Saturday was to be a celebration.

After all, Max Abmas was ending his final regular season as a collegian after downing two game-winning shots for Texas and four in a brilliant career here and at Oral Roberts that has earned the shooting guard a staggering 3,073 points.

Dylan Disu didn’t start his career at Texas either, but with his vast repertoire of skills has elevated Longhorns basketball to a new level after leading the program to an Elite Eight appearance and brink of a Final Four last year. Ithiel Horton, too, began elsewhere, but following stops at Delaware State, Pittsburgh and UCF came to Austin to play a supporting role. The player dubbed “IT” didn’t always have the it factor, but brings a ton of energy.

Finally, Brock Cunningham, Mr. Longhorn himself, waved goodbye to an adoring capacity crowd of 11,073 at Moody Center that included former basketball greats LaMarcus Aldridge and Avery Bradley in the house.

Cunningham, considered a scoundrel from Waco to West Virginia, commemorated the occasion by drawing two more mystery fouls, one that I swear was for breathing too hard on his opponent. He said he doesn’t even own a black hat, “but I need one,” he said.

“He’s definitely the villain in the conference,” Disu said. “Heck, I didn’t like Brock before I came to Texas.”

The Vandy transfer does now as do all of Cunningham’s appreciative teammates and a capacity crowd that saluted all four of these players on a spectacular Senior Day that even include a rare blocked shot by Abmas.

So naturally a junior stole the show.

Somehow Tyrese Hunter didn’t get the memo. Texas' junior guard did bring party favors, however, with a career-best 30 points that helped the Longhorns beat archrival Oklahoma 94-80 even if he did crash the party.

“Oh, my bad,” Hunter said sheepishly.

No, Hunter was my goodness good.

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Uncharacteristically good, at least for this season. This was the Tyrese Hunter that Longhorn Nation has been waiting for since November. Oh, he’s had his moments like a team-high 21 points in a gritty win over Baylor, not to mention the coast-to-coast game-winning layup as time expired. And he leads the team in steals.

Red Panda, Saturday’s halftime entertainment act without peer, didn’t drop a bowl off her head. Hunter just dropped 30.

“Just seeing the confidence Tyrese had,” OU coach Porter Moser said. “When he has that, it’s a different dynamic for that team. When you get that guard scoring like that, along with Max and Disu, they’re elite.”

Texas' defense is coming around at the right time

Elite may be a little strong. After all, every expert worth his mock bracket ranks the Longhorns no better than a likely eight seed, but it’s conceivable they could creep up a seed line with a strong showing in the Big 12 Tournament.

With three wins in its last four games, there’s no doubt Texas (20-11) is hitting its stride after often scuffling during conference play. However, it hasn’t won three straight games since the start of January and has been forced to rely too heavily on the scoring of Abmas and Disu.

Defense?

“At times, they’re elite,” Moser said, using that word again. “Physically, I thought Texas did so many good things. I think they’re outstanding defensively.”

That has been anything but a real strength this year. The Longhorns rank only 47th in defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom's metrics. Last year’s team, remember, ranked 13th and had everything to do with them going so deep in the tournament.

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The Tyrese Hunter we've all been waiting for

That said, Texas put the clamps on OU, especially in the second half when the Sooners were held to 31% shooting and couldn’t keep up. Hunter saw to that. He was everywhere. He nailed three of his four 3-pointers. Didn’t miss from the free-throw line in nine chances. Had seven assists.

He was suddenly the player everyone here expected after showing up following a Big 12 freshman of the year campaign with Iowa State.

“I was pumped up all the way around,” Hunter said. “My confidence never goes away.”

His points occasionally do. He’d scored nine points or fewer in 10 of his last 15 games. Against Baylor he drained two 3-pointers in the opening minutes but made only two more buckets and finished with just 12 points. In the last six previous games, Hunter also had just 17 assists and 14 turnovers, a ghastly ratio.

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But on Saturday, he was electric. Unstoppable, even. OU had no answer for him.

While the Sooners trapped Abmas as soon as he emerged from the locker room and forced the ball out of his hands and tried to crowd Disu, Moody was Hunter’s personal playground. He did as he wished.

The starting point guard’s play has regressed for much of the year but has always given effort, played hard on defense and on this day stole the thunder from the seniors with a rousing performance. There’s been no real explanation for his struggles as he failed to give head coach Rodney Terry the third offensive option this 9-9 Big 12 team so desperately seeks.

Everyone knows he’s been the X-factor for this club. Hell, he may be X, Y and Z. He’s that vital a cog for a Texas team that has come nowhere close to playing at the level of last year’s cohesive, clutch team, which probably would have reached the Final Four in Houston had not Disu’s foot injury kept him out of the last two postseason games.

“That’s something that a lot of people are talking about,” Disu reminisced. “Hats off to Miami (which beat Texas in the Elite Eight). I do feel there was a couple of times or different ways that I could have impacted that game. So I think we probably would have been in the Final Four if I did play. I don’t want to throw my teammates under the bus. But I was playing at a pretty high level at that point.”

He still is, but someone else has to pick up the slack besides him and Abmas, a top eight scorer in college basketball history.

Hunter, given the fact he’s on the floor so much, needs to be that person.

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“When he plays great defense, he plays great on offense,” Disu said. “He gets out in transition. He gets his 3-pointers when he’s locked in defensively. That gets his competitive juices going and takes a lot of pressure off me and Max. Not only that, it’s fun to rest. I was a little tired today.”

Hunter is one of Texas' keys to the postseason

For the Sooners, they were just tired of keeping up with Hunter. He had seven assists and bombed away with 22 of his 30 points in the second half, including all three of his deep shots.

He’s also the point man on Texas’ defense and can fuel his own and his team’s offense with stops and steals like the three swipes he had that led to points. It was no coincidence that he was pacing the team to 25 fast-break points.

Aside from 3-pointers, there may be no more pivotal factor because it’s a slow death playing half-court offense in the Big 12.

“The hardest thing to do in this league is to go five on five against the defenses you face every night,” Terry said. “But I think we’ve played really good basketball the last five, six games.”

While Dillon Mitchell has hit the offensive skids of late and Cunningham, Horton and Chendall Weaver run hot and cold, Hunter could be the pivotal third threat. In Texas’ nine conference losses, Hunter has averaged just 8.7 points. In the wins, that bumps up to 12.7. Considering Terry’s club has lost four league games by five points or fewer, a bigger scoring output could have meant a ton of difference.

Asked if he made Hunter an honorary senior on Saturday as motivation, Terry chuckled and said, “He played like one, didn’t he?”

He did indeed. He’ll be one next season if he chooses to return. His NBA options seem sorely limited. But he’s got more eligibility as a Longhorn or, God forbid, a transfer.

When he was asked point-blank where he’ll be in 2024-25, Hunter smiled a tight-lipped smile and said, “I’m worried about today, tomorrow and the next day after that.”

Smart answer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baskteball's Tyrese Hunter overshadows seniors, crushes Oklahoma