What's next for the Longhorns? Make sure you're in the loop by signing up for our FREE Texas newsletter!

Texas opened its first of four exhibition games in Australia with a 96-84 win over the Dandenong Rangers early Tuesday morning.

How it happened: In front of a “near sell-out crowd,” which had some Texas fans in attendance, the Longhorns came out fast and it was easy to see the athleticism difference early on. They even got a few “ohh and ahh” from the crowd during warm-ups.

Texas pressed a lot in the first quarter and Dylan Osetkowski began with a quick 10 points offensively. The Longhorns also hit TK 3-pointers within the first 10 minutes and they got up to a 28-point lead. But as the first half ended, Texas struggled defensively, gave up much of its lead and went into the break up just seven.



With starters back in, however, Bamba and Osetkowski opened up the scoring in the second half and the Longhorns settled back in on defense as well. They ended up finishing their first game with a 96-84 win.



Starters: There weren’t many surprises on Texas’ starting lineup for its first exhibition contest. Matt Coleman, Andrew Jones, Kerwin Roach, Dylan Osetkowski and Mohamed Bamba began the game for the Longhorns.



However, Shaka Smart was quick to go to his bench, getting all his scholarship players in by the end of the first quarter.



Play of the Game: While most fans heard about Mohamed Bamba this past year, Jericho Sims was a top 100 recruit that flew under the radar for many people. He’s been one of the top freshmen so far for Texas and he showed why Tuesday morning.



In the fourth quarter, Sims did his best spin move and finished with a two-handed dunk over a defender.

Good morning Longhorn Nation. Before we say goodnight from Melbourne, Jericho Sims wanted to say a quick 'hello.' #SCTop10 #HookEm pic.twitter.com/qL4bQza4CK — Texas Basketball (@TexasMBB) August 15, 2017

Stats: Jones led Texas with 16 points and six rebounds while Osetkowski finished with 15 points, five rebounds and Bamba with 14 points, five rebounds.

The Longhorns had 36 points in the paint and 17 points off turnovers.



Quick notes:

-The Longhorns finished 14-for-29 (48 percent) from behind the arc and showed they should have much better 3-point shooting than they did last season. Jones hit three of his four 3-pointers, Osetkowski hit three of his five attempts and freshman Jase Febres hit 50 percent (2-of-4) from 3-point range. Both of Febres’ 3-pointers actually came on back-to-back possessions. Bamba hit a three as well in his 14:46 minutes of play.



-Texas came out in the first half pressing much more than it did for much of last season. Smart said last week that was something the Longhorns would be working on in Australia after spending a lot of time on it during their 10 summer practices. The energy was there for Texas, but the Longhorns struggled at many points defensively.

-In his Texas debut (sort of), Coleman took most of the point guard duties as expected. He finished with 11 points, shooting 83 percent from the field and hitting one of his two 3-pointers. He added three assists as well, but had four turnovers.

What's Next: Texas will spend the day touring the Royal Melbourne Zoo and other sights of the city before facing Melbourne United, a National Basketball League team, on Wednesday night in Australia. The game will again begin at 4 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday morning and can be seen on the United's Facebook page.

Replay: