Next Game: vs. Washington 11/13/2015 | 9 p.m. ESPN

AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshmen Kerwin Roach, Jr. and Tevin Mack led all scorers with 16 points each, while fellow freshman Eric Davis, Jr. added 12 to lead Texas past Tarleton State, 95-61, in the Longhorns' first contest of the Shaka Smart era on Friday night at the Frank Erwin Center in an exhibition game. Senior center Cameron Ridley recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds, in 18 minutes of play.

The Longhorns out-rebounded Tarleton State 47-32 in the contest. UT scored 54 points off the bench and made 40 percent of their shots from behind the arc (12-of-30), while limiting the Texans to 32.7 percent shooting from the floor (18-of-55).

Texas used a three-pointer from each of its three freshmen while scoring the game's first 11 points. From there, the Longhorns never lost the lead, stretching the advantage to 45-24 with 2:27 left in the first half following back-to-back 3-pointers from Roach and Kendal Yancy . UT held Tarleton State without a field goal for nearly the first six minutes of the contest. The Longhorns were busy from the free-throw line in the first half, converting 18-of-22 of their chances from the stripe.

Texas opened the second half with a 7-0 run and scored 16 points before the first media timeout of the half. UT increased its margin to as much as 39 (82-43) with 8:04 to play following a Yancy jumper. The high-scoring Longhorns offense finished the game shooting 43.5 percent (30-of-69) from the field and 85.2 percent (23-of-27) from the free-throw line.

The Longhorns depart Austin tomorrow to travel to China for their regular season opener, where they will face Washington in Shanghai on Friday, Nov. 13, presented by Alibaba Group. Tip is set for 9 p.m. Central (11 a.m. on Nov. 14 in China), and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Postgame Quotes

Texas 95, Tarleton State 61

Friday, Nov. 6, 2015

Texas Head Coach Shaka Smart

Opening Statement: First of all, I like the fact that we got a chance to play somebody other than ourselves. The preseason is so long. We started practice on October 2nd I believe. It is really nice just to get a chance to play a game against someone else. For us, obviously with a new coaching staff, we are just trying to teach our guys the way we want to play and the mindset we want to play with. I thought today was a good opportunity from that standpoint. Obviously, we have a lot to get better at.



On if his subbing is a matter of getting as many guys as possible on film: It depends on the game. I like playing with good depth, but at the same time it has to be quality depth if you are going to use it. But I do think that is one of our strengths on our team and we had two guys out tonight, so if you add those two guys into the mix then you feel like you have good depth. The philosophy is when guys come off the bench, they should have great energ. Then when guys get a break and they come back in, they should have really good energy and should be able to wear teams down with your aggressiveness and how hard you play. That is the theory, but you have to put it into practice. With us having two guys out tonight, it altered to some extent the way that we played and the way we subbed. It was a big point of emphasis for us to get the ball inside to Cameron Ridley and to Prince Ibeh . I thought those guys were really involved in everything that we did. They were involved in our offense not just in the half court, but they ran the floor and got involved in plays in the full court, which is what we want.



On Cameron Ridley and how he's evolved: Cameron has obviously been a really good basketball player for a long time, but he's worked hard. He's had a really good offseason from the standpoint of extra work conditioning-wise and buying into the plan. There's nothing we've really asked him to do that he has not yet done from a work standpoint. Now it's a matter of asserting himself on the court and being as aggressive as he can without fouling, that's the key. He would have played even more tonight if it wasn't for foul trouble. We're going to have to learn as a team to adjust to the officials. Tonight has actually been an improvement from our closed scrimmage, but we just have to keep getting better.

On the first three three-pointers coming from freshmen and having them get comfortable taking shots from deep range: I thought they were mostly good shots. There were a few that were forced and wish you could take back, but you can't coach every shot. If you try and do that, you'll have guys that are hesitant. I think what you have to do instead is to train your guys to take high quality shots and share the basketball. I thought there were some situations tonight where we did not make the extra pass where we needed to, and then there were some plays where we really did a good job sharing the ball. We'll get better at that and it's a big point of emphasis for us. Having that depth, it'll be that much more important to share.

