Matas Vokietaitis amassed 26 points and took a game-high nine rebounds as No. 7 Texas steamrolled Grambling 93-62 on Monday in Austin, Texas, to stay perfect on the season.
The Longhorns (3-0) scored 30 of the game’s first 35 points, led by as many as 31 in the first half and were up by 28 at halftime despite missing 10 free throws. Texas added to the margin in a dominating second half, pushing its advantage to 81-41 on two free throws by Vokietaitis with 9:56 to play.
The margin was built to 44 points on two occasions in the final minutes before the Tigers cut into their deficit. Joe Sterling added 13 points for the Longhorns while Marcus Spears Jr. had 12, Elyjah Freeman hit for 11 and David Punch finished with 10.
Mekhi Fitts scored 13 points and Antonio Shannon had 12 for Grambling (1-1). The Longhorns outshot the Tigers 50.8% to 35.9% and finished with a 14-0 edge in fastbreak points.
Texas set the tone early, scoring the game’s first six points and then reeling off a 16-0 run capped by Punch’s three-point play to build a 22-3 lead at the 12:49 mark of the first half.
The Longhorns pushed the margin past 20 points for the first time on a dunk by Vokietaitis with 10:37 to play in the half, and to 45-19 when freshman Spears slammed home a lob pass from Austin Goosby with 3:45 to play until halftime.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Goosby and freshman Bo Ogden, the latter with 1:20 remaining in the half, stoked Texas’ advantage to 54-23. Shannon’s 3-pointer with 20 seconds left allowed the Tigers a final jab and trimmed the margin to 55-27 at the break.
Sterling, the third piece of the Longhorns’ sterling freshman class, had all 13 of his points before halftime to lead all scorers and made 3 of his 4 shots from beyond the arc. Vokietaitis added 11 points for Texas.
Brandon Hardy and Fitts paced the Tigers with seven points apiece in the first half.
A dunk and a putback basket by Vokietaitis stoked Texas’ lead to 66-31 with 16:37 to play. From there it was just a matter of how long the Longhorns would keep their collective foot on the accelerator.