Matas Vokietaitis went for 28 and a perfect 14-for-14 at the line as Texas bounced back from the Virginia debacle with a 95-69 beatdown of Southern at Moody.
The "crossroads" talk will have to wait.
After getting embarrassed at home by Virginia in an 88-69 loss that had head coach Sean Miller openly questioning where his team stood, Texas came out Monday night and did exactly what a good team is supposed to do ... punch back.
Behind a career night from Matas Vokietaitis, the Longhorns rolled past Southern 95-69 at the Moody Center, moving to 7-3 and reclaiming a little swagger in their final tune-up before one of their biggest tests of the season.
Vokietaitis was the star of the night and then some.
The sophomore forward poured in a career-high 28 points, going a ridiculous 14-for-14 from the free throw line, tying a program record for most free throws made without a miss. He added six rebounds and a block, setting the tone with aggression and composure from the opening tip.
And this wasn't a cupcake rolling in blind, either.
Southern arrived battle-tested, having already taken trips to Arkansas, Marquette and Washington, including a 99-93 double-overtime scare against the Huskies in Seattle.
The Jaguars also brought in one of the nation’s most dangerous scorers in Michael Jacobs, who entered the game averaging 22.3 points per night.
Texas made sure none of that mattered.
Jacobs was held in check all evening and finished with just 11 points before leaving in the second half with an injury. Southern's best punch came from Malek Abdelgowad off the bench with 17 points and AJ Barnes with 10, but once the Longhorns settled in, the visitors never really threatened.
Offensively, Texas shared the wealth behind Vokietaitis' heater.
Jordan Pope dropped 18 points, Simeon Wilcher added 14, and Camden Heide chipped in 11. Dailyn Swain filled the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists, doing a little bit of everything on both ends.
The tone was set early.
Texas jumped out to a 13-10 lead behind seven quick points from Vokietaitis and early threes from Pope and Heide. Swain's activity helped stretch the margin to 26-15, and the Longhorns never looked back, pushing the lead to 46-27 at halftime.
Southern's Brandon Hardy opened the second half with back-to-back threes to momentarily cut into the cushion, but that was the Jaguars' last real surge. Vokietaitis kept piling up points at the stripe, Texas tightened the screws defensively, and the game turned into a stress-free cruise.
It was exactly the kind of response Texas needed with a monster road trip looming. Next up is a Friday night showdown at No. 5 UConn in Storrs, and the Longhorns will head north feeling a lot better about themselves than they did a week ago.