AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Marcus Carr scored 11 points and had four steals as No. 12 Texas used suffocating defense and a relentless fast break to defeat Houston Christian 82-31 Thursday night.
The Longhorns (2-0) raced to a 16-0 lead in the first five minutes. Texas forced 21 turnovers, including 12 steals, that resulted in 32 points.
Texas had 27 fast-break points.
Sir'Jabari Rice also scored 11 points. Freshman Dillon Mitchell had 10 points and 12 rebounds — eight on offense — for Texas. Timmy Allen had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Tyrese Hunter scored 10 points and seven rebounds.
Dylan Disu, who spent much of last season playing while recovering from knee surgery, looked spry, scoring eight points and making two blocks, one by chasing down a fast-breaking Brycen Long.
The Longhorns were strong inside, producing 52 points in the paint and outrebounding Houston Christian 56-33. But Texas made just 3 of 22 3-point attempts, missing its first 14.
Texas raced to a 39-12 halftime lead as Houston Christian (0-2) committed 16 turnovers. The Longhorns scored 30 points in the paint but missed all 11 of their 3-pointers in the period.
Tristan Moore led Houston Christian with eight points. The Huskies shot 21.7%.
BIG PICTURE
Houston Christian: The Huskies never gave themselves a chance. They missed their first five shots and committed seven turnovers while quickly falling far behind.
Texas: The Longhorns advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament by beating Virginia Tech last season, Chris Beard's first as the school's coach. But they had some deficiencies, including a lack of superior athleticism. The addition of the 6-foot-8, Mitchell signals improvement in that area. During one stretch of less than two minutes in the first half, Mitchell cut along the baseline to dunk a pass from Tyrese Hunter, ran down Pierce Bazil to block a fast-break layup attempt from behind, and converted an offensive rebound into a layup.
UP NEXT
Houston Christian hosts Champion Christian, an NCAA Division II team from Hot Springs, Arkansas, on Monday.
Texas hosts No. 2 Gonzaga on Wednesday. Gonzaga defeated Texas 86-74 last season in Spokane.
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
