Texas Longhorns Battle Past Missouri for Fourth Straight Win

The Texas Longhorns keep finding ways to win, even though it has been far from pretty.

Dailyn Swain scored a game-high 25 points and Texas slugged its way past Missouri in Columbia on Saturday night for an 85-68 win on Valentine's Day.

The victory gives the Longhorns their fourth straight along with a massive road win for the team's NCAA Tournament resume.

Dailyn Swain's Big Second Half Leads Texas to Win

Texas Longhorns forward Dailyn Swain celebrates against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

After a rough start, Swain scored 18 points in the second half to help the Longhorns cruise to a win. He added six rebounds and two assists to his total.

Matas Vokietaitis had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Jordan Pope added 15 points. With Lassina Traore out due to injury, Nic Codie came off the bench and posted nine points and six rebounds while Tramon Mark (eight points) and Simeon Wilcher (nine points) also had notable contributions.

Mizzou used some tight early defense to jump out to a 12-7 lead before Simeon Wilcher got Texas' offense going with a triple to cut the deficit back to two.

Vokietaitis scored the next six points for Texas before an and-one from Codie gave the Longhorns a 19-18 lead.

After a triple from Swain, Codie then kept things rolling off the bench with two more buckets in the paint.

An and-one layup from Tramon Mark in the closing seconds gave Texas a hard-earned 33-31 lead headed into halftime.

Swain got things going to begin the second half with a fastbreak layup before another bucket put Texas up 41-37.

Pope then hit a triple from the top of the arc to give Texas a 51-45 edge at the 12:19 mark. The Tigers hung around thanks to tons of looks at the free throw line.

A pair of free throws from Wilcher gave Texas a 59-48 lead with 9:16 to play, the first double-digit lead by either team in the game. However, two straight reviews by the officiating crew for potential flagrant fouls brought the game to a halt.

This didn't slow down the Longhorns though, as Texas answered with a 3-pointer apiece from Pope and Swain, all while the Tigers finally ended a stretch of seven minutes without a field goal.

The free throws continued for both sides after this, as the officials just couldn't help blowing the whistle. Still, Texas stayed steady with a layup from Swain, who then found Wilcher in the paint on the next possession to give the Longhorns a 73-60 lead at the 4:58 mark.

Another triple from Swain iced the game a few minutes later, as Texas cruised to the finish line.

The Longhorns will host LSU on Tuesday at the Moody Center.