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Texas beats Alcorn State 103-44
Kevin Duran scored 20 points
AUSTIN, Texas - Kevin Durant scored 20 points and No. 21 Texas' highly touted freshman class got off to a roaring start Thursday night with a 103-44 win over Alcorn State in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic.
A.J. Abrams and Damion James each scored 13 points for the Longhorns, who trailed 9-1 in the opening minutes before outscoring Alcorn State 47-9 over the rest of the first half in the regular-season opener for both teams.
Delvin Thompson led Alcorn State with 15 points. The Braves shot just 23 percent.
Texas lost all five starters from last season's team that set a school record with 30 wins and made it to the Atlanta Regional final of the NCAA tournament.
Three underclassmen from that team -- LaMarcus Aldridge, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson -- left school early for the NBA, leaving wispy guard Abrams as the leading returning scorer. Abrams averaged. 6.4 points last season.
The departures just created room for Durant, considered one of the top high school players in the country last season, and his new teammates in a seven-strong freshmen class rated among the best in college.
The Longhorns started three of them: forwards Durant and James and guard D.J. Augustin.
They started slow against the Braves and looked a bit nervous in the opening minutes. The Longhorns missed their first three shots and had three turnovers as Alcorn State took the early lead.
They settled down when Durant started heating up with dunks and no-look passes that sparked a 19-0 run over an 8-minute span.
Durant, a 6-foot-9 forward, stepped out for a 3-pointer that made it 26-10 and the game quickly turned into a rout. Texas led 48-18 by halftime. Durant was 8-of-13 shooting for the game and had six rebounds.
The Longhorns had a clear size advantage in both height and bulk over the Braves. Texas shot 56 percent and no Alcorn State player had more than one basket in the first half.
Texas opened the second with a 14-2 run, getting two 3-pointers each from Abrams and Durant that stretched the lead to 62-20.
Durant was the co-MVP of the McDonald's All-American game last season and the Big 12 coaches voted him the preseason conference freshman of the year.
He likely would have gone to the NBA out of high school if not for the league's minimum age requirement for the draft -- he just turned 18 on Sept. 29 -- and is expected to consider leaving college after one season.
Texas will play Chicago State (1-0) in the second round of the tournament Friday night.