The first game under new head coach Sean Miller for the Texas Longhorns basketball team showed a promise as well as a lot of room for improvement.
Texas fell 75-60 to No. 6 Duke in the Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte, surrendering a 33-32 halftime lead as the Blue Devils opened the second half with a 10-0 run and tightened the screws defensively to close it out.
Isaiah Evans headlined for Duke with 23 points, including four first-half threes that flipped an early 7-3 deficit into a 26-17 cushion before Texas clawed back before the break, while Cameron Boozer delivered a decisive second half with 15 points and 13 rebounds as Duke outscored Texas 43-27 after halftime.
Texas leaned on the glass early, building a 25-15 first-half rebounding edge and 12 offensive boards to eke out the halftime advantage, but Duke held the Longhorns scoreless for the first five minutes of the second period and limited them to 32% shooting with 16 turnovers overall, stalling second-chance opportunities and late-clock shots.
Dailyn Swain led Texas with 16 points and 6 rebounds, with Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis adding 15 each—Vokietaitis doing damage at the stripe—yet a brief push to 51-48 at the 9:33 mark was met by an 8-0 Duke surge that effectively sealed the opener in Sean Miller’s Texas debut at the Dick Vitale Invitational.
Up next for Sean Miller’s Longhorns will be Lafayette College this Saturday at Moody Center, with tipoff coming at 2:00 pm CST.
