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    Jeff Howe
    Will Muschamp coached an All-American pass rusher in each of his three seasons at Texas.
    That bodes well for Colin Simmons, who is back for what figures to be his last season in burnt orange in 2026. Muschamp’s return to the Longhorns has him inheriting arguably the best pass rusher in college football, with Simmons coming off a 12-sack season as a sophomore.
    Simmons’ 2025 sack total is tied with Tony Degrate (1984), Kiki DeAyala (1981) and Steve McMichael (1977) for the eighth-best single-season sack performance in school history. Entering his junior season with 21 career sacks, Simmons’ first sack in 2026 will tie him with five legendary Texas defenders (Alex Okafor, Brian Orakpo, Cory Redding, Shane Dronett and James Patton) for 12th on the school’s all-time sack charts.
    Simmons, who has racked up 29.5 tackles for loss in 29 games, can become the third Longhorn to record at least 30 career sacks, an exclusive club of which only DeAyala (40.5 sacks), Tim Campbell (39.5) and Degrate (31) are members (the program began tracking sacks as an official statistic in 1975). Even though Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense finished the 2025 season ranked third nationally in sacks per game (3.15, with 41 sacks in 13 games), Muschamp has historically fielded aggressive defenses, including his three Longhorn units.
    The 2008 defense, spearheaded by Orakpo’s 11.5 sacks, led FBS with 47 sacks in 13 games. Muschamp’s three defenses recorded 124 total sacks in three seasons (3.18 sacks per game), including 46 in 2009, when Texas won the Big 12 and reached the BCS national title game.
    As good as Simmons has been, Steve Sarkisian believes Muschamp can get more out of the Duncanville product. Muschamp has “had a lot of success with a lot of players that look like Colin, play like Colin” throughout his coaching career, Sarkisian said during his most recent press conference on Feb. 23.
    The staff should always “try to put our best players in a position to have success because they're game-changing-type players,” he added, noting that Simmons, whose 53 total pressures in 2025 were the most recorded by a Longhorn defender in a single season since Pro Football Focus began tabulating season statistics in 2014, “is that type of player.”
    “I think Colin has really embraced the new defense. He's working at it,” Sarkisian said. “I think there's a really good rapport with Coach Muschamp and Colin right now."
     
    Will Muschamp’s All-American Texas Pass Rushers (2008-10)

    — Brian Orakpo, 2008
    A unanimous All-American who was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Orakpo won the Nagurski Trophy (most outstanding defensive player in college football), the Lombardi Award (nation’s top lineman) and the Hendricks Award (college football’s top defensive end).
    Along with his 11.5 sacks (tied for 11th on the school’s single-season list), Orapko recorded 42 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 30 quarterback pressures and four forced fumbles. A monster performance in a 45-35 win over No. 1 Oklahoma (four tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback pressures and a forced fumble) put Orakpo on the map as an NFL prospect, eventually leading to Washington taking him with the 13th overall pick in the 2009 draft.
     
    — Sergio Kindle, 2009
    Under Muschamp, Kindle became the first player in college football history to be named a finalist for the Hendricks Award and the Butkus Award, which goes annually to the top linebacker in college football.
    Named a first-team All-American by The Sporting News, Kindle posted 70 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss (tied for fifth all-time in a season at Texas), 36 quarterback pressures (tied for the ninth-most in a season by a Longhorn), four pass breakups and two forced fumbles. The highlight of Kindle’s senior season might’ve come in the team’s BCS championship game loss to Alabama, when he recorded six tackles and 2.5 sacks.
     
    — Sam Acho, 2010
    After leading the 2009 defense with 10 sacks, Acho won the Campbell Trophy and the Wuerffel Trophy, which recognize a combination of a player’s on-field play, leadership, academic prowess and community service.
    Even though the Longhorns finished 5-7, Acho (59 tackles, 17 TFL, 9 sacks, 18 pressures and five forced fumbles) performed well enough to be named a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection and a second-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Acho’s five fumble recoveries led FBS in 2010 and remain tied for the single-season school record.
     
