Texas State begins under Johnson era with 98-59 win over UMHB

In the 48 hours leading up to Texas State’s 2020-21 season opener on Wednesday, Terrence Johson could feel his anxiety building up.

He’d helped the Bobcats navigate the off-court adversity they faced during the offseason. But now he had to lead them through any on-court adversity they might encounter.

It wasn’t until he prayed with his 82-year-old grandmother over the phone that he got over his nerves. Johnson’s prayers were answered as Texas State took a 98-59 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor inside Strahan Arena.

“Sometimes we tend to think that this is about us as coaches and think that we're going to be the determining factor,” Johnson said. “And sometimes we may make an adjustment here and there that may impact the game, but there's a reason why the players play. So what she told me was just believe in myself and my ability to put them in the right place and then encourage them to do the things that we've taught them to do. So shout out to my grandmother.”

The Bobcats (1-0) went with a starting lineup of junior guard Mason Harrell, redshirt senior guard Marlin Davis, senior guard Shelby Adams, senior forward Isiah Small and redshirt junior forward Alonzo Sule, but gave minutes to all 13 available players against the Crusaders (0-1).

The hosts struggled a bit early on, only leading UMHB 25-21 after the first 16:14 of the first half. But Texas State closed out the final 4:46 of the period on a 19-2 run.

“Early on, they score a lot of points off of offensive rebounds,” Johnson said. “Our guys came in just a little bit cocky, thinking that they didn't have to be fundamentally sound regarding blockouts. So what that last group did with that — first of all that last group did a great job of getting deflections, playing with their hands and also, they did not allow an offensive rebound throughout that period where we went on that run.”

The players continued getting accustomed to Johnson’s offensive adjustments throughout the game. Small noted that under former head coach Danny Kaspar, the Bobcats were told to finish out a set before taking a shot. Johnson instead wants them to fire away when open.

The head coach thought his team did a decent job of spacing the floor, another one of his main emphases in the offseason. One thing he saw that Texas State could improve on, though, was when the players fed the ball down low to the post. Johnson wants his players to cut from the opposite side of the floor, but there were a few too many times the cut came from the same side of the court.

“Today we played good. We should have played better,” Small said. “(We should have) boxed out a whole lot better, shared the ball more and communicated on defense, like the backdoors, the slips, and pressured the ball a little bit more.”

Small finished with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Harrell added 15 points and five assists. Davis and junior guard Caleb Asberry chipped in another 10 points each, the latter also finishing second on the team with seven boards.

Sule scored eight points and brought down five rebounds but Johnson said the forward is still getting back in shape after recently dealing with tendonitis issues. Johnson also noted that junior guard Darien Jenkins will be out for the season after undergoing hip surgery and that junior forward Mason Hix will be out “for a while” with a dislocated toe.

The Bobcats play in their first road game of the season on Saturday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-0) at 2 p.m. Johnson said he ideally wants to narrow his subs down to a nine-man rotation. Texas State’s game against the Islanders will help the new head coach find out who those nine will be. 

“When you're on that court, all you have is you and your brothers,” Johnson said. “So I'm excited about these guys and how they rallied around each other and stayed focused.”