Texas men’s basketball defeated Wyoming 86-63 in its first game back after the Saatva Empire Classic last week.
One thing that gave Texas an advantage off the bat against the Cowboys was the team’s size.
“When you play a team like Texas, obviously you can’t replicate their size and length … It’s a reason why they’re a top 25 (team),” Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder said about the stature of the Texas roster.
With both teams 4–1 at the start of the matchup, there was a strong battle to get ahead by the Longhorns and Cowboys. Texas tried to gain a lead, but a few simple turnovers and incomplete passes matched with the rising Cowboy momentum resulted in a close game for the majority of the first half.
Wyoming kept a tight defense that didn’t give Texas much scoring ability inside the paint. However, graduate forward Kadin Shedrick was an exception with 17 points. With his 6-foot-11-inch build, Shedrick seemed to have little trouble getting the ball and drawing fouls at the block. Shedrick’s presence on the court was a relief since he missed Texas’ game against UConn out of precaution for a lingering shoulder injury.
“(At) Texas, we’re held to a high standard here and they expect excellence out of every team and so we expect excellence out of ourselves,” Shedrick said. “We’re going to compete for a Big 12 Championship this year and we will come out every night and fight. Every fight or every night is going to be a dog fight, but we’re ready to meet those expectations.”
One key component of the matchup was the abundance of free throws. In the first half alone, both teams made it to double bonus. In the second half, Wyoming went into the bonus less than 8 minutes. Texas finished the game with 19 fouls against them and shot 92.3%t from the line in comparison to Wyoming’s 16 fouls and 72.2% at the line.
Texas overall seemed to be more composed in the second half which allowed them to finally establish a substantial lead. Texas led the Cowboys by about 15 points for a majority of the second half.
Graduate guard Max Abmas once again showed he could be a huge help for the Texas offense with his strong shooting game. In the first half alone, he had 13 points with nine of them coming from three-point shots, from what seems to be his favorite spot, the sideline. Abmas finished off the game with 23 points.
“He’s one of those guys, even when he misses you feel great about his shot,” head coach Rodney Terry said.
Graduate guard Ithiel Horton also showed his reliability as a shooter coming off the bench for Texas. He finished off with 11 points and finished 2-2 in the three-point range.
Junior forward Ze’Rik Onyema proved once again he is strong on the defensive end with his rebounding. In his 12 minutes of playing time, he accumulated seven rebounds, the third most of the team with less than half of the other two top rebounders’ playing time.
The Longhorns will keep their home-court advantage on Thursday as they take on Texas State at 8:00 p.m.
