For an entertaining college football slate, the Moody Center in Austin was filled out for Texas men’s basketball home opener against the Lafayette Leopards Saturday afternoon.
In the offseason, Texas head coach Sean Miller spoke constantly about the importance of a home environment and winning in said environment. The Longhorns delivered, thrashing a 97-60 victory over Lafayette.
“It’s an amazing, incredible atmosphere and building,” Miller said. “I think part of what we’re trying to do is make it even better and make it one of the best home courts, and college basketball — it has the makings of it.”
Sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis, the former American Athletic Conference Freshman Player of the Year for Florida Atlantic last season, was impressive in his second start for Miller’s Longhorns.
As one of the youngest members of the fluid starting five for Texas, Vokietaitis did not show inexperience on the court.
He was all over the stat sheet, ending the afternoon with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for his second career double-double. The 7-foot big man was even able to pick up a pair of steals to round out his performance.
Vokietaitis was able to display great body movement against the Leopards, driving up the rim for an easy basket or a quick pass to a wide-open teammate. He highlighted his passing ability when he connected with wide-open redshirt freshman Anthon McDermott at the corner for an easy three in the second half of the game.
“When you’re a 7-footer, there are certain styles in players you play against in November that are maddening because you don’t have someone to match up against that is your size,” Miller said. “I thought you really saw his mobility and his ability away from the basket to guard people and his touch and his size around the rim.”
In an offensively dominant performance, Texas did not rely solely on one shooter and was able to spread the ball around, resulting in 21 assists — a feat they had struggled to achieve against Duke earlier in the week.
Six Longhorns were able to put up double-digit figures, with graduate guard Tramon Mark leading the pack with 16 points, shooting 50% from the field.
“I thought it was way better — we did a good job passing,” Mark said. “We had some hiccups, of course. I think we are still getting better; we are still not even scratching the surface on our offense yet.”
While he did not earn the start, senior guard Chendall Weaver was able to put up 15 points and eight rebounds while coming off the bench in Saturday’s victory. Texas’ bench accounted for 42 points, nearly half of the Longhorns’ points.
Along with Weaver, junior guard Simeon Wilcher was the other major contributor to the bench’s point total. After being held to zero points in the season opener against the Blue Devils, Wilcher took risks from the three-point line, going 3-4, accounting for the majority of his 12 points.
“We have so many guys that can just be our leading scorer, that can go get us 15, 20 points on any given night,” Mark said.
The Longhorns will face the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Moody Center in Austin.
