
With its back against the steel-hard wall of the SEC, Texas basketball (13-6, 2-4 SEC) gutted out a needed 61-53 win over No. 24 Missouri (15-4, 4-2) Tuesday at Moody Center.
The win not only gave Texas its first victory over a ranked opponent this season, but it also gave the Longhorns a second Quad 1 win – a coveted label for the NCAA Tournament selection committee. More importantly, the victory showed that an offensive-minded Texas team doesn’t need the shots to fall to pull out big conference wins.
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Texas shot a season-low 34% from the floor but still gutted out the victory by leaning on a suffocating defense, winning the rebounding battle (39-31) for the first time in SEC play and getting to almost all the 50-50 balls.
Senior forward Arthur Kaluma paced the team with 14 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Six of those rebounds came on the offensive glass and helped Texas garner 20 second-chance points compared to four for Missouri. Kaluma also played a big role on defense against Mark Mitchell, Missouri’s leading scorer who had just seven points on 1-of-7 shooting from the floor.
As a team, Missouri shot 31.3% from the field, almost 19% below their season average.
Texas freshman Tre Johnson chipped in 12 points but made just three of 15 shots. Kadin Shedrick added nine points, nine rebounds and countless floor burns, and guard Julian Larry came off the bench to make several crucial defensive plays in the Longhorns’ 16-4 run in the final 6 minutes of the game.
The Longhorns will host Texas A&M Saturday in their first rematch of the season. The Aggies beat Texas 80-60 in the SEC opener Jan. 4 in College Station.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball vs Missouri: Horns make late clutch plays in SEC win