The clock hadn’t gone past the first two minutes of the game when Texas men’s basketball forced Chicago State to call its first timeout. The Longhorns led 7-0 while the Cougars already had three fouls.
The early dominance set the tone for the game.
A 7-point lead became 12- and 20-point leads only in the first half. A group of players that mostly met each other during the summer no longer looked like strangers.
It seemed like every shot was taken advantage of as the Longhorns defeated the Cougars 105-58.
“It’s something that we placed a lot of emphasis on right now,” head coach Rodney Terry said. “In November, we must build our defense, okay? We’re not going to shut (everybody) out, but they have to score on our terms.”
When junior guard Jordan Pope missed a 3-pointer, senior forward Ze’Rik Onyema bounced back with a dunk.
With four minutes left in the first half, Pope knocked the ball out of the hands of Chicago State. The whole court was empty in front of him, but Pope took his time to the basket. Instead of taking the points for himself, Pope tossed the ball up for Johnson to slam dunk.
“We have a bunch of guys on our roster that just want to win,” Shedrick said. “We’re willing to share the ball, we’re willing to help each other out.”
Ahead of the start of the season, Terry set a team motto — everybody eats. That means, everyone plays to their best, and everyone succeeds. All eight players who stepped into the court in the first half finished the first 20 minutes with not just points to their names, but multiple rebounds.
“(Terry) preaches that if we win games, everybody eats,” Shedrick said. “So we all know that the main goal is winning, and then the individual success and accolades will come with it.”
The second half saw the return of sophomore forward Devon Pryor, who had been struggling with an ankle injury the first two games of the season, and the pickup of Chicago State’s game.
The Cougars began to get more aggressive on the court, committing 12 fouls in the second half. Although their newfound intensity helped them get more points on the board, what the Longhorns accomplished in the first half and continued performing in the second was too much to overcome.
At the end of the game, everybody ate. However, Terry still aims to improve.
“We’re still early in our journey,” Terry said. “We’ll continue to get better as the season goes.”
