AP Sports
Writer
AUSTIN, Texas
(AP) -- The Texas Longhorns are tearing up the Big 12
and showing no signs of slowing down.
Jordan
Hamilton had 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, and No. 7 Texas
beat No. 11 Missouri 71-58 Saturday night to remain undefeated in the
Big 12.
The Longhorns (18-3, 6-0) have won six in a
row overall and snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers (17-4,
3-3).
Texas had another stellar defensive effort,
holding the highest-scoring team in the Big 12 to its lowest point
total of the season. Texas is holding Big 12 opponents to 54 points per
game.
"Good defense beats good offense on any given
night," Texas senior forward Gary Johnson said. "That's what we
do."
Like the five teams before them in Texas' run,
the Tigers came away impressed by the Longhorns' bruising play near the
baskets.
"There's no secret how they play," Missouri
guard Kim English said. "They are a physical team. They pressure the
ball. Big, strong guys."
Hamilton, Johnson and
freshman Tristan Thompson dominated the paint on both ends of the
court. Johnson had 15 points and nine rebounds and Thompson had 13
rebounds.
Missouri boasts that the Tigers play the
"fastest 40 minutes of basketball," but ran smack into a defensive wall
in this one. Texas raced to a 10-0 lead behind 3-pointers by Hamilton
and Cory Joseph and Thompson's muscular
rebounding.
Thompson also caught Missouri forward
Laurence Bowers on the chin with an elbow that knocked Bowers out of
the game with 12 minutes left in the first half. Bowers, who averages
11.5 points and had just scored two straight baskets, was wobbly when
he got to his feet and had to be helped to the locker
room.
"I thought there were a lot of loose elbows
out there," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "It might have been a
mild concussion. He took a big-time elbow."
Johnson
and Hamilton both scored 10 points in the first half for Texas.
Missouri stayed within striking distance when Phil Pressey made a
3-pointer with 3 seconds left to pull the Tigers to 38-27 at halftime.
Pressey led Missouri with 12 points.
Missouri
managed to slow down the Longhorns in the second but couldn't make a
run of their own to threaten the Texas lead.
Marcus
Denmon's putback pulled the Tigers within eight before Thompson revived
the home crowd with a two-handed dunk off a backdoor pass from
Hamilton, then blocked a shot by Denmon on the other end. Time and
again, the lanky freshman muscled over one and sometimes two Tigers to
grab the ball.
"He has been really blowing up on a
lot of people," Anderson said.
Michael Dixon made a
3-pointer for Missouri, but the Longhorns responded with quick baskets
by J'Covan Brown and Joseph that pushed the lead back to
53-42.
Texas misfires from the free throw line kept
Missouri hanging around. The Longhorns missed 11 of their first 14 free
throws of the second half and went 16 of 34 for the
game.
Texas finally put the game away when Johnson
made one of two free throws and Hamilton grabbed the rebound on the
miss and immediately went back up for a basket.
"I
saw it was going to come off the back rim. I thought it gave us a
spark," Hamilton said.
After Missouri's next three
possessions finished in a turnover and two misses, a layup by Brown
finished a Texas fast break for a 66-53 lead with just over 2 minutes
to play.
Texas' impressive early run in the Big 12
includes wins over No. 6 Kansas and No. 13 Texas A&M. The
Longhorns face a rematch with the Aggies on Monday
night.
Johnson promised more rugged, physical
defense.
"We lost to a team that played that way at
Pittsburgh," Johnson said. "We didn't like it."
Updated January 29, 2011
