Smart’s ‘Horns host his former club VCU

Looking to get back on the winning track tonight, Texas head coach Shaka Smart and his Longhorns host his former club — VCU — at the Erwin Center tonight.
An unfortunate and surprising loss to Radford last Friday saw Texas dropped from the Top 25 rankings, and the Longhorns need to lock back in to reestablish their early season momentum.
Smart was the lead man for VCU from 2009-10 through 2014-15, when he left to take over the Texas program. The upstart Rams made the NCAA Tournament five times in six seasons as Smart established the program as a steady contender, going 163-56 in that time frame.
Texas won last year’s meeting 71-67 one year ago on Dec. 5, 2017.
Fans flocking to tonight’s game can get in and warm up early with special pricing starting 90 minutes before the 7 p.m. tip off this evening.
Behind a season-high 16 points from Jericho Sims, the Longhorns were in position to win against Radford with a 59-58 lead with one minute to play, but they couldn’t hang on in a 62-59 loss.
ALLEY OOP ALERT! Sims throws it down and now has a season-high 1⃣6⃣ points!
Horns back in front with 1:01 to go, 59-58! #HookEm pic.twitter.com/6o1aw725qA
— Texas Basketball (@TexasMBB) December 1, 2018
Senior Dylan Osetkowski hauled-in a career-high 17 rebounds in the loss, and the veteran forward continues to do work down low as he has reached double digits in boards in four of UT's first seven contests.