    Based on what Muschamp did for the careers of the three All-Americans he coached on the Forty Acres, along with how he helped other Longhorn defenders carve out a path to the NFL (Emmanuel Acho, Henry Melton, Keenan Robinson, Earl Thomas and Aaron Williams among them), there’s another level where Simmons can take his game before he takes his talents to the next level.
    “We'd be remiss if Colin isn't an impactful player for us next fall,” Sarkisian said. “He's going to have plenty of opportunities to do what he does really well.
    Jeff Howe
    Historically, I’ve viewed Texas players entering their third year in the program as guys facing now-or-never situations.
    You can step up and solidify your place on the depth chart or you run the risk of a younger player surpassing you to claim your spot. While there have been instances where guys like John Harris and Tope Imade come out of nowhere as seniors and depart the Forty Acres with a bang, they’re the exception to the rule.
    A player’s true junior or redshirt sophomore season has been, for all intents and purposes, a contract year.
    That’s literally the reality for the members of the 2024 recruiting class who remain in the program in 2026.
    Third-year college football players are now more like NFL rookies. Programs must decide whether to exercise their option to bring the player back for another season (likely, at a higher dollar figure than what the player previously earned) or be OK with them testing the waters to see what they can get on the open market.
    How things played out for the 2023 high school signees during the winter transfer portal window should give the crop of third-year Longhorns a road map for how things might play out.
    Anthony Hill Jr. and Malik Muhammad had good enough junior seasons to follow through with their expected departures for the 2026 NFL Draft. Arch Manning was always coming back, barring something unforeseen, and Trevor Goosby flirted with beginning his NFL career after one season as a starter. Still, both will be back as redshirt juniors, positioned to be high picks in the 2027 draft.
    Although Jelani McDonald, Derek Williams Jr. and Ryan Niblett are among those who chose to return to Texas, CJ Baxter (Kentucky), Liona Lefau (Colorado), DeAndre Moore Jr. (Colorado) and Quintrevion Wisner (Florida State) decided to finish their college careers elsewhere. With NIL and revenue sharing a part of roster construction that's out in the open for public consumption, Steve Sarkisian admitted during his pre-spring practice conference on Feb. 23 that it’s a two-way street when it comes to the tough decisions that must be made in the portal window.
    “I'd love for them all to stay, and I'd love for them all to finish what they started here with us, but contrary to, maybe, popular belief, our money isn't endless here either,” Sarkisian said. “We have to make real decisions — where we're trying to spend the money on the players that we have to try to put together a championship roster, but yet not lose sight of how powerful our culture is. Those are difficult decisions to make.”
    There’s no right or wrong way to group the 2024 signees when trying to figure out where they stand heading into a fork-in-the-road season regarding their football careers. So, I broke them down into four categories:
     
    NFL Bound — Barring something unexpected happening, a sure-fire NFL draft pick in 2027
    — Colin Simmons
    It’s pretty simple: If the All-American edge defender stays healthy and the combination of Will Muschamp and LaAllan Clark gets the most out of him that they can, Simmons should be one of the first players off the board in the 2027 draft.
     
    Proven Commodity — Established, starting-caliber player with more to prove before the NFL becomes a realistic option
    — Brandon Baker
    — Ryan Wingo
    The goal for Baker and Wingo should be to position themselves as McDonald did after the 2025 season, where he had a legitimate stay-or-go decision to make. Baker and Wingo could come back in 2027 and be featured in more prominent roles. Or they could decide to strike while the iron is hot, if in fact it heats up. But those scenarios aren’t sure things for either of them right now.
     
