With 17.9 seconds remaining, Missouri men’s basketball scored an alley-oop dunk against Texas A&M to walk away from Reed Arena with an 86-85 win.
The Tigers winning in dramatic fashion means they will come home to Mizzou Arena on Saturday with a three-game win streak on their belt — just like their opponent, Texas.
“(Winning against A&M) was a big one for us, but we got a big one at home against Texas,” junior guard/forward Trent Pierce said.
The Longhorns are on their first three-game win streak since 2024, after beating Ole Miss 79-68 on Saturday. Texas closed with a 14-0 run to seal the game, playing some of its best basketball of the season in the final 3:35 of the game.
Both teams will head into the game with momentum and records just above .500, Texas being 6-5 and Missouri at 7-4. A victory on Saturday will do a great deal for the winner as March Madness creeps closer and closer.
Sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis will have his hands full with Pierce and senior center Shawn Phillips Jr., who both combined for 17 rebounds against Texas A&M. Pierce also scored an efficient 23 points, while shooting 67% from the field and 50% from range. Phillips Jr. had the game-winning dunk to top off a 12-point performance.
“A big thing for me was just getting offensive rebounds,” Pierce said. “I had a lot of putbacks, a lot of offensive rebounds, and that really helped me get going.”
Vokietaitis will take on the Tigers’ front court after coming one point shy of his career high against Ole Miss. The Lithuanian’s 27 points were his highest tally in conference play and were met with high praise from head coach Sean Miller. He also improved his foul tally, bringing it down from five to two.
“Matas (Vokietaitis) coming off of South Carolina, that might have been the worst SEC individual performance he had,” Miller said. “We talked a lot the last couple days about that with him, and he played his best game of the SEC season today. Matas (Vokietaitis) was the difference in the game. … It was great to see him bounce back.”
As momentum plays a key role for both teams, there are still players hoping to break out after some dips in respective performances. Specifically, junior guard/forward Dailyn Swain and Missouri senior guard/forward Mark Mitchell will both want to find their scoring form on Saturday.
After a five-game stretch of averaging 25 points per game, Swain dipped to a seven-point performance against the Rebels. Mitchell, against the Aggies, was held to only nine points after averaging 18.6 in his last five games. Both players, however, rebounded and assisted well in their sub-par scoring performances.
“What I said to Dailyn (Swain) is (that) he needs a break,” Miller said. “We haven’t really had that (bye week). … This week comes in at an ideal time for him where he can get his feet under him, get healthy, not have the burden of another game coming and for us to get better and for him to be at his best next weekend (against) Missouri.”
Tip-off between the Tigers and the Longhorns is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.