The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
5-3
UTSA
1-8
Men's Basketball defeats UTSA, 116-50
12.08.2015 | Men's Basketball
The 66-point victory marked the eighth-largest in school history.
AUSTIN, Texas – Senior center Cameron Ridley scored a game-high 19 points to pace five Longhorns in double-figure scoring, leading Texas to a 116-50 victory over UTSA at the Frank Erwin Center on Tuesday night. Ridley shot 9-of-12 from the field and added nine rebounds and four blocks, while freshman guard Tevin Mack recorded a career-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
The win was one for the record books, as the Longhorns' 66-point victory marked the eighth-largest winning margin overall in program history. The 116 points scored is tied for the 12th-largest in school history and the most points scored since the 2002-03 season, when Texas recorded a 122-71 home win against Sam Houston State.
The Longhorns also recorded a tie for the fourth-highest single-game field goal percentage (64.7-percent on 44-of-68 shooting) in program history. They were also efficient from beyond the arc, converting 50-percent of their attempts on 15-of-30 shooting. The15 three-pointers are tied for the fifth-most in program history and the most since 2007.
UTSA (1-8) was led by George Matthews, who scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Ryan Bowie contributed 10 points and a team-high five rebounds in the loss for the Roadrunners.
Texas (5-3) lit up the scoreboard early by scoring the game's first 10 points, capped by a Ridley dunk at the 16:07 mark. The team was hot on the defensive side of the ball as well, forcing 13 turnovers in the first half and outscoring the Roadrunners 21-4 on points off turnovers. The Longhorns took a 56-17 lead into halftime by shooting 65.6-percent from the field (21-of-32), including 57.1-percent from 3-point land (8-of-14).
The second half was characterized by great ball movement and continued solid shooting, as the Longhorns tallied 60 points in the second half and finished the game with 23 assists. UT outscored the Roadrunners 56-26 in the paint and 29-4 on fast breaks.
Texas scored a season-high 76 points off the bench in a game where 14 players scored for the home team. Kerwin Roach Jr. scored 14 points and added four assists, and Jordan Barnett contributed a career-high 12 in addition to five rebounds.
The Longhorns will welcome the No. 3/3 North Carolina Tar Heels to the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday in a non-conference matchup presented by Papa John's. Tip is set for 4:15 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
Texas 116, UTSA 50
December 8, 2015
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 9,657
Team Notes
Texas improved to 7-0 all-time against UTSA. This marked the first meeting in the series since Nov. 12, 2007.
UT improved to 195-26 at the Erwin Center in the last 14 seasons (dating back to the start of the 2002-03 season). Texas is 4-0 at home this year.
The +66 margin of victory (116-50) marked the eighth-largest margin of victory in UT history and third-largest margin in Erwin Center history. It was the largest margin of victory by the Horns since a 72-point win (110-38) against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 30, 2005.
The 116 points tied for the 12th-highest scoring total by Texas in school history. It was the most points scored by UT since a 122-71 home win against Sam Houston State on Nov. 24, 2003.
UT improved to 101-9 all-time when topping the 100-point plateau, including a 66-1 mark in home games.
Texas converted 64.7% (44-of-68) of its field goals during the win. This marked a tie for the fourth-highest single-game FG percentage in UT history and highest since hitting 64.7% (33-of-51) at Texas Tech on Feb. 18, 1989.
UT converted 15-of-30 (.500) from three-point range. The 15 threes marked a tie for the fifth-most three-pointers in a single-game in school history (since 1986-87) and most since UT hit 16 threes against New Mexico State on Nov. 23, 2007.
Texas set team season highs in points (116), field goals made (44), FG percentage (.647), three-pointers made (15), three-point FG percentage (.500), assists (23) and steals (10).
UT posted a 35-6 advantage in points off turnovers, 29-4 in fast-break points and 76-32 in bench scoring.
All 14 UT players who dressed (Prince Ibeh did not play due to a lower back injury) recorded at least one point and 13 of the 14 grabbed at least one rebound.
UT had five players in double-figure scoring for the first time this season.