    Bonafide Contributor — NFL future aside, this group is made of pieces who’d be hard to replace if something happened to them
    — Alex January
    — Ty’Anthony Smith
    January will once again be a key part of a deep, talented interior defensive line rotation that figures to pack more of a punch than the 2025 group if Maraad Watson is healthy and Ian Geffrard allows Muschamp to bounce between playing even and odd fronts.  With Smith, his immediate future will be determined by his ability to keep making splash plays while playing more consistent, down-to-down football in a new scheme.
     
    Now or Never — If you haven’t solidified your role yet, it’s time to make your move
    — Kobe Black
    — Xavier Filsaime
    — Jordon Johnson-Rubell
    — Wardell Mack
    — Zina Umeozulu
    This group has a few guys (namely Black, Filsaime and Umeozulu) who could become significant contributors in 2026 and foundational pieces in 2027. Volatility exists, though, meaning they could get passed up by incoming transfers or younger players on the roster if they fail to convince the coaches to give them more snaps.
    Jeff Howe
    Protecting the football is something Arch Manning did at an elite level in 2025.
    While logging 840 snaps (per Pro Football Focus) and serving as arguably the identity of the Texas offense, Manning accounted for just seven turnovers, all of which were interceptions. With that said, five of those interceptions came in the team’s first five games (one each against Ohio State, San Jose State and UTEP and two against Florida).
    In the team’s four wins over opponents that ended the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 15 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Michigan), Manning accounted for 10 touchdowns (seven passing and three rushing) and no turnovers.
    To better frame what Manning accomplished, it's worth noting that the year-over-year improvement in ball security from the quarterback position was staggering.
    After Quinn Ewers accounted for 17 turnovers (12 interceptions and five missed fumbles) in 14 games in 2024 (an average of 1.2 turnovers per game and a turnover every 53 snaps played), Manning’s turnover averages per game (0.54) and per snaps played (one every 120 snaps). With Manning keeping the football away from opponents in the second half of the season, the Longhorns committed the fifth-fewest turnovers in FBS (nine total) in 2025 while tying for fifth nationally in turnover margin (plus-14 overall and 1.08 per game).
    Manning became the first Longhorn quarterback since Sam Ehlinger in 2020 to lead the position in snaps played while going through an entire season without losing a fumble. However, Manning, who recovered his own fumble against San Jose State and got an assist from Quintrevion Wisner, who recovered a Manning fumble in the Georgia game, played 155 more snaps than Ehlinger did in a season shortened to 10 games (including the Alamo Bowl against Colorado, of which Ehlinger didn’t play in the second half) by the pandemic.
    Furthermore, Manning (2025), Ehlinger (2019 and 2020) and Shane Buechele (2017) are the only three Texas quarterbacks in the PFF era (since 2014) to log at least 500 snaps at quarterback without losing a fumble. Among the quarterbacks who've played at least 500 snaps in a season for the Longhorns over the last 12 seasons, only Ehlinger and Buechele had seasons with fewer turnovers accounted for than Manning’s seven giveaways in his first full season as the program’s starter.
     
    Turnovers by Texas QBs since 2014 (minimum 500 snaps, per PFF)
    Shane Buechele (2017) — 4 (all interceptions)
    Sam Ehlinger (2020) — 5 (all interceptions)
    Sam Ehlinger (2018) — 6 (five interceptions and one lost fumble)
    Arch Manning (2025) — 7 (all interceptions)
    Quinn Ewers (2023) — 7 (six interceptions and one lost fumble)
    Quinn Ewers (2022) — 7 (six interceptions and one lost fumble)
    Jerrod Heard (2015) — 7 (five interceptions and two lost fumbles)
    Sam Ehlinger (2017) — 9 (seven interceptions and five lost fumbles)
    Casey Thompson (2021) — 10 (nine interceptions and one lost fumble)
    Sam Ehlinger (2019) — 10 (all interceptions)
    Shane Buechele (2016) — 12 (11 interceptions and one lost fumble)
    Tyrone Swoopes (2014) — 14 (11 interceptions and three lost fumbles)
    Quinn Ewers (2024) — 17 (12 interceptions and five lost fumbles)
     
