No. 7 Texas vs. Chicago State preview: Three problems to fix before the games get harder

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No. 7 Texas vs. Chicago State preview: Three problems to fix before the games get harder

PORTLAND, OREGON - MARCH 19: Matas Vokietaitis #8 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates against the BYU Cougars during the second half in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 19, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Austin Humphrey · SB Nation

Mon, November 2, 2026 at 4:14 PM UTC ·

6 min read

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Texas Longhorns Sean Miller came home from Madison Square Garden with a to-do list — take care of the ball, finish defensive possessions and get more from the starting center. Monday's season opener at the Moody Center against the Chicago State Cougars is the first chance to check those boxes in a game that counts.

The Longhorns have a 99-percent win probability. The work is in how they get there.

No. 7 Texas opens Miller's second season with 11 newcomers and one returning starter. A year ago, his Texas debut was a 75-60 loss to Duke in Charlotte, and that team still found its way to the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 seed . This group gets a softer start, but the 87-74 exhibition loss at St. John's exposed enough to make the opener worth watching closely.

Stop giving possessions away

Texas turned it over 10 times before halftime at St. John's and 16 times overall, and the Red Storm turned those mistakes into a 20-7 edge in points off turnovers . Against a team that good, every wasted trip shows up on the scoreboard.

Miller drew a useful distinction afterward . The bigger problem was in the half court, not against the press. Getting the ball across midcourt didn't finish the job. Texas still had to make the next read.

That puts Isaiah Johnson and Austin Goosby at the center of Monday's evaluation. The starting guards combined for nine turnovers, four from Johnson and five from Goosby. Johnson also led Texas with 18 points and four assists, so the answer isn't to become less aggressive. Keep the creation and lose the empty trips.

The backcourt will be thinner than planned for a while. Saint Mary's transfer Mikey Lewis broke a bone in his foot in practice, and Miller said at SEC media day on Oct. 14 that he expects Lewis back in December. Until then, more of the ballhandling falls to Johnson, Goosby and Amari Evans.

Finish defensive stops

St. John's grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and won the glass 33-28 . Miller tied the two problems together after the game: turnovers and second shots are the extra possessions a good team feeds on. Texas can't hand the ball away at one end and give it back after a miss at the other.

The defensive problems started before the rebound. St. John's led 49-31 at halftime after making 15 of its 19 two-point attempts in the first half. Better containment has to make the first shot harder, and then all five Longhorns have to help end the possession.

Chicago State gives Texas a chance to build those habits. A size advantage only matters if somebody finds a body and secures the ball.

Vokietaitis has to set the standard

Matas Vokietaitis went into halftime in New York without a rebound. Miller made sure nobody missed it.

"That's never a good sign when your starting center and the coach had the same amount of overall rebounds, offense and defense," Miller said .

Vokietaitis finished with 14 points and four rebounds , all four after halftime. The junior is the only returning starter from a team that lost leading scorer Dailyn Swain to the Chicago Bulls with the No. 15 pick in the NBA draft . Other players are back, but he is the one being asked to anchor the new group.

He averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds on 61.9 percent shooting last season. Against this opponent, Texas should expect him to win position early, finish inside, and rebound at a much higher level.

The foul line is the other place to tighten up. Texas went 22-of-34 shooting at St. John's (64.7 percent). Getting there is a strength. Leaving 12 points behind makes everything else less forgiving.

Chicago State is starting over, too

Landon Bussie enters his second season after a 7-25 debut that included a 5-13 NEC record . Before Chicago State, he won back-to-back SWAC regular-season titles at Alcorn State in 2022 and 2023. Now he has a 16-man roster with 15 newcomers. Sophomore guard Malek Robinson is the lone returner.

NEC coaches picked the Cougars eighth in the nine-team league . Torvik's preseason numbers show how wide the gap is Monday.

One more thing in that table — Torvik has Texas 19th, not seventh. The model is cooler on this roster than the voters are. Monday won't settle that argument, but it will show whether Texas has started fixing the problems from the Garden.

Last year's Cougars forced 13.3 turnovers a game but let opponents make 59.8 percent of their two-pointers. With one player back, those numbers describe last year's team, not how this rebuilt group will play.

Players to watch

Texas

Isaiah Johnson:The Colorado transfer has the ball-security assignment. His scoring and passing at St. John's showed the upside; his decisions will decide how often Texas plays through its frontcourt.

David Punch:The TCU transfer had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds in the exhibition. Next to Vokietaitis, he can set the physical tone Miller wants.

Marcus Spears Jr.:ESPN's top-ranked prospect in the 2027 class reclassified to join Texas this summer . He had nine points, five rebounds, and three blocks at the Garden. Watch his positioning and second efforts as closely as the finishes.

Chicago State

Kameron Foman:At 6'5, the Benedict College transfer is the forward Texas has to keep off the offensive glass.

Armari Carraway:The Charleston Southern transfer averaged 6.7 points and made 45 threes at 32.8 percent last season. Texas needs disciplined closeouts when the ball finds him.

Davius Loury:The CSUN transfer averaged 4.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 33 games, 22 of them starts. Chicago State also lists two 6'11 newcomers, Ben Kalonji and Andre Stanton, to throw at Texas' size.

Prediction

Texas has won 24 straight home openers and both previous meetings with Chicago State, most recently 105-58 in November 2024. Miller's first Texas team went 7-0 against the seven low-major opponents it hosted last season, winning by an average of 30.4 points.

Texas 93, Chicago State 60

Texas should win comfortably. The useful answers come before the lead gets big — clean decisions with the ball, stops that end in a rebound, and Vokietaitis setting the tone from the opening tip. Whether those habits hold up at Louisville on Dec. 1 is a different question.

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