Matas Vokietaitis scored 22 points, Isaiah Johnson added 18 and the No. 7 Texas Longhorns opened their season with a 109-59 rout of the Chicago State Cougars on Monday in Austin, Tex.
Highly regarded freshman Marcus Spears Jr. had 11 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots off the bench for the Longhorns, who never trailed while winning their 25th straight home opener.
Vokietaitis, a 7-footer, was 9 of 9 from the field and had six rebounds. He scored 14 points in the second half.
Texas opened the season with its highest ranking since entering 2021-22 ranked No. 5.
Texas took a 26-8 lead eight minutes into the game to take control, and led by as many as 29 in the first half.
Will Lovings-Watts scored 13 points and Mike Price had 12 for the Cougars, who were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team Northeast Conference in a preseason poll.
Texas shot 62.5% from the field, 67.7% in the first half when they made six 3-pointers and took a 56-30 lead into the break.
The Longhorns made 13 of 26 from distance for the game and finished with a 44-22 rebounding edge.
Chicago State shot 39.3% and committed 15 turnovers, 12 in the first half.
Johnson, a transfer from Colorado, was 5 of 8 from the field, 3 of 5 from distance. He added five assists and three rebounds. He led Colorado in scoring (16.9) and made 37.8% of his 3-pointers a season ago.
Freshman Austin Goosby started at point guard and had seven points, seven rebounds and eight of the Longhorns’ 22 assists. They averaged only 12.4 assists while reaching the Sweet 16 a season ago.
Joe Sterling scored 14 points with four 3-pointers and Amari Evans added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Six different Texas players scored in the first six minutes with the Longhorns on the way to leads of 13-3, 17-5 and 26-8. Goosby made a 3-pointer to open the game and fellow freshman Bo Ogden hit another trey to cap the early 26-8 run.
Price had all eight Chicago State points in the first six minutes.
–Field Level Media
