Texas basketball (13-6, 2-4 SEC) returned home to the Moody Center for a critical SEC matchup in Austin against the No. 22 Mizzou Tigers (15-4, 4-2 SEC) on Tuesday night (Jan. 21). This was the most confident and consistent that Texas has shown up on the defensive end of the floor against a quality Mizzou squad in front of the energetic crowd at the Moody Center tonight.
Arthur Kaluma's double-double leads Texas basketball to a big eight-point win over No. 22 Mizzou
Head coach Rodney Terry's squad came out of the gates playing their best basketball on the defensive end of the floor against a hot Mizzou squad that had scored over 80 points in back-to-back wins over the No. 5 Florida Gators on the road in Gainesville and the Arkansas Razorbacks and stud freshman Boogie Fland.
Texas took a comfortable 32-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. Mizzou came back in the second half to take the lead with around 15 minutes remaining in the game. But Texas came up with a strong close to this game to secure its second win in the SEC, and its first home win in conference play this regular season.
Coming into this game, the Longhorns had just one Quad 1 victory on its resume, which was the SEC victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry game on the hardwood last week. Mizzou gave Texas a shot to get a very valuable NCAA Tournament-resume-building victory in SEC play in late January.
Here are two studs, and one dud, from the Longhorns important 61-53 win over Mizzou at the Moody Center on Jan. 21.
Stud: Kadin Shedrick, C
Texas's frontcourt really stepped up when the Longhorns needed it the most down the stretch in the second half. Senior big man Kadin Shedrick responded after an off game in the loss to the Gators last Saturday with a big closeout to the second half in this victory over Mizzou tonight.
In the game's final 20 minutes, Shedrick had seven points (including five made free throws) and a half dozen rebounds. Shedrick showed toughness and great awareness in the paint in clutch time, drawing two important offensive fouls that resulted in Mizzou turnovers on key offensive possessions late in the second half.
This was the type of performance the Longhorns need from Shedrick down low to be able to bring down important boards and boxing out fundamentally for other players to grab them. Shedrick showed grit and toughness to be able to play his best basketball down low when the Longhorns needed it the most out of him down the stretch.