Texas men’s basketball coach Sean Miller enjoys everything the Maui Invitational has to offer, even if he and his team won’t walk away with a trophy.
The Longhorns (4-2) will meet tournament host Chaminade (2-2) in a consolation game Tuesday night after losing a one-point game against Arizona State in the opener on Monday in Lahaina, Hawaii.
This is Miller’s fourth trip to Maui to participate in the tournament and the first with the Longhorns.
“The best tournament in college basketball of its kind,” Miller said before the tournament. “There’s a buzz in the building. The size of (the gym), the weather and really the history. There’s not a player in that tournament that doesn’t recognize and realize all of those who have been in it prior to them. Watching that tournament for decades and now having an opportunity to compete in it, it’s quite an honor.”
On Monday, the Longhorns led by 10 points with 7 1/2 minutes remaining, but the Sun Devils began chipping away behind Maurice Odum, who scored 36 points, the last coming on a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left that gave Arizona State the lead for good in the 87-86 victory.
Dailyn Swain, a transfer from Xavier, scored 24 points against Arizona State, but missed two free throws just before Odum’s go-ahead 3-pointer. Matas Vokietaitis, a 7-footer, chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds.
Chaminade is looking for its first Maui Invitational win since beating Cal in 2017 and ninth overall since 1984. Among the victories was an 86-73 win against Texas in 2012.
Chaminade looked good in its first-round game against Washington State, holding an 11-point lead at the half before losing 90-85.
The Silverswords had a 39-19 lead with 5:59 left in the first half, but the second half belonged to the Cougars. They went on a 32-9 run to put the game out of reach for Chaminade.
Kent King scored 20 points to lead the Silverswords, Nathan Medina scored 15 and Roland Banks II and Brandon Haddock contributed 14 points apiece.
“Once we got a little excited, we might have lost our focus a little bit,” Banks told Spectrum News Hawaii. “All the fans cheering and things like that. But it was a really good feeling to be up 20 against a D-I; I’m not going to lie.”
Texas is 10-6 all-time in the tournament. Chaminade fell to 8-98.
–Field Level Media
