Texas vs William & Mary: Longhorns move on after slow start in NCAA Tournament opener
With 3:35 left in an NCAA Tournament game at Moody Center on Saturday night, Texas forward Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda made a jumper.
That basket gave Texas a 101-56 lead over William & Mary, and it served as a historical footnote. For just the second time in school history, UT had scored 100 points in an NCAA Tournament game. Texas, by the way, has now played 87 games over its 37 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Yet, Vic Schaefer still had plenty to nitpick following a 105-61 win that advanced Texas (32-3) into a second-round showdown against Illinois (22-9). There were too many defensive lapses for the Texas coach's liking. An upstart and upset-seeking William & Mary team kept things close for longer than most expected.
During his postgame press conference, Schaefer declared that "we'll need to be better." And what was his message to the team?
"He kept it pretty short, honestly," senior guard Shay Holle said. "At the end of the day, he was like, we win by 40 and no one in the room is happy, which kind of means a lot of things. We have a high standard for ourselves, which is a good thing. We're lucky to learn a lot through victory, and I think that's happened a lot this year."
Coming off a 13-day layoff, Texas showed some signs of rust on Saturday. The Longhorns never trailed in its tournament opener, but it was a 10-10 game at the 5:46 mark in the first quarter and a 20-18 game with 41 seconds left in the opening frame.
But toward the end of the first quarter, Texas subbed in reserves Bryanna Preston and Jordana Codio. Preston has an established role as UT's backup point guard, but Codio had played a total of 16 minutes over the Longhorns' previous 17 games.
But over the next four minutes, Texas outscored William & Mary by a 16-5 margin. When William & Mary called a timeout with 6:59 remaining in the second quarter, Texas had built a 34-20 lead. During that stretch, Preston distributed four assists. Codio had four points and a block.
"Everyone has a role as a team," Codio said. "I feel at this level, you just have to stay ready because you never know what's gonna happen every night. Every night's a new night."
Texas took a 50-33 lead into halftime. William & Mary never got any closer than 16 points in the second half.
Texas sophomore forward Madison Booker played just 27 minutes in the 44-point rout, but she still recorded her eighth double-double performance of the season. In addition to Booker's 20 points and 14 rebounds, Texas got 19 points from Taylor Jones and 15 points from Kyla Oldacre.
William & Mary (16-19) was led by Bella Nascimento's 19 points. The Tribe was making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas beats William & Mary in NCAA Tournament's first round
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