Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from UT’s late rally win vs. Texas State

In the last tune-up game for No. 16 Texas basketball and head coach Rodney Terry, the Texas State Bobcats gave them a run for their money much of the way. Before Texas went on a 28-8 run to close out this run over Texas State at the Moody Center in Austin on Nov. 30, the Bobcats had a one-point lead roughly halfway through the second half.

Texas State actually led for a few minutes of the second half, putting a scare into the Longhorns during a down stretch shooting from the field.

This wasn’t the same team regarding shooting efficiency, especially from beyond the arc, that we witnessed in the season’s first four games at the Moody Center. Entering this matchup against Texas State on Nov. 30, Texas shot nearly 45 percent from beyond the arc and 55 percent from the field.

But it seemed like there was a lid on the basket in the first half during many possessions for the Longhorns. Texas shot just 39 percent from the field and 29 percent from deep in the first half against Texas State.

No. 16 Texas basketball gets another double-digit win at home over Texas State

The good news was that Texas State isn’t a very good shooting team, so they weren’t able to take advantage of the slow Texas start to the night offensively. Texas State shot just 36 percent from the field in the first half and 41 percent for the game.

On the defensive end, the Longhorns were solid for much of the game. Texas limited Texas State to a measly four assists on the night while forcing 13 turnovers. Texas also took pretty good care of the basketball, turning the ball over 10 times.

A strong close to the second half gave the Longhorns the win over the Bobcats by a score of 77-58. Here are two studs and one dud from the Longhorns’ 19-point win over Texas State on Nov. 30.

Stud: Max Abmas, G

Texas’ MVP of this game on the offensive end of the floor was easily senior guard Max Abmas. The former Oral Roberts transfer had arguably his best game as a Longhorn so far, with a game-high 26 points against Texas State on 9-of-18 shooting from the field, 5-of-12 from beyond the arc, and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.

This was the type of standout showing offensively that the Longhorns faithful were expecting from Abmas when Terry landed the prized guard from the transfer portal during the offseason. Abmas, the career scoring leader among active players in the NCAA, scored at a high volume against Texas State, but he did so efficiently and from multiple levels of the floor in the settled half-court offense.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the insane and-1 finish Abmas had driving to the rim against Texas State in the second half. That gave the Longhorns a jolt of energy down the stretch.

Abmas also did a nice job distributing the basketball to his teammates. He finished with a game and season-high six assists while turning the ball over just once. Abmas saw the court well and facilitated the offense at a high level.

This was also one of Abmas’ better defensive efforts during his time as a Longhorn. He racked up one steal while helping limit Texas State’s starting backcourt to just 5-of-12 shooting from the field, along with two assists and two turnovers.

Let’s hope to see this version of Abmas showing up for the Longhorns in their next big game on Dec. 6 against the No. 3 Marquette Golden Eagles in the Big 12/Big East Challenge. Texas will need him to show up in a big way if they want a shot at pulling off the upset in that game against Marquette.