The second half may have been ugly, gross or unbearable to watch at times. But somehow, Texas men’s basketball held off a desperate Ole Miss Rebels team, and the Longhorns’ NCAA tournament aspirations lived to see another day.
The Rebels came out hot, marching back to tie the game up in the middle of the second half, but the Longhorns were able to pull away late with a 14-0 run to close out the game. Texas topped the Rebels 79-68 Saturday afternoon at the Moody Center.
“I’m thrilled, really, just really thrilled that we were able to hold on and win the game,” head coach Sean Miller said. “I really credit Ole Miss about the first 10,12 minutes of the second half was as good of offense as we’ve seen.”
The Longhorns struggled to open up the second half, despite holding an 18-point lead at one point in the first. An Ole Miss offense that was being smothered by the Texas defense in the first 20 minutes found its identity, hitting nine consecutive field goals to regain the lead.
During the second half’s opening span, the Rebels, the Southeastern Conference’s worst scoring team, looked unstable but managed to outscore the Longhorns 22-8. However, Texas buckled down after the game devolved into a shootout in the final 10 minutes.
“I credit our guys for continuing to fight,” Miller said. “There are times when you can let one segment of the game continue, and next thing you know, you just look at each other and say, ‘Not today. It just isn’t our day.’ We did not do that. We rallied.”
But the once seemingly unstoppable Rebels’ offense lost all of its fire — failing to score a single field goal in the final 3:35 minutes of the game. That allowed Texas to close out the afternoon with the 14-0 run to seal the game.
Despite the scoring drought in the second half, sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis and graduate guard Tramon Mark were able to run the court against Ole Miss. Mark went 8-14 in the field for 19 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Ole Miss defense was able to limit the Longhorns’ primary scorer, junior forward Dailyn Swain, who was constantly double-teamed anytime he got a possession. The Rebels, however, did not have anyone big enough to match up against Vokietaitis.
The big man had his best overall performance in conference play. Vokietaitis dominated the paint and the free-throw line for 27 points, one point short of his career high he set against Southern in December, and seven rebounds.
But it seems Vokietaitis listened to his head coach’s advice on how to foul less. Against Ole Miss, he only picked up two fouls — a vast improvement from his game against South Carolina when he fouled out.
“(My) last game was very bad,” Vokietaitis said. “Coach showed me (my) film, (showed) my mistakes (and) I tried to learn from them today.”
Texas junior guard Simeon Wilcher hit the dagger with a long-range three-pointer to give the Longhorns a seven-point lead with 41 seconds left in the game.
“I kind of had a feeling it was going to go in when (it) left my hands,” Wilcher said. “The whole crowd went crazy. Everybody went crazy. So I was just kind of feeding off that.”
The victory against Ole Miss marked the first time since January 2023 that Texas basketball has won three consecutive conference games. The Longhorns are now above .500 for the first time in SEC play since entering the conference two years ago.
Texas will face the Missouri Tigers at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri, on Valentine’s Day at 7:30 p.m.
