Texas head coach Sean Miller has liked what he has seen from Tramon Mark lately, and for good reason.
Mark rebounded from a disastrous two-point performance in the Longhorns’ season-opening loss to Duke by making 14 of 23 total shots from the floor to lead the team in scoring in consecutive contests.
The 6-foot-5 guard will look to lead Texas (2-1) to its third straight victory on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Kansas City (1-2) in Austin.
“I tip my hat to Tramon,” Miller said. “He took the Duke game and learned from it and settled in. I think he’ll be an outstanding player for us this season. He shoots it with such confidence. Tramon’s been around the block, and we’re relying on his leadership and his play. He’ll certainly be a double-figure scorer for us.”
Mark scored 20 points and 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis added 19 in the Longhorns’ convincing 93-58 romp over Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday.
“Tramon and Matas combined to be too much for FDU,” Miller said. “They were 17 for 21 from the field. That’s 39 points and high efficiency. Both guys were really terrific. They ended up being the difference, but we left a lot of points on the board. The free throws were part of the storyline, and we’ve got to convert at a better rate than that.”
To Miller’s point, Texas misfired on 15 of 34 free-throw attempts versus the Knights and sank just 6 of 23 shots from 3-point range
The Longhorns will search for their range against the generous Roos, who open a four-game road trip on the heels of yielding an average of 103 points over their last two contests.
CJ Evans made 10 of 14 shots to finish with 23 points and Jayson Petty added 18 points in Kansas City’s 105-91 setback to Iona on Tuesday.
Roos head coach Marvin Menzies wants to see more out of his charges.
“I just had a spirited conversation about intangibles, body language, responses and emotional maturity,” Menzies said. “… It was more about who I am as a head coach and the culture that I demand, and we haven’t done it in the last few games. We’ve had moments, but they are front-runner moments. It’s only when we score that they get excited. Even on a defensive stop, they should get excited. There’s a lot of opportunity to encourage.”