Texas Longhorns Hold Off LSU for Fifth Straight SEC Win

For the first time in six seasons, the Texas Longhorns have won five straight conference games.

Dailyn Swain scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds as Texas overcame a sluggish second half to beat the LSU Tigers 88-85 at the Moody Center on Tuesday night.

The victory extends Texas' winning streak to five and put the Longhorns at 8-5 in SEC play. LSU guard Max Mackinnon came off the bench and finished with a game-high 29 points, as he was critical in the Tigers' second-half comeback attempt.

Texas Nearly Blows Big Lead in Win vs. LSU

Texas Longhorns forward Camden Heide makes a three point basket during the first half against the LSU Tigers at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

After building a 17-point lead in the first half following a string of 3-pointers, the Longhorns came out of halftime looking like a different team and nearly paid for it, as LSU make things interesting late.

Along with Swain, the Longhorns got multiple big contributions, as Tramon Mark (18 points), Jordan Pope (18 points) and Matas Vokietaitis (17 points, 10 rebounds) all finished in double figures.

Mackinnon ran the show for LSU, but the Tigers also got solid games from forward Marquel Sutton (19 points), guard Jalen Reece (14 points) and forward Mike Nwoko (15 points).

Texas finished 23 of 34 from the foul line, missing multiple free throws down the stretch that kept LSU alive.

The Longhorns got off to a bit of a slow start, as LSU took an 11-8 lead. Texas didn't grab its first lead until the 9:06 mark on a layup from Simeon Wilcher.

Texas Longhorns guard Simeon Wilcher celebrates a three point basket by forward Camden Heide during the first half against the LSU Tigers at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

LSU's early momentum proved to be short-lived. Pope started to get hot from deep with three triples to give Texas a 37-27 lead at the 3:43 mark.

The 3s kept raining down for Texas, as the Longhorns hit from deep on three straight posessions. Mark hit two in a row before a steal led to a fastbreak triple from Heide. This helped Texas cruise into halftime with a 48-33 lead.

Swain began the second half with his first triple of the game but LSU's offense woke back up a bit to prevent

Robert Miller III and Nwoko both delivered thunderous dunks before Mackinnon nailed an open 3-pointer to cut the Texas lead to 59-46 at the 15:19 mark. Mackinnon scored a tough floater a few minutes later to cut the lead back down to single digits before a triple from Sutton made it a six-point game.

LSU had put together a 12-0 run, and a game that was looking like a blowout in Texas' favor was suddenly close once again.

Wilcher finally ended Texas' drought with a layup but the Longhorns had still yet to come back alive, as Mackinnon stayed hot with two more buckets to give him 13 points in the second half.

However, the Tigers were unable to pull ahead in the closing minutes despite some poor foul shooting by Texas that left the door open.

The Longhorns will look to extend their winning streak when they visit the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in Athens.