    Of those 13 seasons, Manning’s 0.54 turnovers per game rank fourth behind Ehlinger in 2018 (0.43), Buechele in 2017 (0.44) and Ehlinger in 2020 (0.50). Ehlinger’s 2018 and 2020 seasons are the only two of the 13 in which a Texas quarterback had a better turnover-to-snap ratio than Manning’s 120-to-1 ratio (Ehlinger averaged one turnover every 163.2 snaps in 2018 and one turnover every 137 snaps in 2020).
    How Manning protected the football is even more impressive when considering that he was one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the country.
    No SEC quarterback felt heat from opposing defenses more than Manning in 2025, with foes pressuring him a league-high 165 times. All told, Manning was pressured on 35.6 percent of his dropbacks, which ranked sixth among SEC quarterbacks who were pressured on at least 15 dropbacks last season.
    Along with displaying top-notch ball security, Manning’s 13.3-percent pressure-to-sack rate tied him with Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia for the sixth-best percentage in the SEC. Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed (11.5 percent) and Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss (12.6) were the only SEC quarterbacks with better pressure-to-sack rates on 200 or more dropbacks.
    Manning’s scrambling ability makes the conditions ripe for him to keep his turnovers down in 2026. He established himself as one of the top scrambling quarterbacks in the country last season, ranking 14th in FBS with 349 scramble yards.
    When you combine Manning's gradually improved decision-making throughout the season with his elite scrambling ability and the instincts to prevent pressure from turning into sacks, he has a chance to continue being one of the best quarterbacks in the country at taking care of the football.
    Jeff Howe
    HOUSTON — A seven-run third inning highlighted No. 3 Texas wrapping up the BRUCE BOLT College Classic with a 10-3 win over Ohio State at Daikin Park on Sunday.
    After cruising to an 8-1 victory over No. 9 Coastal Carolina on Friday and holding off Baylor for a 5-2 win on Saturday, the Longhorns pounded out 12 hits on Sunday, including a two-run home run from Temo Becerra in the top of the third. Multi-hit games by Casey Borba (3-for-3 with a double, two walks and a run scored), Ethan Mendoza (2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored) and Jonah Williams (2-for-4 with an RBI, a double and a run scored) helped Texas (11-0) continue an unbeaten start to the 2026 season.
    Here’s how the Longhorns ended a perfect weekend on the diamond in Houston:
     
    BOTTOM 2: Texas 0, Ohio State 0
    A walk and a hard-hit single back up the middle of the diamond put two Buckeyes on base with no outs against Dylan Volantis. Thankfully, the sophomore southpaw buckled down and struck out three consecutive Ohio State batters to get out of the jam.
    Volantis rallied back by using his slider and the changeup he added to his arsenal of pitches in the offseason. The three strikeouts he recorded came on hitters swinging aimlessly at two-strike pitches, getting the game to the third inning with the Longhorns looking for a spark at the plate.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 1, Ohio State 0
    Casey Borba’s leadoff walk set the table for Jonah Williams to kickstart a big inning for the Longhorns. Williams went the other way for a double, ripping a 2-1 offering from Pierce Herrenbruck into the corner in left field.
    After Josh Livingston drew a walk, Ethan Mendoza lined a single to center, scoring Borba for the first run of the game.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 2, Ohio State 0
    Carson Tinney got jammed and sent a slow-rolling grounder to first base, but it allowed Williams to score from third. That put runners in scoring position for Aiden Robbins with one out.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 3, Ohio State 0
    A sky-high pop-up off Robbins’ bat kept drifting toward shallow center field. With the roof open at Daikin Park, second baseman Henry Kaczmar lost the ball in the sun, causing it to drop into the outfield between three Buckeyes.
    It was scored as a single for Robbins, with Livingston scoring and Mendoza advancing to third base.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 4, Ohio State 0
    Facing Adrian Rodriguez with runners on first and third and one out, Herrenbruck’s wild pitch brought Mendoza home for the fourth Longhorn run of the inning.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 5, Ohio State
    Herrenbruck’s once promising afternoon ended in disaster, with Rodriguez’s RBI double serving as the final blow that knocked the Buckeyes’ starting pitcher out of the game.
    Rodriguez sent a 2-2 pitch from Herrenbruck screaming down the left-field line, over the head of third baseman Maddix Simpson. Herrenbruck left the game responsible for the runner on second (Rodriguez), while righty Owen Graff was called upon to stop the bleeding.
     
