Longhorns vs. Houston Christian: 3 Things to Watch For
The No. 12 Longhorns kicked off the 2022-2023 campaign with a 72-57 victory over the UTEP Miners Monday. Texas picked up their first-ever win inside the brand-new Moody Center.
The Horns are currently a massive 37-point favorite in a game where they will look to fix up mistakes in preparation for Gonzaga. Houston Christian comes into the matchup 0-1 after suffering a 77-66 loss to Florida International on Monday. Let’s look at three things to watch for when Texas and Houston Christian tip off at 8 p.m. CT Thursday night.
Longhorns Guard Play:
With the addition of Tyrese Hunter and the return of Marcus Carr, the Longhorns have the necessary catalysts to have great guard play. The Longhorns will need both of them to lead the offense if Texas wants to end up playing deep into March.
On Monday Hunter shined scoring 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting. Carr struggled, missing his four three-point attempts and going two of eight overall from the field. Sir’Jabari Rice had a big night off the bench scoring 14 points, as he hopes to be a primary shooter in the Longhorn offense.
Hunter and Carr will be the primary ball handlers this season and will need to run the offense. On Monday turnovers were a serious issue as the Longhorns had 10 first-half turnovers. Tonight against Houston Christian that should be the main issue the Longhorns look to correct.
Can Texas Get Meaningful Bench Production?
The Longhorns bring in talented talented freshman in Aterio Morris, as well as returners in Christian Bishop and Brock Cunningham. On Monday the Longhorns only saw five total points from the bench not named Jabari Rice. That will be a major key as head coach Chris Beard’s squad rely on depth and bench production.
Speaking of Rice, what can he bring to the Longhorns? Well on Monday he showed how crucial he can be to an offense. He comes off the bench with a beautiful shooting touch and hard-nosed defensive intensity. Rice knows how to win, being at New Mexico State and dominating the WAC.
How big of an impact will Bishop, Morris, and Cunningham have this season? That’s a major question for the Longhorns as they hope to have depth like last season. Bishop provides another big body but struggled to make an impact against Utep. Morris is young and Texas will need him to grow as the season begins. And finally Cunningham will need to be that energy and defensive presence he has been in his time on the 40 Acres.
Can Texas limit Brycen Young?
Star junior guard Brycen Young went absolutely nuts for the Huskies on Monday. He dropped 31 points on 9 of 12 shooting from outside the arc. He returns as one of the best shooters in the Southland Conference. Young was able almost able to score half of the Huskies points on Monday, and led them to a double digit halftime lead.
This will be a good test for the defense in how they guard a talented player. This game shouldn’t be about the result but more about fine tuning the fundamentals in preparation for Gonzaga. If Young is contained Houston Christian will have a difficult time in covering the spread.
You can follow Adam Glick on Twitter @adamglick39
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Longhorns? Click Here
Want to join in on the discussion? Click here to become a member of the Longhorns Country message board community today!
