Texas Longhorns' Ithiel Horton Embracing 'Green Light' Role on Offense: 'It Means Everything!'

AUSTIN, Texas -- It was a pick-your-poison type of night for the No. 18 Texas Longhorns on Monday, as they used a balanced scoring effort en route to an 88-56 win over the Incarnate Word Cardinals.

But the debut of new transfer additions like Max Abmas and Kadin Shedrick was one of the bigger season-opening headlines, it was instead UCF transfer guard Ithiel "IT" Horton who led the Longhorns in scoring with 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting. He's already proven himself as a key starter for this group and, like Abmas, is being given the ultimate green light by Rodney Terry and the coaching staff.

Horton admitted after Monday's win that he still finds himself not looking to shoot every time he gets he ball, but that the confidence the coaches are giving him to let it fly means the world.

"Them giving me the confidence to shoot the ball, being a green-light shooter, it means everything," Horton said. "Honestly, I ain't gonna lie sometimes I get the ball and I be open and I don't shoot it. But they're on me saying we want you to shoot the ball. Just having that reassurance is everything to me because I need that."

If Horton can continue to grow his confidence as a potential top shooting option in this potentially faster-paced offense, it'll only spell danger for the rest of the Big 12 considering the other ways he can impact the game. Along with the 17 points, he finished Monday's win with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and no turnovers.

When asked by LonghornsSI.com, Terry mentioned professional opportunities when discussing how key it is for Horton to make use of his strengths on defense.

"Challenge him to be a two-way player," Terry said of Horton's defense. "The best players are guys that have opportunity to be professional players. They have to play on both ends of the floor, and he's got a good physical presence about him where he's more than capable of doing it. He's an older player, and having an opportunity to play at the next level, you're gonna have to be made to do that. But I think he brings that to the table. He's a cerebral guy that has played a lot of basketball and has a lot of experience."

By no means an unknown in the college basketball world thanks to his four seasons of experience across stays with three other schools before coming to Austin, Horton still flew under national the radar a bit after committing to Texas this offseason.

But as his college career comes to a close, Horton will be making sure the rest of the country recognizes his talent as the Longhorns aim for another tournament run.

No. 18 Texas hosts Delaware State on Friday at the Moody Center. Tip is at 8 p.m. CT.