Matas Vokietaitis poured in a career-high 28 points to lead a balanced offensive attack as Texas bounced back from its worst loss of the season with a dominating 95-69 victory over Southern University on Monday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (7-3) led by 19 points at halftime and by 30 after a Jordan Pope jumper with 9:26 to play before calling off the dogs and cruising to the finish line.
Vokietaitis went 7 of 10 from the floor and made all 14 of his free throw attempts in eclipsing his previous high output of 21 points. Pope had 18 points for Texas, with Simeon Wilcher adding 14, Camden Heide scoring 11 and Dailyn Swain hitting for 10. The Longhorns shot 56.9% from the floor in the win.
Malek Abdelgowad led the Jaguars (4-5) with 17 points and Michael Jacobs had 11.
The Longhorns scored the game’s first six points but led just 8-7 after a ragged opening four minutes by both teams. Texas created some separation with an 11-2 run capped by a Tramon Mark jumper at the 12:38 mark of the half that produced a 22-12 lead.
Texas pushed its advantage to 29-15 when Vokietaitis hammered home a dunk off an assist by Pope with 8:15 left in the half and then increased it to 16 points on another Vokietaitis dunk, this time on the break and after an assist from Swain.
The Jaguars culled their deficit to 33-22 on Jacobs’ 3-pointer with 4:44 remaining. Texas then closed the half on a 6-1 spurt that included a 3-pointer by Pope, handing it a 46-27 lead at the break.
Vokietaitis’s 15 points before halftime led all scorers while Heide added nine on three 3-pointers. Texas outshot the Jaguars 55.6% to 30% over the first 20 minutes of play.
Abdelgowad and Jacobs paced Southern with nine points each at the half; the Jaguars missed their final seven shots from the field before halftime.
Texas put the game on ice eight minutes into the second half with a 20-7 run capped by a layup from Heide that expanded its lead to 28 points.