    TOP 3: Texas 7, Ohio State 0
    Temo Becerra poured salt into the open wound with a two-run home run into the Crawford Boxes in left field. Becerra’s 354-foot bomb was his third of the weekend, all of which went up and over the wall in left field.
    When the dust settled on the top of the third inning, the Longhorns torched the Buckeyes for seven runs on five hits and left two runners on base.
     
    TOP 4: Texas 7, Ohio State 0
    Graf was ejected after sounding off toward Rodriguez following an inning-ending strikeout. Rodriguez then changed words with Simpson, which led to a brief verbal confrontation near home plate, but nothing came of it after cooler heads prevailed.
     
    BOTTOM 5: Texas 7, Ohio State 1
    Righty Ryan Zamora kept the Longhorns off the scoreboard in the top of the inning, striking out Livingston after Borba and Williams attempted to start a two-out rally with back-to-back singles.
    Volantis, who retired 10 in a row before hitting catcher Grant Mangrum, got into trouble with one out. CJ Reid’s double to right field put runners on first and third and Volantis’ 3-2 pitch to Simpson was wild, allowing Mangrum to score the first run of the game for the Buckeyes.
    After striking out center fielder Miles Vandenheuvel and walking shortstop Lee Ellis to load the bases, Jim Schlossnagle gave Volantis the hook. With 91 pitches under his belt, Volantis departed with the bases loaded and two outs in favor of Brett Crossland.
     
    BOTTOM 5: Texas 7, Ohio State 1
    Crossland induced a ground ball to first base off the bat of designated hitter Mason Eckelman to get out of the inning. Borba flipped the ball to Crossland, who stepped on the bag to end the threat by the Buckeyes.
     
    BOTTOM 6: Texas 7, Ohio State 2
    Right fielder Noah Furcht took Crossland deep to left field, putting one in the Crawford Boxes to lead off the inning. Thankfully, Crossland minimized the damage and got through the sixth with three consecutive outs.
     
    TOP 7: Texas 7, Ohio State 2
    With one out, a walk drawn by Becerra and a single through the right side of the infield by Anthony Pack Jr. chased Zamora. Andrew Edrington got Borba to pop one down the line in right, but the ball dropped for a single to load the bases.
     
    TOP 7: Texas 8, Ohio State 2
    Williams’ ground ball up the middle was scored as a fielder’s choice, with Borba getting rung up via a force at second base. Still, Becerra scored from third, adding to the Longhorn lead.
     
    TOP 7: Texas 9, Ohio State 2
    Pack scored easily on Ashton Larson’s pinch-hit single to center field. Even with Williams back in the lineup as an everyday position player, the Longhorns are developing multiple options with the designated hitter spot and for pinch-hitters late in games between Larson, Livingston and Presley Courville.
     
    BOTTOM 7: Texas 9, Ohio State 3
    Brody Walls hit Vandenheuvel with one out, which led to the third run of the game for the Buckeyes, when Ellis ripped a triple to right-center field. Pack had a hard time playing the ball off the mesh wall, something Major League outfielders who lack experience with the unique wall configuration in the left-field power alley at Daikin Park deal with.
    Regardless, Walls battled back and held the runner at third by getting Eckelman to pop one up in foul territory down the first-base side of the infield, where he was retired by Borba.
     
