Tramon Mark poured in 20 points and Matas Vokietaitis added 19 on 8 of 8 shooting from the floor as Texas shrugged off a ragged start and dismantled visiting Fairleigh Dickinson 93-58 on Wednesday in Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (2-1) enjoyed a 19-point advantage at halftime and steadily built on that margin throughout the second half behind a balanced attack and stifling defense. Texas expanded its lead to 30 points on a Vokietaitis layup with 8:38 to play and eventually to as many as 38 in the final minutes.
The margin could have been even more had Texas not missed 15 of its 34 free throws.
Texas has won two straight home games definitively versus mid-major teams after losing to then-No. 6 Duke in Charlotte, N.C., in its season opener. Jordan Pope and Dailyn Swain added 11 points each for the Longhorns while Lassina Traore had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Cyril Martynov led the Knights (0-3) with 14 points while Eric Parnell added 12. Fairleigh Dickinson shot just 31.3 percent from the floor in the loss.
The Knights owned the game’s first three-plus minutes, roaring out of the gate and taking a 10-2 lead when Martynov converted a layup. Texas responded with a 12-0 run over the ensuing two and a half minutes and led by four points after Simeon Wilcher’s layup at the 14:14 mark of the first half.
The Longhorns stretched their advantage to double digits for the first time on Traore’s three-point play with 8:37 to play until halftime. Nic Codie’s dunk off a Wilcher assist with 7:05 left stoked the Texas run to 16-3 over a nine-and-a-half-minute span. The Longhorns were up by 22 points before a three-point play by Fairleigh Dickinson’s Taeshaud Jackson cut his team’s deficit to 43-24 at the break.
Mark and Vokietaitis led the Longhorns with nine points each before halftime while Eric Parnell had nine points to pace Fairleigh Dickinson.
Texas limited the Knights to 26.5 percent shooting in the first half while earning a 30-21 edge in rebounding and a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint.
