Texas secures first SEC home win in 61-53 slugfest over No. 22 in Missouri

Few things came easy in a 61-53 victory for the Texas Longhorns over No. 22 Missouri Tigers at the Moody Center on Tuesday, a hard-nosed, physical first SEC home win in program history for head coach Rodney Terry’s team that came at a crucial time amid a 1-4 start in conference play with NCAA Tournament rebuilding wins at a premium.

The fifth-ranked opponent in six SEC games continued the opening gauntlet for the Horns as Terry implemented a deliberate, pragmatic strategy against Missouri, executed well by Texas by winning 50-50 balls en route to a 20-4 advantage in second-chance points. to a 14-8 edge in offensive rebounds, crashing the offensive glass against some undersized lineups deployed by the Tigers.

Some of the plays were made between the rims, hustle plays to the floor to force jump balls or create deflections, but the biggest offensive rebound for Texas came with 1:54 left when senior forward Arthur Kaluma drained a missed three for a 56-50 lead after freshman guard Tre Johnson was open but somehow not ready to shoot in a 3-for-15 shooting performance.

The next critical play came 40 seconds later when 7’0, 260-pound Missouri center Josh Gray got out of control in transition and Texas senior forward Kadin Shedrick drew the offensive foul.

With the Tigers defense anticipating another deliberate possession by a Longhorns team that had just 57 possessions, Johnson attacked from the jump and made a contested left-handed layup that pushed the game out of Missouri’s reach.

A double-double with a team-high 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds highlighted the performance from Kaluma, who added two assists, two blocks and two steals.

Johnson managed 12 points despite his poor shooting, including a 1-for-8 performance from three, as Shedrick delivered nine points and nine rebounds to make up for three turnovers and three fouls. The key stat for Shedrick? A plus-12 finish in plus-minus, eight points better than any of his teammates and equal to the final margin.

The start of the game was as cold as the bitterly cold temperature outside the Mood in Austin — it went into its second timeout with Missouri clinging to a sturdy 6-5 lead over Texas, which had just scored its first basket from the floor on a contested layup by Shedrick at the 11:48 mark that featured enough post-shot contact for a Missouri player to hit the floor, emblematic of physicality in a game that featured physically contested 50-50 balls and lots of uncalled contact.

Shedrick’s layup came after eight missed shots and four turnovers by the Horns to start the game, a remarkable number of giveaways from a team that entered the game ranked 11th in turnovers per game at 9.6, making it arguably the worst stretch of basketball in Texas all season long.

After the second media timeout, however, the Horns took an unusual lead when a goaltending call on Kaluma was overturned, giving Texas a 5-4 lead with 11:12 left in the first half of a basketball game, a certain sequence. of words that are as unusual as they are ugly.

So when Texas forced a turnover and senior forward Jayson Kent hit a pull-up jump shot in transition, the fouled goalie and basket marked a huge swing in the four-point game, 44.4 percent of the total points scored after the review.

Two made threes by Longhorn junior guard Jordan Pope, the second after an offensive rebound and two quick passes, extended the Texas lead to 13-8 amid a veritable offensive explosion, relatively speaking.

Missouri got to the rim and the free throw line for some quality looks by scoring eight points in less than two minutes. Call it an offensive explosion on both ends. Relatively.

Somehow, when the refs finally got into the game, it was on minimal contact from Texas defensively with six fouls whistled against the home team. When the Tigers play poorly, the outcomes are related to free throw rate, and that was reflected in what the Horns did well — play aggressively enough to draw some fouls and attempt 10 free throws, hitting eight, including six over a stretch of a little more than two minutes between the third and fourth media timeouts.

The Longhorns stretched the margin to 30-20 after Johnson picked up a little rhythm by hitting four straight free throws, dribbling over Kaluma for a step-in three in semi-transition and then hitting his own three, his first made basket. with 1:57 left in the half on his fifth attempt.

Missouri responded with a five point surge from Iowa State transfer Caleb Grill, the Tigers’ most dangerous deep shooter at close to 50 percent from distance this season and was coming off a hot streak as SEC Player of the Week after scoring 19.5 points per game. game and hit 9-of-15 three-pointers. two games.

A lob dunk by Texas senior wing Tramon Mark, his first bucket of the first half, and a missed layup by Grill on a defensive bust by the Horns allowed the home team to take a 23-25 ​​lead and 82.3 percent probability of victory at halftime by slowing the turnover rate to 17.9 percent and hitting four of their last five three-point attempts.

Although Missouri took a four-point lead with 8:43 left, Texas responded with three free throws before going on a 7-0 run that ultimately decided the game.

The Horns return to the Moody Center on Saturday for a rivalry rematch with No. 13 Aggies, 80-60 winners in Lone Star Showdown back in SEC debut for Texas earlier this month.