AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Christian Bishop scored 16 points and No. 2 Texas held Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 13 points in the second half while coasting to an 88-43 win Saturday.
Texas rose to its highest ranking in more than a decade after a 6-0 start before dropping an overtime loss against No. 17 Illinois earlier in the week in New York City, its first game out of its home state. The Longhorns easily overmatch the Golden Lions in their return home.
Freshman Dillon Mitchell scored 13 points for Texas (7-1), most of them coming on dunks. Brock Cunningham scored a career-high 13 on 5-of-5 shooting, which included three 3-pointers. Texas' top three scorers were 18-of-22 shooting.
Chris Greene scored 14 for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-8), which traded baskets with the Longhorns early on, when the game had nine lead changes in the first six minutes. The Golden Lions got within 21-19 when Trejon Ware swished a 3-pointer.
Texas seized control with a 21-6 run over the final eight minutes of the half that started with a pair of baskets from Bishop, a tomahawk dunk by Mitchell and a 3-pointer from Arterio Morris.
Cunningham, who normally is a defensive stopper off the bench and returned for a final season as a graduate student, had a surprising scoring burst in the first half with 3-pointers.
Texas turned up the defense to start the second half, holding Pine Bluff to a single basket over the first five minutes. Marcus Carr hit a 3-pointer and Dylan Disu's layup pushed the lead to 56-32.
The Longhorns kept up the pressure defensively, consistently forcing turnovers and fast-break points. The Longhorns scored 24 points off 22 Pine Bluff turnovers. Mitchell's breakaway dunk off a steal by Carr made it 69-41 with 8 minutes to play.
BIG PICTURE
Arkansas-Pine Bluff: The Golden Lions have almost finished a brutal early season portion of their schedule that included three Big 12 opponents and three more from the Big Ten and the SEC. That gauntlet should have them ready to face their Southwestern Conference schedule that starts in January.
Texas: Mitchell had a highlight-reel game, with 6-of-7 shooting that included five dunks from the 6-foot-8 forward who was one of highest-rated recruits in the country coming out of high school.
UP NEXT
Arkansas-Pine Bluff plays at Minnesota on Wednesday.
Texas hosts Rice on Monday night.
___
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
