Rick Barnes and this young Texas (3-2) basketball team continue to iron out the wrinkles on both sides of the ball, but today the Horns got off the “schnide” in Maui, beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-4) 69-55. Texas gets their first win in the EA Sports Maui Invitational by shooting 50% from the floor against the Bulldogs, which registers as the best shooting performance the team has had so far in this early season. The turnover monster reared his ugly head again as the Longhorns committed 22 turnovers, 8 by guard Julien Lewis. Off the bench for Texas, Sheldon McClellan led all scorers with 19 points while Bulldog forward Roquez Johnson turned in an 18 point performance.   Julien Lewis scored 15 points and freshmen Cameron Ridley and Ioannis Papapetrou each scored 8 points with Ridley hauling in 12 rebounds for the Horns. It was refreshing to see the team shoot well and play much better basketball today than we have seen over the last few days.
Texas finishes the tournament in 7th place and heads back to Austin to prepare for Sam Houston State on November 27th at the Erwin Center.