On getting the Texas freshmen into the game early in the first half: I think it's what those freshmen have earned. Those guys have been really good in practice now, They're freshmen and they have a long way to go, particularly on the defensive end. They've got so much to learn, but they have been three of our better players, particularly offensively, for the past five weeks since practice started.

Senior Center Cameron Ridley

On losing the weight in the offseason: I wanted to lose the weight for myself and for my future in basketball, but obviously playing in Coach Smart's system, playing up and down the way he wants to, it's harder to play longer minutes.

On how he fits in Coach Smart's system: Yeah, Coach Smart's a great coach. He's going to find a way for everyone to play. He's going to do what he has to do to get everyone on the court. There are times where it's too fast for me and Prince [Ibeh], and he takes us out and puts the smaller group in. He knows what he's doing. This system is more fun. We have a lot of athleticism on the team and the way he wants us to play helps to show how good we are. The whole coaching staff is always pumped up and enthusiastic.

On the benefits of the rotation: It's good for us, because we have a lot of guys that can come in and play their role and put points on the board. At the same time, not many people can play four or five minutes the way he wants us to play.

On what he is looking forward to in China: I'm excited. I just want to see somewhere other than the United States. It will be a great experience for a lot of us. I don't think anyone on the team other than Shaquille [Cleare] has been out of the United States. So it will be good for us to see something other than what we see every day.

On how he has improved over the offseason: We've improved a lot. I think this staff is very confident, so it makes us more confident. Coach Smart lets us play and be free. He doesn't put any restrictions on our game. I think that helps us with our confidence and gets us ready to do what we have to do to score.

Freshman Guard Kerwin Roach, Jr.

On making an impression tonight: I'm pretty happy, but I'm not satisfied. I just want to come out here and play basketball like I know I can.

On his big dunk of the night: I was just being aggressive. Coach always says the mentality of us is being tough, so we go out there and attack.

On what he is looking forward to in China: I'm wondering about their food. I'm just worried about my body adjusting to the time. I really don't know what to expect. I was really looking forward to a home game here. Going over there is just going to make it an even better experience.

On how the freshmen have been able to make an impact: Coach Smart really believes in us. He tells us to go out there and play the way we know how to play, so we just go out there and ball. He always preaches to us about being ready.

On the 3-pointers: As long as we are in good rhythm and have our feet set and get a good look, we pretty much can take that shot.

Tarleton State Head Coach Lonn Reisman

On what you expected from the exhibition: Well, I thought we would play a little better than we did tonight. We have been in these exhibition games against Big 12 teams before, and we have come up with some victories before. We have played close games, but I don't think we played as well as we need to play tonight. I think we were sloppy and that's disappointing, but I have to give Texas credit, they shot the ball very well tonight and moved the ball very well. And I think that's very important in the game of basketball, as they shared the ball tonight. I think it's very important that I saw that in their team and that's something that is going to be very beneficial for them this year.

On performance tonight: I thought we could play a little better. We got off to a bad start, and that digs yourself into a hole. We got it back to 26-18 one time, I think that was the score. Then, they went on another little run again. Just like [Texas] is, we are trying to work new people into our offense. We have some new people that are going to have to understand what we want to do. We are probably right now doing too much. We aren't doing anything well and that's one thing you look at through the exhibition and scrimmage season--making the judgement of what you need to go home and work on. We aren't going to face another team that's as good as Texas at our level, Division II, but it's good for this to happen. Nobody likes to be beat, but we needed to find out our weaknesses. We have things we need to go home and work on. This game is the opportunity to do this, and we wanted to play against a pressing team. I thought we handled the press pretty well tonight. I didn't think we turned it over that much in the press. We worked on that and I thought that was good. We didn't shoot the ball well tonight and there's no doubt about that. I think one of the reasons is that our shot selection was not great tonight. Our screening is not where it needed to be. And so I think the difference of it is that [Texas] hit great outside shots and we didn't tonight.