Texas Longhorns Get Revenge on Texas A&M in Huge Road Win

The Texas Longhorns picked up a major bubble win on Saturday and beat their heated rivals in the process.

Tramon Mark scored a game-high 23 points and the Longhorns beat Texas A&M 76-70 in College Station to even the season series.

The Longhorns now move one step closer toward potentially locking up a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Texas Defense Shuts Down Texas A&M

Texas Longhorns guard Tramon Mark attempts to shoot a basket as Texas A&M Aggies forward Jamie Vinson (4) defends during the first half at Reed Arena. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The Longhorns held the Aggies 18 points below their season average in a much-improved defensive effort.

Along with Mark, Jordan Pope (17 points), Dailyn Swain (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Matas Vokietaitis (14 points, seven rebounds) all scored in double figures while Chendall Weaver had five points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench.

"Obviously, Tramon Mark, he played lights out," Texas head coach Sean Miller said. "It was one of his best games of the year. And when he gets going, he's a really terrific offensive player."

Texas A&M forward Rashaun Agee once again led the way for the Aggies with 22 points and eight rebounds while Marcus Hill added 17 points and eight rebounds. Pop Isaacs had 14 points and four assists off the bench for Texas A&M.

Swain got the scoring started for Texas with two early buckets in the paint before Mark nailed a left wing triple to put the Longhorns up 7-1.

Mark then converted a fast-break and-1 over Jaime Vinson while Texas A&M remained without a field goal for nearly the first five minutes. Agee quickly changed that, as he hit a triple late in the shot clock that cut the lead to 10-6.

Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope dribbles the ball during the first half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

After a 3-pointer from Pope, Weaver turned a steal into a fast-break layup that resulted in another and-1 for Texas to push the lead to 16-8.

A dunk from Vokietaitis and free throws from Swain kept the Texas offense going but the Aggies responded with an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 24-20 after the 6-minute mark.

Texas punched back with a triple from Swain and a jumper from Pope to take a 29-28 lead but the Aggies headed into halftime with a 30-29 lead.

Texas came out of halftime and got two buckets from Pope and Mark to take a 35-32 lead before Hill answered with a fast-break layup after poor transition defense from the Longhorns.

Mark continued his productive evening with another midrange jumper before finding Vokietaitis for an alley-oop dunk in transition that came after Pope got free for another triple.

Texas led 44-36 at 13:20 mark after putting together an 8-0 run. The Longhorns looked they were starting to pull away a bit but Hill scored back-to-back buckets to cut the lead back to 46-42, which was highlighted by a filthy spin move into a jumper.

Shortly after, Simeon Wilcher bounced in a catch-and-shoot triple that flew high off the rim before dropping in. After a fast-break dunk from Vokietaitis gave Texas a 55-48 lead at the 7:19 mark, Pop Isaacs hit a key 3-pointer for the Aggies to cut the lead back to four before the under-8 timeout.

But the Longhorns held steady. Camden Heide pump-faked himself free into an open triple before Mark nailed a tightly-contested 3 of his own deep in the corner with the shot clock running down to extend the lead to 63-56 with 3:52 to play.

After Weaver muscled his way loose for a tough bucket off the glass, Mark knocked down a pair of free throws to give Texas its largest lead of nine at 67-58.

The Longhorns were able to close things out from there to seal the win.