Texas Basketball: 2 studs, 1 dud from UT’s win vs. Houston Christian

After suffering its first loss of the season by over 10 points on Dec. 6 against the No. 8 Marquette Golden Eagles, No. 12 Texas basketball and head coach Rodney Terry got a bounce-back win this weekend at the Moody Center. Texas downed the Houston Christian Huskies in a convincing 27-point win at the Moody Center in Austin on Dec. 9 to get back on track after the double-digit loss to Marquette on the road a few days prior.

While Terry and the Longhorns did get a big 27-point win on the final scoreboard against Houston Christian, this game was closer than what that margin of victory shows. Texas was a slow starter in the first half again at home. Terry’s squad struggled to pull away from Houston Christian in the first half despite entering as 33-point favorites pre-game.

Dillon Mitchell leads No. 12 Texas basketball to a 77-50 win over Houston Christian

It wasn’t until roughly 15 minutes into the first half that the Longhorns got their first lead by a dozen points or more against the Huskies. Texas did go on a late run heading into the locker room at halftime, thanks to a scoring barrage led by senior guard Max Abmas and sophomore forward Dillon Mitchell.

Texas went into the locker room at halftime on an insane 19-0 scoring run.

But the Longhorns were still pretty sluggish out of the gates in the second half, despite the massive scoring run to end the first half. Houston Christian was even winning the second half for a few minutes.

In a similar narrative to how the first half finished, Texas went on a late scoring run to get closer to covering the pre-game 33-point spread. Texas finished with a 77-50 win over Houston Christian on Dec. 9.

Here are two studs and one dud from the Longhorns’ 27-point win over Houston Christian.

Stud: Kadin Shedrick

The frontcourt was the one unit for the Longhorns that performed well against Houston Christian. Led by big performances from redshirt junior center Kadin Shedrick and Mitchell, Texas dominated the paint scoring. Granted, Texas barely won the battle on the glass, 44-43 over Houston Christian.

Shedrick’s efficiency on both ends of the floor was a big factor as to why the Longhorns could get such a comfortable victory over the Huskies. Shedrick was disruptive on defense, registering three blocks and four steals (both game-highs).

Many of the turnovers Shedrick generated resulted in fastbreak points on the other end for the Longhorns.

All these turnovers Shedrick forced also led the Longhorns to a 21-4 romping of Houston Christian in transition scoring. He even ran the floor with the ball in his hands and finished at the rim himself on a few occasions.

Fastbreak points and paint scoring were just two of the ways Shedrick got his points in this game. He also hit the first three-pointer of the season, showing off his range from deep. To round out an efficient afternoon on the offensive end, Shedrick was perfect on two attempts from the free-throw line.