Longhorns Country

Texas Longhorns Secure First Win of Sean Miller Era in Blowout vs. Lafayette

Texas Longhorns men's basketball has picked up its first win of the season.
Zach Dimmitt|
Texas Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain dribbles against Lafayette Leopards guard Andrew Phillips during the second quarter at Moody Center.
Texas Longhorns guard Dailyn Swain dribbles against Lafayette Leopards guard Andrew Phillips during the second quarter at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

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Texas Longhorns

AUSTIN -- After falling to the Duke Blue Devils in the season opener, the Texas Longhorns have secured the first win of the Sean Miller era.

Tramon Mark scored a team-high 16 points and Chendall Weaver added 15 of his own as Texas cruised past the Lafayette Leopards for a 97-60 win at the Moody Center on Saturday.

Texas finished with six players in double figures, as Simeon Wilcher (12 points), Matas Vokietaitis (14 points, 11 rebounds), Dailyn Swain (10 points, nine rebounds, six assists) and Jordan Pope (10 points) also joined the scoring spree. The Longhorns finished with 21 assists after having just six against Duke.

Lafayette guard Caleb Williams led all scorers with 20 points on 3 of 5 shooting from 3-point range.

Texas Picks Up the Pace on Offense

Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope
Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope guards Lafayette Leopards guard Caleb Williams during the second quarter at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Miller said after the loss to Duke that the Longhorns had "no pace" on offense, but Texas had a chance to make up for that against Lafayette, doing so with 16 fastbreak points while forcing 15 turnovers and getting 24 points off of those takeaways.

Texas jumped out to a 23-12 lead after two triples apiece from both Swain and Wilcher. The Longhorns then used an 11-0 run to build a 36-14 lead that featured seven points from Mark and four from Vokietaitis.

However, Lafayette answered with an 8-0 run of its own, as Williams began what ended up being an impressive individual scoring day.

The two sides then exchanged multiple free throws as Texas headed into halftime with a 46-28 lead.

Williams started the second half with another triple for Lafayette but the Longhorns kept the Leopards at bay and eventually cruised to a win.

Weaver helped lead a 6-0 run to build the lead to 59-37 with 15:54 to play before Wilcher hit another triple a few minutes later to make it 73-48.

Texas will host Fairleigh Dickinson in Austin on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT.

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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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