Longhorns Country

Texas Basketball Beats Chaminade at Maui Invitational in Season-High Scoring Effort

Texas Longhorns men's basketball cruised past Division II Chaminade in the second game of the Maui Invitational.
Zach Dimmitt|
Texas Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain rebounds against Rider Broncs guard Caleb Smith during the second half at Moody Center.
Texas Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain rebounds against Rider Broncs guard Caleb Smith during the second half at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

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Texas Longhorns

Dailyn Swain scored 18 points and had nine rebounds and the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team did what it needed to do in the second game of the Maui Invitational, cruising past Division II Chaminade in a 119-78 win on Tuesday night at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Texas (5-2) was forced into the losers portion of the bracket after a crushing 87-86 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils in the opening round on Monday. The Longhorns will play No. 23 N.C. State on Wednesday in the finale for both teams.

Texas guard Tramon Mark scored a team-high 19 points for the Longhorns while Chaminade guard Nathan Medina had a game-high 30 points, which included a halfcourt buzzer beater before halftime.

Other Longhorns in double figures included Matas Vokietaitis (16 points, nine rebounds), Simeon Wilcher (12 points) and Jordan Pope (15 points, eight assists). Texas forward Lassina Traore had nine points and 14 rebounds.

Texas Sloppy Despite Blowout Win

Texas Longhorns
Texas Longhorns forward Camden Heide is congratulated by guard Simeon Wilcher after hitting a three point basket during the second half at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Longhorns got off to an odd start, committing multiple turnovers in the opening minutes. Chaminade press full-court and forced Texas into poor inbound passes and careless possession of the ball, as the Longhorns fell into a 9-8 deficit early.

Texas was able to quickly overcome these miscues with supreme athleticism, size and skill, finishing with a 59-20 edge on the glass but showed some major ball-handling concerns as well, finishing with 25 turnovers against a Division II program. Not great.

That said, the Longhorns showed a nice bounce-back effort in the second half, hitting their first seven 3-point attempts while putting the game further out of reach. After leading 52-36 at halftime, the Longhorns used an 11-0 run early in the second half, which features a pair of triples from Pope.

This gave Texas a 67-43 lead before a 10-0 run a few minutes later, headlined by two more 3s from Mark, extended the Longhorns' edge to 91-60.

Despite the victory, Texas is still without a win over a high-major program three weeks into the season. The Longhorns can change that on Wednesday in their final game of the event against the No. 23 N.C. State Wolf Pack.

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Zach Dimmitt
ZACH DIMMITT

Zach Dimmitt is the Deputy Editor for Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI. He also contributes as a writer for the On SI channels of the Oregon Ducks, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Buffalo Bills on SI, Philadelphia Eagles on SI and Seattle Seahawks on SI. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Dimmitt received his Bachelor’s Degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin in 2022. He originally started with SI’s Fan Nation network in 2021, providing extensive coverage of the NFL and NBA along with college football and basketball. In that time, Dimmitt has published thousands of stories and has reached millions of people across multiple fan bases. You can follow him on X at @ZachDimmitt7

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