If every game is a step toward a goal of being your best, No. 12 Texas has plenty to prove when it hosts Houston Christian on Thursday in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns (1-0) revealed plenty about their makeup in a 72-57 season-opening win over UTEP at home on Monday, but the showing was not without its flaws. Texas won with defense, dynamic shooting and the ability to increase its intensity with the flip of a switch.

Texas showed similar traits last year in its first campaign under coach Chris Beard.

Texas sputtered early but used its defense to establish a 13-point lead at halftime. After the Miners pulled to within eight points deep in the second half, Texas dispelled any notion of a comeback by reeling off a 15-3 spurt keyed by returner Marcus Carr and newcomer Sir’Jabari Rice.

Tyrese Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, led the Longhorns with 18 points while Rice, a transfer from New Mexico State, added 14 points. Carr scored eight of his 12 points from the free-throw line and Dylan Disu, another holdover from last season, hit for 10 points for Texas.

“We got one of those teams,” Beard said. “That’s the deal at Texas. That’s why we took the job, to build a consistent program. Not one team, not one year, not one season. Last year was a great foundation. We’ve got a chance. We like our team. We’ve got the balance between veterans and young guys. We’ve got a long ways to go.”

Texas held UTEP to just 40.4 percent shooting from the floor and forced 19 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Longhorns. Texas also hit 54.8 percent of its field goals and scored 16 fast-break points while limiting the Miners to just one point in transition.

“We beat a good team (Monday),” Beard added. “I didn’t think this was the normal kind of ‘first game’ that we’re all used to. A lot of respect for UTEP.”

The Huskies (0-1) head to Austin off a 77-66 loss at Florida International in Miami on Monday. Houston Christian’s Brycen Long canned a program-record nine 3-pointers and racked up a career-high 31 points in the defeat, which came after the Huskies were up by nine points at the half and 54-46 with 14:14 remaining in the second half.

But Houston Christian surrendered the lead via a 12-0 FIU run and then a 7-2 surge that doomed their chances of winning their opener. Sam Hofman recorded 10 rebounds in the game to lead the Huskies, who shot just 39.1 percent from the floor despite making 12 of their 23 shots from beyond the arc.

Houston Christian, which was formerly Houston Baptist, was picked to finish in eighth place in the 10-team Southland Conference preseason poll.

“We have a good mix of players returning and adding in some younger players and some transfers,” Huskies coach Ron Cottrell said. “Our guys have been working hard.”

Texas and Houston Christian have played twice, with the Longhorns winning both games — including a 92-48 victory last season in Austin.

–Field Level Media

No. 9 Creighton seeks to move closer to a complete performance in its second game of the season on Thursday when it hosts North Dakota in Omaha, Neb.

The Bluejays scored 16 of the game’s final 19 points to post a 72-60 victory over scrappy St. Thomas-Minnesota on Monday in the season opener for both teams.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from South Dakota State transfer Baylor Scheierman ignited the surge for Creighton. Scheierman collected 11 points and 10 rebounds, Arthur Kaluma added 17 and eight and Ryan Kalkbrenner had eight and nine, respectively, in the victory.

Impressive numbers, but the Bluejays were only up against a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I. Creighton also is carrying the burden of great expectations after being picked to finish first in the 2022-23 Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

“I would’ve liked us to look a little bit more of a finished product (on Monday), but obviously we’re still growing, we’re still learning,” Bluejays coach Greg McDermott said.

“… There’s going to be a time where we’re playing a team somewhere in Big East play or later in this nonconference where we’re not making shots and you have to figure out a way to win. I hope we’ll able to look back on (Monday) and be able to learn from what we see in the film.”

What McDermott will see — presumably among other things — is his team made just 39.4 percent of its shots from the floor (26 of 66) and 23.5 percent from 3-point range (8 of 34).

“Shots weren’t falling for everyone tonight, so when that’s not happening you have to do other things to give your team energy and make winning plays,” said Scheierman, who finished with three made 3-pointers. “And I just made a few of those down the stretch that wasn’t scoring, but still important.”

Creighton (1-0) draws a second Summit League member in North Dakota, which also required a strong second-half performance to win its season opener.

The Fighting Hawks were tied at halftime and trailed Incarnate Word by four points with 11:07 to play before posting a 65-57 victory on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.

Matt Norman drained a trio of 3-pointers to finish with a team-high 14 points against the Cardinals. Freshman B.J. Omot added 11 points despite shooting just 3-of-11 from the floor.

“I’m not going to lie, I had the nerves in the first half as you can see,” Omot said. “In the second half, I got a little comfortable, found my rhythm. It’s only up from here.”

North Dakota coach Paul Sather certainly hopes so. After all, the Fighting Hawks have an admittedly tough schedule ahead of them.

“We’ve got some really challenging games, and you throw in Creighton who is picked to win the Big East and Iowa State who made a great run last year in the (NCAA) Tournament,” Sather said. “I think we’re really challenging ourselves. There’s an opportunity there when you’re going against really good competition to grow and get better.

