impactful injury early in this game, with senior big man Dylan Disu reportedly (per ESPN) dealing with a foot issue. Disu will reportedly be day-to-day heading into the Elite Eight against the five-seed Miami Hurricanes on March 26.

But the fact was that the Longhorns had to fight through a big-time hurdle with Disu only playing two minutes against Xavier. Texas got the win by holding a Xavier team averaging a nation-leading 19.3 assists per game coming into this one and more than 81 points per game to just a dozen assists and 71 points.

Christian Bishop’s solid play off the bench lifts No. 2 Texas basketball past No. 3 Xavier

Here’s a look at two studs and one dud from the Longhorns’ 83-71 win over Xavier in the Sweet 16 Midwest Region on March 24.

Stud No. 1: Tyrese Hunter, G

Coming into this game, I had mentioned that we needed to see the version of sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter that showed up in March last year for the Iowa State Cyclones.

It goes without saying that Hunter was able to bring some real scoring punch to the table for the Longhorns in this win over Xavier. He put up a team-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-3 from the free-throw line.

Hunter was also really locked in on the defensive end of the floor, putting up two blocks while holding the standout guard duo of Colby Jones and Souley Boum for the Musketeers at bay. While Jones and Boum did combine for 27 points, they also turned the ball over a half-dozen times.

If Hunter is this dialed in on both ends of the floor against Miami, Texas is going to be a really tough out no matter how good the Canes play.

Furthermore, it was really difficult to pick for the first stud spot on this list between Hunter and senior shooting guard/wing Sir’Jabari Rice. These two were key to Texas being able to score 83 points and ultimately get a dozen-point edge over the Musketeers.

But the fact that Hunter led the team in scoring while essentially being automatic from downtown was what landed him in this stud spot over Rice.