Reached double figures in scoring (12 points) for the first time this year and second time in his career (25 games)
Set career highs in points and rebounds (5)
Reached double figures in scoring (11 points) for the fourth time in his career (8 games)
Set a career high in assists (5) against just one turnover
Reached double figures in scoring (17 points) for the first time in his career (8 games)
Set season highs in points, field goals made (7-of-11), three-pointers made (2-of-5) and minutes (24)
Set career highs in scoring (4 points), FG made (2-of-2) and minutes (6)
Set career highs in scoring (9 points), FG made (3-of-4) and three-pointers made (3-of-4) in 4 minutes
Reached double figures in scoring (19 points) for the sixth time this season and 38th time in his career (110 games)
Posted four blocks, marking the third straight game and fourth time this year that he has blocked at least four shots
Kerwin Roach, Jr
Reached double figures in scoring (14 points) for the first time in his career (8 games)
Set season highs in points and assists (4) and tied his season high in minutes (22)
Texas Postgame Quotes
Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart
On Tevin Mack shot performance tonight, carrying over into the next games: He is a guy who has always identified as a scorer, and a guy who really pays a lot of attention to whether the ball is going in or not. As a coach, you can really emphasize the process and the things that he can control, but the reality is that he gets a little bummed out when the ball is not going in. He is going through what a lot of freshman go through, which is from a basketball standpoint, this is by far the hardest thing that he has ever done. Nights like tonight are important because he can gain a level of confidence and put this performance in his back pocket and feel like, ok, I had some success. I made some shots. But obviously, just like all our other freshmen, he has a long way to go. I think that he knows that. Now, does he have the willingness to own the process.
On the performance of the team (15 three-pointers): It seems when there is a game like this, the ball tends to go down, not just here but in general. Some things tend to go your way, and the outside shots tend to go in. What we focus on is trying to get high quality shots. Our guys did a pretty good job with that tonight. As a coach, I feel like if we can get the highest quality shots we possibly can, that gives us the best chance to make them. Tonight we made 65-percent of our shots. I will take that any night.
On gaining confidence: This is not the most natural, confident group. Let's be honest, what we are asking our guys is maybe a little different. So anytime that you can do those things and the guys can have success doing them, that builds a level of confidence in your process. But again, now you start preparing for Saturday and realizing that we have to have the same commitment even when the score is tied as when we did when we got up.
On the walk-on players that earned minutes in tonight's game: Yeah, I was really happy for them. Just because those guys… they really work in practice and one of the core values that we've made a big, big deal out of in our program is enthusiasm. Those guys have done a terrific job of every day coming in with a high level of enthusiasm, being about the team, being about their teammates, and they're really unselfish guys. For them to be able to get in the game and then all of them score… and for Danny [Newsome] to hit three 3's, I mean, he does that in practice too. He can really shoot. He can really, really shoot, so that was not a fluke.
Ryan McClurg is by far most enthusiastic guy overall on our whole team. There's times in practice where I'll get on the rest of the guys and say, "why can't you guys be more like Ryan in terms of just showing the level of passion for what he's doing?" So it was great to get him out there and let him get going a little bit, too.
On Saturday's game against No. 3 North Carolina: Any time as a coach that you can compete against one of the best programs in the country, if not the best… I mean, I grew up watching Dean Smith and those teams… I've always thought of Carolina, and Kentucky fans will disagree, I thought of Carolina as the program. Obviously Coach (Roy) Williams has done a phenomenal job since he's been there.
This year they've got a terrific team, they're in the top five in the country and they're deep, and they're big, and they've got great guard play, and they have experience. Those are the type of games as a player you get really fired up for, and as a coach it's a great chance to see, as a team, if we can take that big step. It's certainly not going to be easy, but I think for our guys they're excited to come out and play and see what we can do.
Freshman G/F Tevin Mack
On if the team is excited after tonight's win: Definitely. We've had a great week of practice so far. We got way better on defense since the last few games. If we keep working on defense, we'll be fine.
On shooting well against UTSA: It's an amazing feeling. It's my first time feeling this at the college level, so it's amazing. I made some shots tonight. I think I grew some strides on defense as well, and I rebounded the ball well. I think we did well as a team, so it was a good team win for us.
On how he feels personally at this point: I'm definitely getting more comfortable. I know Eric [Davis, Jr.] was really comfortable at the beginning of the season, because he has a lot of confidence. We're all playing well, I think, so far for freshmen at this level. I think we're all getting better. We'll just keep growing because it's all about growth.
Senior C Cameron Ridley
On if it is hard to get up for a game like this knowing you face a ranked program on Saturday: No, not at all. Throughout the week we focused on this game only. We didn't focus on the North Carolina game at all. We wanted to come out and play as hard as we could today. The next practice we will focus on the next opponent.
On how much easier is your job when you see 3-pointers starting to go in and does this free you up: Yes, it frees me up a lot, because if they are hitting shots it is more likely that I will not get doubled. And more likely they won't dig in.
On did you need a game where everything went right and it was easy going: Yes, it was a confidence builder. We really just wanted to come out and do the same things we try to do at every other game and today it all came together, and it happened to be against UTSA. For North Carolina we want the same, to come out and play as hard as we can.
