Thousands of elementary school kids can’t be wrong. They know what they like. They’ll scream for anything — fireworks, the noise meter on the video board, “HOT TO GO!” Like, literally anything.

“Who wants a Teeeeeee-shirt?,” the hype man yelled. Heaven help those who didn’t bring ear plugs.

They went wild when Rori Harmon hit a short jumper to open things up Tuesday at Moody Center. They shrieked over Madison Booker’s 3-pointer and Shay Holle’s backdoor cut for a layup. Even a random dead-ball turnover elicited wild approval from the area 10-year-olds.

“I remember it got really loud and that my head started pounding, and I was like, wow, this is crazy,” Harmon said. “I couldn’t hear my thoughts.”

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The annual 40 Acres Field Trip was a 150-mile beatdown for Tarleton State. The Longhorns forced eight turnovers in the first five minutes and had the blowout secured well before halftime. It was full throttle on the court and in the stands from start to finish in a 83-41 rout.

The announced crowd of 6,173, most of which was Austin-area kids as a special day out, sure enjoyed it. The 2-3 Tarleton State Texans, not so much.

“I was telling coach (Vic) Schaefer after the game, I think he has every base covered on his team, every spot with a backup,” Tarleton State coach Bill Brock said. And he would know after helping Baylor win three national titles. “I think they got a chance to make a very, very deep run in the NCAA playoffs.

“I think there’s probably eight teams that can win it, and I think they’re one of them.”

Texas’ Taylor Jones and Kyla Oldacre work together to dominate DePaul in Longhorns’ 3-0 start

Jones pours in 22, Oldacre adds nine more as Texas cruises to 91-61 win

No. 4 Texas (4-0) is blowing everybody out, at least so far. Business picks up with the upcoming Gulf Coast Showcase tournament next weekend. Until then, the Horns have a nine-day layoff that stretches through Thanksgiving.

“Yeah, the next nine days, it's really unusual,” Schaefer said. But after this stretch, “it's pretty much nonstop until we go on for Christmas.”

The Horns can likely get on top of anybody starting as fast as they did Wednesday. They forced eight Texans turnovers in the first five minutes alone and 29 total for the game.

“Definitely punching first. That’s the message we want to send. We want to punch first in the game,” Booker said. “Literally, I go sleep just thinking about defense.

“Punch them first and the rest will just fall.”

Tarleton State was simply overmatched. The third quarter was notable only because UT snapped its string of 14 straight quarters of scoring at least 20 points. The Texans came out of the break with terrific effort. Still, UT was able to get its newcomers some extra work.

Lightning-quick freshman Bryanna Preston put too much mustard on a pass into the corner. But she swiped three balls to make up for it. Justice Carlton got into the perfect position to draw an offensive foul when the Texans inbounded the ball right in front of their bench. Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda grabbed a ball, worked through traffic and had a nice layup.

And Kyla Oldacre turned in another solid day. She was all over DePaul on Sunday and had nine points and 10 rebounds against Tarleton State.

“Well, when I first got here at Texas, coach originally stated how everyone was recruited here for a reason. Everyone has a job,” Oldacre said.

Asked what she wanted her role to be, the Miami transfer said, “Huge impact overall, but also fulfill my spot as the five and be there for my teammates as they’re there for me.”

With all these options inside, the Horns can afford to miss a few 3-pointers here and there. They were 0-for-7 Sunday against DePaul and 3-for-11 against Tarleton State.

Schaefer has confidence that will come around considering how he knows Harmon and Shay Holle can fired it up.

“I just think we’re going to make shots,” Schaefer said. “I don’t think you want to play H-O-R-S-E with my kids. I really don’t. I got a lot of confidence in them.”