Freshman Arterio Morris scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting and No. 7 Texas was in cruise control throughout in an easy 100-72 win over visiting Louisiana on Wednesday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (10-1) did just about everything correct in a first half after which they led by 22 points, then played as well — if not better — after halftime. Texas kept its foot on the accelerator, building its advantage to as many as 38 points late in the game, placing five players in double-figure scoring while swamping a Louisiana team viewed as one of the top mid-majors in the nation.
Texas played its third game without coach Chris Beard, who was suspended on Dec. 12 following his arrest on a felony domestic assault charge.
Marcus Carr and Timmy Allen added 17 points each for Texas, which shot 58.1 percent from the floor, earned a 35-29 edge in rebounding, racked up 23 assists and made 16 of its 17 free throws. Tyrese Hunter and Christian Bishop scored 10 points each for the Longhorns, who reached the century mark for the first time since scoring 105 points on Nov. 10, 2017, against Northwestern State.
Jordan Brown led the Ragin’ Cajuns (10-2) with 20 points while Jalen Dalcourt added 11.
The Longhorns never trailed, rushing to a 14-4 lead four minutes into the game and building on their advantage throughout the half. Carr’s 3-pointer at the 9:10 mark staked Texas to a 33-19 lead and another Carr basket from beyond the arc almost five minutes later pushed the margin to 15 points.
A jumper by Brown with 2:02 left in the half got the Ragin’ Cajuns back to within 48-35. Texas responded by reeling off the final nine points of the half to assume a 57-35 lead at the break. The 57-point half was the Longhorns’ highest scoring of the season.
Carr led the Longhorns with 13 points before halftime, with Hunter adding 10. Texas outshot the Ragin’ Cajuns 58.8 percent to 46.7 percent in the half and hit 9 of its 14 shots from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes of play.
Brown paced Louisiana with 12 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
