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In a Lone Star Showdown with NCAA Tournament implications, the Texas Longhorns secured a Quad 1-
A victory for their postseason resume with a 76-70 win over the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena on Saturday.
The Longhorns shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to survive persistent foul trouble for its two best players with the help of a 17-point second half from graduate guard Tramon Mark on 5-of-7 shooting, including a big three with 4:16 remaining to give Texas a seven-point lead.
Mark scored a game-high 23 points and senior guard Jordan Pope added 12 of his 17 points after halftime as the Horns made winning plays down the stretch with key conversions at the free-throw line producing 11-of-12 shooting at the charity stripe in the second half.
Texas also managed the game’s tempo well, largely breaking the A&M press without bad turnovers to finish the game with 11 giveaways that only led to seven points by the Aggies, in contrast to the opportunism Bucky McMillan’s team employed in Austin last month to beat the Longhorns.
Texas dealt with adversity early when sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis was called for two fouls in the first 63 seconds of the game, the first coming on the jump ball to start the game and the second on a loose ball when Mark turned it over.
Without graduate forward Lassina Traore available, that forced sophomore forward Nic Codie into the game early while sidelining a key offensive force for the Longhorns. Codie ultimately failed to score in his 18 minutes, but did tie for a team-high plus-nine with four rebounds and three blocks. The nine blocks by Texas were a season high.
Those fouls on Vokietaitis came before either team scored, but junior wing Dailyn Swain quickly hit two shots in the lane and Mark floated home a contested three for a 7-1 lead prior to the under-16 timeout. But as Codie struggled to defend physical A&M forward Rashaun Agee, Swain doubled in the post and committed a bad foul at the 16:35 mark, sending the team’s best player to the bench.
The Aggies opened the game missing their first four shots from the field before Agee hit his 16th three of the season and the Longhorns turned the ball over on a five-second violation trying to inbound it against full-court pressure.
Getting into the open court, Texas produced three-point plays by Mark and senior guard Chendall Weaver, heading into the under-12 timeout with a 16-10 lead because A&M started 3-of-12 shooting.
Swain and Vokietaitis both re-entered the game after the timeout and the Aggies immediately attacked the Longhorns center, who gave up a bank shot in the post to former Texas center Jamie Vinson. Offensively, at least, Vokietaitis could be more aggressive, beating Vinson off the bounce for a slam before heading back to the bench after two and a half minutes on the court.
Texas went cold, however, as A&M went on a an 11-0 run finally broken by a nifty right-handed layup by Swain from the left side as he navigated traffic in the paint. Swain also hit a three from his preferred spot on the left wing, Pope made a jumper, and Vokietaitis tipped in a miss by Swain to take a 29-28 at the 3:13 mark.
When Weaver blocked a shot after the timeout by A&M, it was the seventh of the game for Texas, tying the team’s season high.
The game went into halftime with the Aggies up 30-29 as Codie and junior forward Cam Heide combined to go 0-of-8 shooting in the opening 20 minutes, including missing all four of their three-point attempts, contributing to 3-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc.
Early in the second half, Texas forced a timeout by Texas A&M after taking a six-point lead on a three by Pope and a lob by Mark to Vokietaitis in transition after a defensive rebound. Pope extended the margin with a jumper but Marcus Hill scored six straight point for the Aggies to keep the Longhorns from creating game-changing separation. After a shot-clock violation by Texas, the game went into the under-12 timeout with the Horns up 46-42.
Junior guard Simeon Wilcher hit a big three at the 9:31 mark and then got a block to start fast break that ended with a crafty layup by Mark in traffic to make it a seven-point game. Texas kept the lead there by taking advantage of a questionable three-point attempt by Vinson that led to a Vokietaitis breaking open down the court after the defensive rebound and getting an open dunk, but a three by Pop Isaacs was a big basket for A&M.
A technical foul on Vokietaitis in an exchange with Vinson called on review was his third, and A&M cut the deficit to two points on a slam by Agee. After the Horns successfully attacked a zone defense by the Aggies for a put back by Vokietaitis, Swain committed two fouls in four seconds, sending him to the bench with four. Thirty-three seconds later, Vokietaitis picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench.
A difficult corner three by Mark to beat the shot clock saved a bad possession and extended the lead back to seven points before the under-four media timeout. Agee cut into the lead with two free throws out of the timeout, but Weaver continued the trend of hitting clutch shots, finishing at the rim in traffic over bigger players, and Mark and Pope both converted trips to the line to push the margin to nine points, the largest of the game.
Pope made another late-clock shot and Texas was able to get a defensive stop and come up with the loose ball as A&M went into foul mode with a little under a minute left in the game.
Texas remains on the road for a Wednesday matchup against Arkansas at 6 p.m. Central on ESPN2.