Texas Survives Ole Miss for Win in Chris Beard's Return to Austin

The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team is keeping its NCAA Tournament chances alive, though it's hardly happening in pretty fashion.

Texas center Matas Vokietaitis scored a game-high 27 points and the Longhorns survived an ugly second half with a 14-0 run to close out the game to beat Ole Miss 79-68 in Austin on Saturday, giving the Longhorns their third straight win.

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard made his return to the Moody Center in hopes of an emotional win but the Longhorns rallied late to prevent what would have been a massive personal victory for the former Texas head coach, who was fired mid-season in Jan. 2023 following an arrest for third-degree domestic violence charges.

Texas Rallies After Second-Half Collapse

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller talks to Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard talk before the game at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Longhorns led by as many as 18 in the first half after a 16-0 run but Ole Miss responded after halftime and took the lead back before Texas woke up for the late rally.

Texas guard Tramon Mark finished with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists while Jordan Pope 13 points, including eight in the second half.

Texas star Dailyn Swain was held in check on offense but still finished with seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Vokietaitis scored the first eight points for Texas as the Longhorns took an early 8-4 lead.

Texas committed a few early fouls to go along with some careless turnovers but the Longhorns quickly recovered and started to pull away thanks to a solid effort on both ends of the court.

Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Pope drives the ball against Mississippi Rebels guard Ilias Kamardine (6) during the first half at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

After a 7-2 Ole Miss run cut the lead to 13-11, the Longhorns used a 16-0 run to create some distance, holding the Rebels scoreless for over seven minutes. This was highlighted by triples from Mark and Camden Heide. Mark also hit multiple midrange jumpers during this stretch, scoring nine points as part of the run.

Ole Miss recovered a bit and kept things from getting too out of hand, cutting the lead to 37-25 at halftime after a late 7-0 run.

The Rebels then managed to cut it to single digits to begin the second half on a triple from Patton Pinkins but Mark answered with two more makes from the midrange. However, Ole Miss steady and cut the lead deficit to six at 41-35 less than three minutes into the half after an open paint bucket from Cassia.

This run was hardly a fluke, as Ole Miss kept its foot on the pedal. Kamardine and Klafke both hit triples to give the Rebels a 50-47 lead before the 10-minute mark but Heide answered with a 3-pointer of his own to tie the game.

Vokietaitis responded with a personal 5-0 run that gave Texas a 55-52 lead but the Rebels answered back with 6-0 run of their own to jump back in front at 58-55 with 7:51 to play.

The two sides continued to go back-and-forth in the closing minutes. Kamardine nailed another open triple to give Ole Miss a three-point lead but Pope answered back with a corner 3 and was fouled in the process. The ensuing free throw gave Texas a 69-68 lead with 2:43 to play.

After being held in check throughtout the afternoon, Swain then hit a big and-one bucket in the paint to extend the lead to 72-68. Simeon Wilcher then put the nail in the coffin for Texas with a deep triple at the shot clock buzzer.

The Longhorns will look to extend their win streak to four when they visit Missouri on Valentine's Day.