Longhorns Survive Early Scare, Cruise to Blowout Win vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
After suffering their first loss of the season to the No. 17 Illinois Fighting Illini, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns didn't have to look far to see how tough their next matchup would be against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on Saturday at Moody Center.
Pine Bluff had taken both the TCU Horned Frogs and the Oklahoma Sooners to the brink in early-season losses. A similar scare seemed to be in store for Texas on Saturday against a team that clearly had no fear.
But despite falling behind in the early stages, the Longhorns (7-1) put their foot on the pedal late in the second half and never looked back, as they cruised to a 88-43 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-8).
The Golden Lions came out of the gates early with a clear intent to break the game open from beyond the arc. Pine Bluff hit four 3s in the first six minutes to take a 16-13 lead. Productive scoring from Chris Greene (14 points), Kylen Milton and (13 points) helped pace Pine Bluff throughout the contest.
But it was strong scoring efforts off the Texas bench from Brock Cunningham (13 points on 5 of 5 shooting) and Christian Bishop (16 points, nine rebounds, four assists) that helped break the game open in favor of the Longhorns late in the first half, as Cunningham hit three first-half 3s to swing momentum.
Dillon Mitchell also added 13 points on a flurry of highlight dunks. He was the only Texas starter in double figures.
The Longhorns also held Pine Bluff guard Shaun Doss Jr. -- who entered Saturday as the leading scorer in the SWAC with 17.9 points per game -- to a season-low eight points.
Texas led 46-30 headed into halftime and seemed to be in prime position to extend this lead further after holding the Golden Lions scoreless for a three-minute stretch.
But Pine Bluff cut the lead to 19 and seized some momentum in the process. The Golden Lions weren't going in brutal blowout fashion.
However, this ended up happening anyways, as Pine Bluff went on a brutal seven-minute scoreless stretch as Texas was able to push the lead even further.
The Longhorns blew open a 41-point lead in the closing minutes to seal a bounce-back win.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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