Matas Vokietaitis scored a career-high 28 points to lead a balanced offensive attack as Texas rebounded from its worst loss of the season with a dominant 95-69 victory over Southern University on Monday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (7-3) led by 19 points at halftime and by 30 after a Jordan Pope jumper with 9:26 left before calling off the dogs and heading to the finish line.
Vokietaitis shot 7 of 10 from the floor and made all 14 of his free throw attempts, eclipsing his previous high of 21 points. Pope had 18 points for Texas, with Simeon Wilcher adding 14, Camden Heide scoring 11 and Dailyn Swain scoring 10. The Longhorns shot 56.9 percent from the floor in the win.
Malek Abdelgowad led the Jaguars (4-5) with 17 points and Michael Jacobs had 11.
The Longhorns scored the game’s first six points, but led only 8-7 after both teams’ inconsistent opening four minutes. Texas created some separation with an 11-2 run capped by a Tramon Mark jumper at 12:38 of the half that produced a 22-12 lead.
Texas pushed its advantage to 29-15 when Vokietaitis hammered home a dunk on an assist from Pope with 8:15 left in the half, then increased it to 16 points on another dunk from Vokietaitis, this time at the break and after an assist from Swain.
The Jaguars cut their deficit to 33-22 on Jacobs’ 3-pointer with 4:44 left. Texas then closed the half on a 6-1 spurt that included a 3-point basket from Pope, giving it a 46-27 lead at the break.
Vokietaitis’ 15 points before halftime led all scorers while Heide added nine on three 3-pointers. Texas outshot the Jaguars 55.6% to 30% in the first 20 minutes of play.
Abdelgowad and Jacobs led Southern with nine points each at halftime; the Jaguars missed their final seven shots from the field before halftime.
Texas put the game on ice eight minutes into the second half with a 20-7 run capped by a Heide layup that increased its lead to 28 points.
–Field level media
