Field Level Media
Jan 27, 2018
Freshman forward Mohamed Bamba scored a career-high 25 points and took 15 rebounds and Dylan Osetkowski added 17 points as Texas rolled to an 85-72 win over Mississippi on Saturday afternoon in a Big 12/SEC Challenge contest at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
The double-double was Bamba's 10th in the 20 games he's 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 resume as a certain lottery pick for the next NBA draft should he leave Texas after one year.
Kerwin Roach II added 16 points for Texas (14-7) while Jase Febres hit for 12 points for the Longhorns, who won back to back game for the first time in a month.
Deandre Burnett led the Rebels (11-10) with 21 points and Dominik Olejniczak added a season-high 16 for Ole Miss, whose bench outscored Texas 30-13 to keep it in the game until midway through the second half.
Roach II scored eight of Texas' 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 Ole Miss.
Osetkowski paced the Longhorns with 13 points, Roach II added 10 and Bamba had nine points and eight rebounds at halftime.
Ole Miss cut the Longhorns' lead to 47-71 in the first two-plus 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.
Texas returns to Big 12 play when it travels to No. 14 Texas Tech on Wednesday. Ole Miss heads home to continue its SEC schedule by hosting No. 19 Auburn on Tuesday.
--Field Level Media