The Texas Longhorns (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) won their 18th straight home opener on Tuesday night, defeating the Northern Colorado Bears (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky) 69-45. Redshirt sophmore guard Andrew Jones played 29 minutes in his return to action for the Longhorns, and led all scorers with a career-high 20 points. Jones, who hasn’t logged significant minutes or scored a basket in almost two seasons, brushed off the notion about experiencing pregame butterflies when asked by media in the team’s post-game press conference. Despite the lack of jitters, this wasn’t just another game for Jones, who is winning his lengthy fight against leukemia. “No, it was a great feeling just to get back out there, officially, you know, back with my teammates. All the work that we’ve been putting in this summer – it was just glad to be able to just tempo it out on the court with no restrictions,” said Jones.
The Longhorns scored the first points of the game and never trailed the Bears throughout the duration of the contest. The Texas lead was as much as 27-points in the second half.
The Longhorns went 7-27 from beyond the arch and shot 45.3% from the field. The Texas defense held Northern Colorado to 27.3% shooting, and forced 16 turnovers. Sophmore guard Courtney Ramey recorded a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Point guard Matt Coleman scored 10 points and shot 4-8 from the field.
Bears guard Sam Masten led Northern Colorado in scoring with 11 points.
The Longhorns travel to West Lafayette, Indiana later this week and will play the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday at 6:00 PM.
