AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas made 11 3-pointers and demolished Northwestern State on the glass to run away with a 77-53 win in NCAA men's basketball action Sunday at Moody Center.
The Longhorns dominated the Demons with a 42-26 rebounding advantage led by Arthur Kaluma's 13 boards. Freshman Tre Johnson scored a team-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting for Texas. Jordan Pope chipped in 11 points and Jayson Kent had nine.
It was the Longhorns' last nonconference game before starting the program's first Southeastern Conference schedule against No. 13 Texas A&M on Jan. 4 in College Station. Head coach Rodney Terry said the objective was to get everything ironed out to hit the ground running in SEC play.
"We knew we had to come in today and start playing conference basketball right now," Terry said. "Since we got back from the break, we've been working hard to get better, and I thought we did that for the better part of 40 minutes."
Johnson and Kent missed some time in the nonconference season, as did Arkansas transfer Tramon Mark, so Sunday was one of the few times the Longhorns had everyone available to play at the same time. Texas shot 50% from the field, 27-for-54, and had 15 assists. Ten players scored for the Longhorns and nine logged 16 minutes or more.
Kadin Shedrick turned in a productive game for Texas with seven points and eight rebounds and Ze'rik Onyema had eight points with five rebounds.
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Northwestern State, which competes in the Southland Conference and is located in Natchitoches, Louisiana, was led in scoring by Micah Thomas and Addison Patterson. Both players came off the bench to score 19 and 18 points, respectively. They were the only Demons to score in double figures. Texas held them to 21-for-55 shooting including 3-for-17 from 3-point range.
Texas (11-2) takes on the rival Aggies at 7 p.m. Saturday and the SEC schedule just gets tougher from there. The 13th-ranked Aggies are the lowest-ranked team the Longhorns face in their first five conference games. Texas will face No. 2 Auburn, No. 1 Tennessee, No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 6 Florida to open SEC play.
