Local Teams

Andrew Jones scored 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting in his most time on the court in almost two years to help host Texas roll past overmatched Northern Colorado 69-45 on Tuesday in Austin in the season-opener for both teams.

Jones saw limited action in two games last season while undergoing treatment for leukemia that was diagnosed in January 2018. He played in all 33 of Texas' games as a freshman on 2016-17 and was granted medical redshirts for past two seasons because of his illness.

Jones scored 10 of his points during a 14-0 run that turned a 36-23 Texas lead into a rout before the midway point of the second half. Jones canned four of his five 3-point attempts.

Courtney Ramey added 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Longhorns (1-0) while Matt Coleman III hit for 10 points for Texas in the win.

Sam Masten led the Bears with 11 points and Jonah Radebaugh took 10 rebounds for Northern Colorado (0-1). The Bears shot just 27.3 percent from the floor and 2 of 21 from beyond the arc.

Texas shrugged off a slow shooting start to sweep to a 34-15 lead at halftime. The Longhorns led just 6-5 six and a half minutes into the game but forged a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to all but put the Northern Colorado to sleep by the end of the half.

Ramey led all scorers with 8 points and 8 rebounds over the first 20 minutes. No one had more than four points in the half for Northern Colorado.

The Bears cut Texas' lead to 13 points, at 36-23, on three free throws by Bodie Hume at the 17:52 mark of the second half but that was as close as they would get.

The Longhorns finished last season at 21-16 and as the champions of the National Invitational Tournament after missing the NCAA Tournament for the third time since 2013. Texas has been picked to finish fourth in the powerful Big 12 Conference behind Kansas, Baylor and Texas Tech.

Northern Colorado went 21-11 in 2018-19 and lost in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Bears were predicted to finish fourth this year in the league preseason poll.

--Field Level Media