    TOP 8: Texas 9, Ohio State 3
    The fifth Buckeye pitcher of the game, Jake Michalak, got himself into a bind upon toeing the rubber. A throwing error allowed Tinney to reach base and consecutive walks issued to Robbins and Rodriguez loaded the bases with no outs.
     
    TOP 8: Texas 10, Ohio State 3
    Becerra’s third RBI of the game was a sacrifice fly to center field. The ball was hit deep enough to get Tinney home, pushing the Longhorn lead back to a seven-run advantage.
    Unfortunately, that was the only run Texas pushed across after loading the bases with nobody out. Pack struck out and Robbins was tagged out trying to score on a ball in the dirt, ending the inning with runners stranded in scoring position.
     
    BOTTOM 9: Texas 10, Ohio State 3
    Cal Higgins sandwiched two singles between his second strikeout of the inning before hitting Eckelman to load the bases with two outs. Hudson Hamilton was among the pitchers who got up and started getting loose in the Longhorn bullpen with the Buckeyes threatening.
     
    BOTTOM 9: Texas 10, Ohio State 3
    Higgins got Furcht to hit one on the ground to short. Rodriguez flipped the ball to Mendoza for the out at second to end the game.
    Jeff Howe
    COLLEGE STATION, Texas — With Tramon Mark (a game-high 23 points) and Jordan Pope (17 points) combining for 40 points, and Sean Miller's team coming through with arguably its best defensive performance of the season, Texas took a huge step toward securing an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 76-70 road win over Texas A&M at Reed Arena on Saturday.
    The Longhorns held the Aggies 18 points under their season scoring average (88.7 points per game) on their second-worst shooting performance (38.6) in an SEC game this season, including a 5-for-19 effort from 3-point range (tying a season low for 3-pointers made by Bucky McMillan's squad). Texas (18-11, 9-7 SEC) dominated Texas A&M (19-10, 9-7) on the glass to the tune of a 41-32 edge (the third-most rebounds by a Texas A&M opponent this season) en route to a victory that guarantees the Longhorns of finishing at least .500 in conference play.
    While both clubs remained among the last four teams safely in the field of 68 just after tipping off, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, Texas now has a chance to finish in the top eight of the conference standings and get a bye in the SEC Tournament with a win over Oklahoma in next Saturday's regular-season finale at Moody Center.
    Here's how the Longhorns avoided a third straight loss and gave themselves some breathing room with regular-season games left on the schedule:
     
    FIRST HALF
     
    Texas 7, Texas A&M 3 (15:55)
    The Longhorns led the Aggies by four at the first media timeout, a position in which they were highly fortunate to find themselves.
    Daylin Swain and Matas Vokietaitis both picked up two fouls by the 16:35 mark, with Vokietaitis needing to be lifted for Nic Codie 63 seconds into the game. With five team fouls at the game’s first stoppage, the Longhorns’ tough challenge of dealing with the size of the Aggies' front court, due to Lassina Traore missing a sixth straight game with a knee issue, became even more daunting.
     
    Texas 16, Texas A&M 10 (11:21)
    Avoiding another team foul after Swain picked up his second, the Longhorns got huge three-point plays from Tramon Mark and Chendall Weaver to go into the second media timeout of the half up by six.
    With Traore out and Vokietaitis on the bench, the Aggies went after Codie and Cam Heide while hunting paint points. Credit Codie, however, for making two tremendous defensive plays to deny Rashaun Agee points, including a swipe of the ball to send it out of bounds when Agee had his eyes on a dunk down the right side of the lane.
    Texas A&M opened the game just 3-for-13 from the field. That was due in part to how well Texas defended, especially without Swain and Vokietaitis on the court.
    Mark’s block of an Ali Dibba 3-pointer to force a shot-clock violation highlighted a good stretch of play on the defensive end of the floor by the Longhorns.
     
