UTRGV Men’s Basketball sophomore guard John Shanu II slam dunks the ball over Concordia University Texas’ defense, adding more points to the score. The Vaqueros defeated the Concordia Tornados 136-81 tonight in an exhibition match in the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. RAMIRO CASTRO JR./THE RIDER PHOTOS
The UTRGV Men’s Basketball Team started its season tonight, beating Concordia University Texas 136-81 in an exhibition game in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Junior forward Daylen Williams scored the first two points with a layup within 30 seconds of the game starting.
Williams put up 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals during his 20-minute playtime.
Sophomore guard Will Johnston made two free shots 10 minutes into the first half, then immediately got the rebound and dunked the ball.
“I thought it was a good start,” Johnston said. “Real proud of the guys. … It was definitely a lot of the guys’ first time playing together. … I think we did a good job executing.”
Johnston finished the game with 17 points, 10 assists and four rebounds.
Senior forward Justin Johnson posted 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.
“We play fast, and [Concordia University Texas] play fast as well, so, like, both teams really going up and down the floor, we’re going to score a lot of points,” Johnston said.
Asked what he thought about playing with guard Johnston, Johnson replied he loved it.
“Will’s really good,” he said. “He can attack. When people are stepping up, he knows when to dish the ball and stuff. He’s a great point guard. We’re just going to build off this win and keep working on practice.”
Johnson said he thinks he needs to be a leader since he is a returning player in the program.
“[Head coach Matt Figger] is very big on me being a leader, especially with me being the only guy that came back and just knowing the system,” he said.
Asked about his thoughts on the game, Figger replied that he felt that the team “could really score a basketball.” He said the team is very unselfish and has no problem passing the ball.
“We can share the ball,” Figger said. “I’ve been seeing that every day in practice. We caused 17 turnovers and we got 19 offensive rebounds. If we weren’t making the shot, we were assisting on the make or we were offensive rebounding on the ball.”
The coach said he was a lot happier with the way they played their exhibition game this year than he was last year.
He said he has never seen a team share the ball like that.
“That was a priority when we went out and recruited,” Figger said. “I wanted to find guys who were unselfish players who were willing to pass.”
He said they did not have anyone play more than 25 minutes and they got to distribute minutes out.
“I thought all three of the freshmen when they came in, they all played about five-and-a-half minutes, they all contributed really well,” he said. “I was really happy with them.”
Concordia’s sophomore guard DJ Pigford led with 14 points, three assists and two steals. He was followed by sophomore guard Stanfford Donovan with 11 points and four rebounds and freshman guard Jaylon Johnson with 11 points, two rebounds and one assist.
UTRGV is set to play at Kansas State University at 8 p.m. Monday. The next home game will be against Southwestern Adventist University at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
