Tramon Mark scored 16 points and Chendall Weaver added 15 to pace a balanced attack as Texas trounced Lafayette 97-60 on Saturday afternoon in Austin, Texas in its home opener.
The win was the first for the Longhorns under new coach Sean Miller. Texas dropped its season opener to No. 6 Duke on Tuesday in the inaugural Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte.
Both Mark and Weaver were holdovers from the Texas team that fell in an NCAA Tournament First Four game last year to Miller’s Xavier squad.
Matas Vokietaitis racked up 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Longhorns (1-1) while Simeon Wilcher scored 12, and Jordan Pope and Dailyn Swain hit for 10 each in the win.
Lafayette’s Caleb Williams led all scorers with 20 points and Andrew Phillips had 18 for the Leopards (1-2).
Texas never trailed and led by 18 points at halftime despite missing nine of its final 10 shots from the floor before the break. The Longhorns slowly expanded the margin in the second half, with back-to-back dunks by Vokietaitis and Weaver, the latter with 6:58 to play while pushing the lead to 80-51.
Two 3-pointers by Anthon McDermott inside of three minutes remaining put Texas up by 35 and the Longhorns waltzed to the finish line.
Texas was rolling from the jump, building 25-12 lead nine minutes into the game when Weaver hit a driving layup. After a pair of free throws by the Leopards’ Mark Butler, the Longhorns reeled off the next 11 points to take a 36-14 with 7:14 remaining in the half after a Mark’s 3-pointer.
Lafayette forged its own 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Williams with 4:54 to play before halftime, that drew the Leopards to within 36-22. A free thrown by Lassina Traore with 23 seconds remaining granted the Longhorns a 46-28 lead at the break.
Mark led the Longhorns with 10 points before halftime while Swain and Vokietaitis added eight each for Texas. Williams paced the Leopards with 10 points and Jackson had nine for Lafayette.
Texas pushed the margin to 22 points on a Weaver layup four minutes into the second half and Lafayette never made a serious charge the rest of the way.
