Missouri had a tough time trying to stop Kevin Durant and his Texas teammates last night. Tough would be putting it lightly. Durant torched the Tigers for 34 points and 13 rebounds to lead the No. 25 Longhorns past Mizzou 88-68 in Austin.
UT improved to 2-0 in Big 12 play – they also blewout Colorado a few days earlier – while Missouri lost its second straight game to open conference play.
Mizzou has lost all three of its away games this year (Purdue, Illinois, Texas) and fell to Texas for the ninth time in a row. MU hasn’t beaten the Longhorns since 1999, the last time Norm Stewart coached a regular-season game at Missouri.
Marshall Brown led Missouri with 24 points, 22 in the second half.
It was the first half of play that seemed to doom Mizzou. The Tigers played as if they were still suffering from the effects of the close loss to Iowa State in the conference opener. The Tigers led by 13 midway through the second half but watched Wesley Johnson’s tip-in with 1.6 seconds to play win it for the Cyclones. Texas led by 18 at halftime.
Mizzou will get another chance to enter the win column when they host Kansas State Saturday at 3 p.m.