By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — There were times Saturday when freshman forward Mohamed Bamba wasn’t at his best but that didn’t stop him and the rest of the Texas Longhorns from periods of total domination that resulted in an 85-72 win over Mississippi in a Big 12/SEC Challenge contest at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.
Bamba was dogged by a cramp in his left thigh that forced him to a back hallway for a while early in the game, and later was called for a Flagrant 1 technical foul when he got into a tussle in the paint for the three officials who were in charge of the game.
He carried his emotions on his sleeve (and his face) and [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]took out any frustrations on Ole Miss, scoring a career-high 25 points and pulling down 15 rebounds to lead Texas (14-7) to the win.
The double-double was Bamba’s 10th in the 20 games in which he has played this season. He was 6-of-8 from the floor and hit 12 of his 13 free throw attempts as he continues to pad his résumé as a certain lottery pick for the next NBA Draft should he leave Texas after one year.
“I kind of figured out after that foul that their plan was to try to beat us up inside, but we are used to playing physical, because we get that way every day in practice,” Bamba said. “We wanted to be a hungrier team because we knew Mississippi was going to come in and play their best. It was important for us to get on a winning streak and this game allowed that.”
Dylan Osetkowski added 17 points, Kerwin Roach II scored 16 and Jase Febres hit for 12 points for the Longhorns, who won back-to-back games for the first time in a month.
“The guys did a good job of being more aggressive and physical,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “Mississippi was going to try to push us around and we had to respond to that, and I think we did. We wanted to be aggressive and the press helped us get aggressive. When Mississippi is playing its best, they get into a flow. The press kept them away from that.
“I liked the way we played today. I like to press and run. I like that we scored 85 points – that’s much better than when we score in the 60s.”
Deandre Burnett led Ole Miss (11-10) with 21 points, and Dominik Olejniczak added a season-high 16 for the Rebels, whose bench outscored Texas, 30-13, to keep Ole Miss in the game until midway through the second half.
Roach scored eight of UT’s first 13 points as the Longhorns built a 15-10 lead six minutes into the game. But the Rebels responded behind Burnett and Olejniczak and tied the game at 25 with 8:44 to play in the first half.
That’s when the Longhorns took charge, building as much as an 11-point lead twice in the final four minutes before settling for a 45-36 advantage at halftime.
Olejniczak led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, while Burnett added 12 points for the Rebels.
Osetkowski paced the Longhorns with 13 points, Roach added 10 and Bamba had 9 points and 8 rebounds at halftime.
The Rebels cut the Longhorns’ lead to 47-71 in the first few minutes of the second half but Texas took most of the question out of the game with a 13-4 run over the next six minutes.
“If Mo plays with that kind of confidence, if Dylan is in the ‘DO’ zone, and if ‘Snoop’ (Roach) continues to shoot and make the decisions he made today,” Smart said, “then we can dictate the way things go and we can break the will of the other team.”
“We just wanted to win and take some momentum with us as we get back into conference play,” Roach said.
Consider that mission accomplished. Texas returns to Big 12 play Wednesday when it travels to Lubbock to face No. 14 Texas Tech.
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