Texas basketball defeated Texas State in a 77-58 matchup in the Moody Center Thursday, keeping its undefeated home record intact with five wins.
“That’s a good team out there,” Texas State head coach Terrence Johnson said. “They’re extremely well coached and I’m not talking about the Bobcats, I’m talking about the Longhorns.”
Texas blew a substantial 25-4 lead that it held at the beginning of the first half, allowing the Bobcats to come up within 10 points at half, 36-26. Texas State took the lead for the first time at the beginning of the second half, 40-38. From that point on it seemed to be a closer matchup, until Texas pulled away at the end to secure a win over the team located only 30 minutes away.
Once again, graduate guard Max Abmas showed his importance to the Texas roster, finishing with 26 points, the leading scorer for both teams, and carrying out a personal season high while helping Texas regain its lead.
“[I’m] continuing to stay the course and trust my work, never getting too high or too low, that’s big for me,” Abmas said. “I’m going to shoot with a lot of confidence.”
Sophomore forward Dillon Mitchell also boosted the team with his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Texas State was not afraid to be aggressive, creating a hectic and jumbled atmosphere for the Texas offense that created multiple turnovers and incomplete passes. The Bobcats led in steals with eight to Texas’ five and put up 19 fouls as a team. Texas only accumulated a 29.2% for 3-pointers, going 7-24 on attempts, below their usual average of about 37%.
The Texas defense initially prohibited the Bobcats from putting up shots, but, by the second half, the Longhorns allowed Texas State to drive through the lane multiple times.
“I want to be a person that’s going to be out there and rebound and defend,” Mitchell said about his defensive goals. “That’s my two calling cards.”
Texas State senior guard Dylan Dawson and junior forward Brandon Love were two key factors in creating such a tight game, with 15 and 14 points, respectively, and were the two top Bobcat scorers.
What seemed to be one of the missing pieces for the Longhorns was graduate forward Kadin Shedrick’s usual scoring output. Shedrick only accumulated 11 points total as opposed to his usual high scoring performances. The 6-foot-11-inch transfer from Virginia tallied up 17 points Sunday against Wyoming and his career high of 27 two weeks against Louisville.
The Longhorns will have their work cut out for them next week as they will take on No. 3 Marquette in Milwaukee on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. CT and face former head coach, Shaka Smart.
