Dailyn Swain scored a season-high 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead Texas to an emphatic 99-65 victory over Rider on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (4-1) completed a sweep of their four-game homestand against mid-major opponents after losing their season opener to then-No. 6 Duke in Charlotte. Texas led by 16 points at halftime, by 25 points nine minutes into the second half and by 33 with five minutes to play as it emptied its bench.
Swain’s output on Tuesday was one point off his career high of 27 produced last year when he played for Xavier and for now-Texas coach Sean Miller.
Matas Vokietaitis added 20 points, Camden Heide racked up a career-high 20 points and Simeon Wilcher scored 12 for Texas in the win. It’s the first time the Longhorns have had three players score at least 20 points in the same game since Dec. 19, 2009 in a win over North Carolina in then-Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Flash Burton poured in 16 points to lead Rider (1-3), which played its third game of the season (all losses) against a Power 4 opponent.
The Longhorns took charge from the jump, building a 14-2 lead at the 17:01 mark of the first half after a pair of two free throws by Swain. Texas pushed the margin to 15 points before the Broncs swung back, pulling to 21-14 on a second-chance 3-pointer by Burton with 11:45 to play in the half.
The Longhorns were still up by just seven points after another Burton jumper with 4:53 left. But Texas regained its stride, reeling off a 13-4 run capped by Wilcher’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 44-28 lead into the break.
Swain’s 14 points led all scorers in the first half while Vokietaitis added 10 for the Longhorns, who shot 53.6% from the floor and outscored Rider 22-4 in the paint over the first 20 minutes. Burton paced the Broncs with 12 points.
Texas upped its lead to 56-32 on a dunk by Swain at the 14:47 mark of the second half and to 66-41 when Wilcher canned a 3-pointer with 10:48 to play.
Heidi buried 6 of 9 attempts from behind the arc for the Longhorns.
