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AUSTIN, Texas -- With the memories of last season's meeting still fresh on the minds of fans, the Texas Longhorns hosted the Rice Owls at the Moody Center on Wednesday night. Chris Beard was set to be Texas' head coach when the old Southwest Conference foes tipped off on Dec. 12, 2022 but that day instead was the unofficial start of the Rodney Terry era.
The 115th all-time meeting between the two programs on didn't have as much drama as the 114th, but the result remained the same.
Tyrese Hunter scored a season-high 18 points and No. 19 Texas (3-0) held off an unfazed Rice squad en route to a 80-64 win to stay undefeated in non-conference play.
The Owls (1-2) got a team-high 17 points from guard Anthony Selden while guard Travis Evee (11 points, four assists) and forward Max Fiedler (seven points, four rebounds, five asssits) had solid nights after impressive performance's in last year's meeting.
It was an exciting start for the Longhorns, who opened an alley-oop to Shedrick seconds after opening tip. Mithcell then had an highlight with a two-handed block that led to a triple from Horton, who had seven of Texas' first nine points.
The Longhorns made 10 of their first 14 shots, four of which were 3-pointers and jumped out to a 25-13 lead.
But Rice had little reason to fear Texas' hot start considering how last year's game went. The Owls went blow-for-blow with the Longhorns last season and made sure things would go similarly this time around.
Rice made it a single-digit game as Texas went nearly five minutes without a field goal. A few thunderous helped swing momentum in the Owls' favor, as they cut the lead to four at 39-32 with 2:21 left in the first half.
Horton had a hot start, but it was Hunter who led all scorers at the half with 10 points on three made triples. Still, Rice trailed just 41-32. The Longhorns had a butterfingers problem in the first half with eight turnovers, as multiple Texas players had trouble corralling the ball. Rice got 11 points off these takeaways.
Texas put together an 8-2 run coming out of the locker room and made four 3s in the first seven minutes, which helped spark the Longhorns to a 59-41 lead.
Hunter exited back to the locker room right before the nine-minute mark of the second half but quickly returned. The energy in the Moody Center picked up after Longhorns big man Ze'Rik Onyema picked up a technical
It seemed like the Owls might have one more run in them before the under-8 timeout, but the Longhorns stayed steady
The Longhorns will now take on the Louisville Cardinals in New York City on Sunday for their first game of the Empire Classic.
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