If it wasn’t already clear that men’s basketball head coach Chris Beard is all about culture, look no further than the team’s apparel, emblazoned with the word across the front.

Beard’s Longhorns made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a couple of plays away from beating Purdue, led by fifth overall NBA Draft pick Jaden Ivey. The team has higher aspirations this year, and to achieve them, Beard and his players are hoping to build on their chemistry heading into the coach’s second season at UT.

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“I think there were some hiccups in trying to understand what the culture was (last year),” senior forward Dylan Disu said on Wednesday. “This year, we’ve definitely done well to establish what our culture is, and it’s this way or the highway.”

Disu noted that the only former Longhorn to previously play for Beard was Avery Benson, so it was hard to know last season exactly what he wanted in terms of culture with no one in the building to help instill it. This year though, Beard said he feels like the culture has officially been built.

“We feel like we’re not building a culture anymore, we’re just implementing it and defending it every day,” Beard said.

Disu said the team has bought into the culture and has used it to build relationships with all their teammates in an effort to better themselves on the court.

“To me and our program as a whole, (culture) just means (that) not only is there the brotherhood of this team, but there’s also us having to hold each other accountable, talk to each other and have those difficult talks with one another,” Disu said.

To help instill his culture, Beard has also leaned on bonding experiences to bring the team closer together. He had the squad travel together to Dallas for the Texas-Oklahoma football game Oct. 8.

Beard said the team arrived at the game about two hours early, and at that point, it was too early to go into the game, so they enjoyed the State Fair of Texas. He allowed the team to go off in groups before they met back up later on, giving the Longhorns a chance to play games with one another while experiencing the atmosphere of the Red River Rivalry.

Once the players met back up, Beard said he was reminded of how much of a leader senior forward Timmy Allen has grown into. Allen won a large stuffed animal from a carnival game and after looking around, he found a kid at the fair and gave him the prize.

“Timmy’s special,” Beard said. “He’s got that blend of ultimate competitiveness and swagger, … but also that humility. Timmy gets it.”

The team then went on to watch the game and travel back to Austin together. With the trip and other team bonding activities in mind, Allen said Beard’s efforts have succeeded in building relationships across the team.

“Being able to communicate and build relationships with my teammates to where I could lead and they would listen (has been important),” Allen said. “I’m the same way to them.”