Cliffsnotes: The No.19 Texas men's basketball team tips off its home opener on Friday night against Houston Christian.
Time: 7PM
How to Watch: SEC Network+ - David Saltzman (pxp) and Justin Mason (analyst)
Line: Texas -33.5
Line-up: This isn't official, but it's a projection from the Texas SID office.
The Headliner: Freshman guard Tre Johnson came out blazing on Monday night by setting a new Texas record for points (29) in a debut performance, shattering the old mark (20) established by Kevin Durant nearly two decades ago. It's hard to tell how good this team might be, but Johnson is movie-star A-lister stuff on the hardwood and is worth the 2 hours of your time.
Did You Know: Texas has won 22 straight home openers. The last loss? November 17th, 2001. It was T.J. Ford's first game in a Texas uniform and the No.23 Longhorns lost to unranked Arizona 88-74. The Longhorns hit only 10 of 21 free throws that night. Brandon Mouton, Royal Ivey and Sydmill Harris each had 15 points.
About Houston Christian: HCU started its season earlier this week with an 86-59 win over something called Avila University. Four players scored in double-digits, led by 6-2 guard Bryson Dawkins' 18 points on 6 of 10 shooting in only 17 minutes. There's not a lot from the opening box score that stands out other than the team's shooting splits - 44.3/25.7/62.5. Folks, opponent No.2 is not like opponent No.1.