CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Based on his treatment as a villain in Tuesday’s season-opening loss to Duke, Texas basketball big man Matas Vokietaitis could receive a hero’s welcome in Saturday’s home opener against Lafayette.
Vokietaitis, a 7-foot, 255-pound transfer from Florida Atlantic, threw his weight around in the paint in the 75-60 loss against the No. 6 Blue Devils at the Spectrum Center while scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 23 minutes. The partisan Duke crowd apparently didn’t appreciate the bumps Vokietaitis doled out to its precious collection of five-star players; by the midway point of the first half, Vokietaitis began drawing jeers every time he checked into the game or touched the ball.
“To see the crowd going, I’ve never seen something like that, to be honest,” said Texas guard Jordan Pope, who scored 15 points in the loss. “But that means he’s doing something right to get booed like that, in my opinion.”
That’s an opinion shared by the other Longhorns and coaches. Vokietaitis wasn’t made available to the media after Tuesday’s game, but he spoke plenty with his game while making his Texas debut. The Lithuanian native, who turned 21 Wednesday, got the start against Duke and converted three of eight shots from the field while pulling down four of his eight boards on the offensive glass. He also earned multiple trips to the foul line and converted nine of his team-high free throws.
That production particularly impressed head coach Sean Miller since Vokietaitis missed a few weeks of the preseason with a sore ankle. He showed some rust while turning the ball over five times, including two offensive fouls, but Miller couldn’t hide his excitement.
“He loves contact; he’s a physical guy,” Miller said. “He’s worked really hard to even be able to play in (Tuesday’s) game with his ankle injury, but he has a bright future. He’s going to get better, and he’s going to get smarter in terms of how to use his fouls.”
Vokietaitis certainly knows how to make those fouls count, much to the chagrin of the Duke fans.
“He was doing exactly what we asked: to play tough and play physical,” said forward Dailyn Swain, who led Texas with 16 points. “Obviously, opposing fans won’t like that when he’s playing big and strong down in the paint. But I’m proud of him. He’s been out with the injury, and he came back and fought as hard as he could.”
Texas hasn’t had a frontcourt fan favorite who likes to scrap since Brock Cunningham used up his eligibility two years ago, even though the 6-toot-6 Cunningham lacked Vokietaitis’ physical presence. The young Lithuanian also draws comparisons to 2000s Longhorns stalwart Brad Buckman, but with 3 more inches, albeit no 3-point shot.
“He came in for us with a lot of physicality and a lot of relentless effort, and that’s something we need coming from our bigs and from the rest of our guys,” Pope said. “Being able to see that from a guy as young as him, it was pretty exciting.”