Texas men’s basketball will return to the Moody Center this week as head coach Sean Miller sets sights on his second season at the helm.
The new-look Longhorns played their first game of the season on Monday night against the Chicago State Cougars and will play their second of the year against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs on Thursday.
Texas played two closed scrimmages against the Arizona State Bulldogs and the Southern Methodist University Mustangs and ended its preseason action by falling to the St. John’s Red Storm in an exhibition game.
Miller knows his squad has the talent, but there is still a long way to go before everyone starts to row in the same direction.
“It’s a work in progress,” Miller said about his team’s on-court chemistry in a media availability on Sunday. “We’re going to get better as we grow and move forward. … I do think we have a higher starting point than we did a year ago, and I believe that we also have a higher ceiling that we can get to.”
Texas dropped its only public preseason action, losing to St. John’s in a decisive 87-74 matchup.
While the Longhorns struggled at times, junior forward David Punch understands that a preseason loss isn’t something to overreact to. It’s a situation to take lessons from that can help moving forward into the regular season.
“It’s been a lot easier for me than the younger guys just to take it on the chin because it’s just an exhibition at the end of the day,” Punch said in a media availability last Thursday. “That’s kind of been my thing to everybody: it’s a learning point. It’s an exhibition. That’s what it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to take from this game and build on it.”
The Longhorns will just have a single game of the 2026-27 season under their belts after Monday, but the preseason has already allowed the players to learn about themselves as a team.
“Our team will always fight, no matter the score,” sophomore guard Isaiah Johnson said. “We’re going to be consistent. I think it was a great learning point to play a team like St. John’s. … They’re a great team. … I feel like it taught us a good lesson.”
No player was challenged more following that game than junior center Matas Vokietaitis, who, as Miller pointed out after the game, had the same number of rebounds as Miller at halftime, with Vokietaitis sitting at zero at the break.
Even after the tough game, Miller made sure to emphasize Vokietaitis’ importance.
“There’s a certain level of leadership … that Matas inherits based on who he is, the work he’s put in and really who he has become in this game,” Miller said. “I don’t think that he played to his best, … but he’s had a great couple of practices heading into our season opener, and look, no head coach believes in a player more than I believe in Matas.”
Whether it’s a reality check or a learning point, the players have quickly received a lesson as season begins, and the Longhorns have already begun to learn from it.
“They kicked our butt, they were just more ready than us,” Punch said. “It’s never going to be like that again for this team; we’re too big, too gifted not to compete at that high level. I think from this point forward, it’s been a group effort to give our full effort … and I think that’s going to make us the team we’re supposed to be.”