“And listen, if the outcome is going our way, awesome, but let’s keep the focus on getting better and improving.”

–Field Level Media

No. 25 Texas Tech will chase its 23rd consecutive home victory when Texas Southern visits Lubbock on Thursday night.

The Red Raiders (1-0) opened the season with an easy 73-49 victory over Northwestern State on Monday.

Center Daniel Batcho was the only Texas Tech player to score in double digits, and he stood out with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive,” Batcho said. “I would say that we did a pretty good job of passing the ball, lobs, and pick-and-rolls. We need to keep doing that. I think we did good, but I think we can do way more as a team. We’re going to be way better.”

The Frenchman matched his career high for points and was 4 of 5 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line.

Last season, Batcho averaged 2.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 33 games. He averaged 9.9 minutes per game.

Now there is a glimmer of hope he will be a much bigger contributor this season.

“We’ve talked a lot about how much he’s improved,” Red Raiders coach Mark Adams said of Batcho. “His body keeps getting bigger and stronger, and he’s gaining more confidence. He had two good scrimmages before this game. He’s been one of our most consistent players, and you saw that tonight and on both ends of the floor. But we’re just really proud of him and his effort.”

Kevin Obanor and Kerwin Walton added nine points, and Jaylon Tyson recorded eight points and five rebounds.

The contest was the first in a Texas Tech uniform for Tyson, who played eight games for Texas last season before electing to transfer. He scored the first points of the game by drilling a 3-pointer.

“It was a dream come true for real,” Tyson said. “I didn’t dream of it being a three or a two. I just dreamed of my first shot being made at Texas Tech. That is going to be something that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Texas Southern lost its opener 90-77 at San Francisco on Monday night.

Guard PJ Henry scored 21 points despite being just 6 of 17 from the field. He is being counted on to step up after averaging 8.4 points last season.

Tigers coach Johnny Jones is expecting many new contributors as he reloads the team after going 19-13 last season and reaching the NCAA Tournament as the SWAC tournament winner.

“We lost seven guys from last year’s team, and four of those guys wore championship rings,” Jones said at last month’s SWAC media day. “So we lost experience, but the nucleus of guys that are returning, we feel they will play more minutes and feel those guys will fit in well.”

Texas Southern forced San Francisco into 23 turnovers while committing just 10 in the opener. But the Tigers made just 38.8 percent of their shots while the Dons sank a sparkling 60.8.

Texas Southern also was outrebounded 48-24.

John Walker III scored 19 points and Davon Barnes added 14 to join Henry in double digits.

–Field Level Media

Usually being selfless is a good thing in college basketball. It means you’re always looking for the open man.

For No. 5 Kansas, however, being Self-less means the team is playing without its head coach.

The Jayhawks (1-0) will face North Dakota State (0-1) in their next game, Thursday night in Lawrence, Kan.

Bill Self will serve the second contest of a four-game suspension imposed by the university as part of the fallout from an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption stemming from 2017.

Thursday’s game may not be a problem for Kansas against the Bison, who dropped a 76-58 decision to No. 10 Arkansas on Monday. But with No. 7 Duke looming on Nov. 15, the Jayhawks need to find their rhythm.

They looked like anything but a cohesive unit for part of the night in their season-opening 89-64 victory over Omaha on Monday. Kansas built a 46-30 lead just before the end of the first half, but it was trimmed to 50-43 after just over three minutes into the second. The Jayhawks got rolling behind a 10-0 run and never looked back.

“The arena’s energy, when that place (Allen Fieldhouse) gets juiced and starts going crazy, it’s a lot of fun to be in there,” interim coach Norm Roberts said. “Our guys felt the energy and really pushed forward.”

The Jayhawks used a balanced attack in their season-opening victory.

Jalen Wilson collected 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and freshman guard Gradey Dick led all scorers with 23 points following a 9-for-13 shooting display. Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar contributed 10 points and two steals in his Kansas debut.

“It was great,” Wilson said. “One thing about our team, no matter what year it has been, we always step up when we have any type of adversity. Our biggest motto through my years of being here is ‘Faces change, expectations don’t.’ That’s one thing we did today was come together. We want to set the tone for the year. We have the greatest coaching staff in America.”

North Dakota State hung with the Razorbacks for a half Monday night. The score was 38-31 early in the second half before Arkansas used an 11-0 run to blow it open.

The Bison had a pair of 17-point scorers as Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg each reached that total. But the rest of the squad scored just 24 points. They’ll need contributions from everybody to run with the Jayhawks.

Nelson will be looked upon to carry this team. A member of the 2021-22 All-Summit League first team, he will be surrounded by a cadre of newcomers.

“There is a lot of hype and expectation,” coach David Richman said of Nelson before the season. “But we’ll never get to any of that unless we lock in every day and attack the process. That’s the best part about Grant. He’s so hungry and humble. No matter what happens (over the weekend), on Monday he’s coming to work. He’s gotten a lot stronger in the off-season. It will be fun to see Grant’s growth this season.”

–Field Level Media