Few things came easily in a 61-53 win for the Texas Longhorns over the No. 22 Missouri Tigers at the Moody Center on Tuesday, a hard-nosed, physical first SEC home win in program history for head coach Rodney Terry’s team that came at a crucial moment amidst a 1-4 start to conference play with NCAA Tournament resume-building wins at a premium.
The fifth ranked opponent in six SEC games continued the opening gauntlet for the Horns as Terry deployed a deliberate, pragmatic strategy against Missouri executed well by Texas in winning 50-50 balls on the way to a 20-4 advantage in second-chance points thanks to a 14-8 edge in offensive rebounds, crashing the offensive glass against some undersized lineups deployed by the Tigers.