Texas Longhorns basketball: HCU-Texas preview
The Texas Longhorns opened year two of the Chris Beard era with a 72-57 win over UTEP Monday. Tonight, Houston Christian comes to town in the last warmup prior to a November 16 showdown against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
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Houston Christian (0-1) dropped their season opener 77-66 Monday at Florida International University.
Texas entered the season ranked No. 12 in the preseason AP Poll after finishing 22-12 a season ago. The first year under Beard included a first NCAA Tournament win in eight years for the Longhorns.
Texas heavy on experience
The Longhorns return five players that were key in the success of the 2021-22 team. Super seniors Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr started the opener along with senior Dylan Disu, while Christian Bishop and and Brock Cunningham play key roles off the bench.
Beard and staff added transfers Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice to the group of returnees to form a nucleus of seven players with 672 games of college experience, including 475 starts and 19 NCAA Tournament games played.
Texas signed a four-man high school recruiting class in 2022 that ranked among the top seven classes in the country. Five-stars Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris have significantly upgraded the athleticism and transition ability of the Texas program. Mitchell started the season opener, while Morris played 17 minutes off the bench.
How to watch the game
Houston Christian and Texas tipoff at 8 p.m. Central on the Longhorn Network. Lowell Galindo (play by play) and Lance Blanks (color analyst) will call the action.
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The Chris Beard File
Chris Beard enters Thursday with a career record of 165-72 in seven years at the Division I level. Beard has posted a 75-51 conference record over the same span.
Beard is 5-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament Round of 64 games. He sports an 11-5 career record in five NCAA Tournament appearances. That includes a National Championship game appearance in 2018-19 while at Texas Tech. He led the Red Raiders to the Elite 8 the year before in 2017-18.
A glance at Houston Christian
The Huskies are coached by Ron Cottrell. He is in year 32 as the head coach of the Houston area university. Cottrell entered the 2022-23 season with a career record of 508-467 in 31 seasons as the head coach of the Huskies.
Houston Christian posted a record of 11-18 last season, including 6-8 in Southland Conference play.
The Huskies return three key players from the 2021-22 team. Junior guard Brycen Long averaged 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists as a sophomore. That included a team leading 37.8% from three with 59 makes. Long scored 28 points in the season opening loss, including 8-11 from three-point range. Senior 6-foot-5, 270-pound power forward Sam Hoffman averaged 8.8 points and 5.0 rebounds last season, while 6-foot-9 senior post Zach Iyeyemi averaged 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Transfer 6-foot-5 guard Maks Klanjscek, 6-foot-3 freshman guard Pierce Bazil and 6-foot-9 center transfer Bonke Maring started the opener alongside Long and Hoffman.
The likely Texas starters
PG Tyrese Hunter, 6-1, sophomore (18 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in the opener)
CG Marcus Carr, 6-2, super senior (12 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and a rebound in the opener)
F Timmy Allen, 6-6, super senior (9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists in the opener)
F Dillon Mitchell, 6-8, freshman (4 points, 4 rebounds in the opener)
PF Dylan Disu, 6-9, senior (10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in the opener)
The reserves
SG Sir’Jabari Rice, 6-4, super senior (14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists in the opener)
PF Christian Bishop, 6-7, super senior (2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block in the opener)
CG Arterio Morris, 6-3, freshman (3 points and 1 assist in the opener)
F Brock Cunningham, 6-6, senior (1 assist in the opener)
PF Alex Anamekwe, 6-5.5, freshman (played one minute in the opener)
SG Gavin Perryman, 6-1, redshirt freshman (played one minute in the opener)
PG Rowan Brumbaugh, 6-4, freshman – *Planning to redshirt this season
