Texas Longhorns Fall to Duke in Sean Miller's Debut

The Sean Miller era officially got underway for Texas Longhorns men's basketball in Charlotte on Tuesday night against the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils.

It's clear that the Longhorns are headed in a new direction, but moral victories matter little after Texas suffered a 75-60 loss to Duke in front a Blue Devil-heavy crowd at the Spectrum Center, which is just two hours away from Durham.

Texas falls to 0-6 all-time against Duke with the loss.

Texas Shows Promise as Sean Miller Era Begins

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller reacts to a play against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half of the Dick Vitale’s Invitational game at Spectrum Center. | Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images

Duke guard Isaiah Evans led all scorers with 23 points as the Blue Devils used a late push to run away from the Longhorns in the closing stages of the second half.

Texas got a team-high 16 points from forward Dailyn Swain while Jordan Pope added 15 points off the bench. Longhorns center Matas Vokietaits finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in his Texas debut.

After going scoreless in the first half, star freshman Cam Boozer finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds while going 9 of 12 from the foul line.

Texas led 33-32 at halftime but foul trouble and turnovers doomed the Longhorns. Duke went 18 of 22 from the foul line in the second half.

Duke had a 15-2 run at the midway point in the half as the home-state crowd started to get rowdy.

The Longhorns looked like they could be headed toward a potential blowout loss after a slew of 12 first-half turnovers but responded at the end of the opening 20 minutes. Texas overcame a 23-14 deficit and took a surprising lead into the locker room.

The Blue Devils started the second half on a 10-0 run, as Boozer quickly ended his scoreless drought with a powerful dunk in the opening minutes.

Texas stayed within striking distance though, as Pope hit two step-back triples to cut the lead to 47-41.

The Longhorns didn't do themselves any favors by committing a few careless fouls to put the Blue Devils in the double bonus before the halfway point of the second half, but Pope hit his third 3-pointer shortly after to cut the lead to 51-46.

Swain then got into the paint yet again for his seventh field goal of the game, giving him 16 points, but Duke responded with an 8-0 run of their own, pushing the lead to 59-48.

This proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Longhorns, who were unable to put together another run to keep within reach.

Texas will host Lafayette in the home opener on Saturday in Austin.