    Texas 20, Texas A&M 15 (7:42)
    The Aggies entered the third media timeout of the half in a 1-for-8 shooting slump, including five consecutive missed shots, which led to a 3:13 drought without a field goal. Accounting for three of the Longhorns’ six blocked shots, Codie did his part to help Texas own a 10-4 edge in points in the paint.
     
    Texas 29, Texas A&M 28 (3:13)
    A 3:31 scoreless stretch and an 11-0 run by the Aggies ended with a driving bucket by Swain at the 5:09 mark of the half. Even though Jordan Pope had a 3-pointer changed to a 2-point field goal after a video review, Texas outscored the Aggies 9-4 heading into the third media timeout, regaining a one-point lead in the process.
     
    Texas A&M 30, Texas 29 (HALFTIME)
    While the Longhorns missed their last six shots of the half, the Aggies weren’t much better, going 1-for-7 from the field. Nevertheless, Agee’s bucket inside the final minute of the half put Texas A&M on top heading into the locker room.
    Agee (14 points on 5-for-9 shooting) carried the Aggies offensively, with the rest of the team shooting the ball at a 5-for-24 clip. Texas got 11 points in 11 minutes from Swain (4-for-7 shooting), but the rest of the squad combined to go 7-for-23.
    Texas A&M only turned eight Longhorn turnovers into three points at the other end of the floor. That, along with the Aggies owning just a 5-3 edge in bench scoring, helped Texas survive the early foul woes, with Swain and Vokietaitis starting the second half with two fouls apiece.
     
    SECOND HALF
     
    Texas 37, Texas A&M 34 (15:57)
    The offensive struggles continued for both sides to start the second half. Nevertheless, Mark’s elbow jumper before the first media timeout, his second bucket since coming out of the locker room, put the Longhorns up by three.
    Texas was doing what it needed to in a slow, grind-it-out kind of game, owning a plus-four edge in rebounding (28-24) and keeping pace with Texas A&M in paint scoring (20 points for both sides).
     
    Texas 42, Texas A&M 36 (14:15)
    A 3-pointer by Pope and Mark finding Vokietaitis for a transition dunk after Swain rebounded a missed 3-point attempt by Agee extended the Texas lead to six, prompting Bucky McMillan to burn a timeout to talk things over with his Aggies. A 6-for-13 effort from the field helped the Longhorns stay in front of a Texas A&M squad that was 3-for-7 (0-for-2 from 3-point range) shooting the ball to start the second half.
     
    Texas 46, Texas A&M 42 (11:22)
    Marcus Hill’s stretch of six consecutive points for the Aggies gave him 17 points heading into the under-12 media timeout, which was triggered when the Longhorns committed a shot-clock violation. With a combined 33 points on 13-for-21 shooting, Hill (7-for-9) and Agee (16 points on 6-for-12 shooting) were carrying Texas A&M offensively.
     
    Texas 55, Texas A&M 51 (6:42)
    A friendly bounce helped Simeon Wilcher convert a 3-pointer in transition to put the Longhorns up by seven. But his block of Hill's shot attempt in the lane led to Mark finishing in traffic, which made just as big a difference in Texas maintaining a lead over the Aggies.
     
    Texas 63, Texas A&M 56 (3:52)
    With Swain and Vokietaitis in foul trouble (four each), Heide and Mark made critical shots on consecutive possessions to help the Longhorns stem the tide.
     
    After the Aggies cut their deficit to three, Heide’s 3-pointer from the wing made it a six-point game again, 60-54. Mark answered two made free throws by Rylan Griffen with a 3-pointer in front of the Texas bench with the shot clock winding down at the 4:14 mark.
     
    That’s where things stood coming out of the last media timeout of regulation. Swain and Vokietaitis checked back in for the closing minutes, with the Longhorns looking to secure their ninth SEC victory.
     
    Texas 67, Texas A&M 58 (2:47)
    A baseline drive for two by Weaver and a steal by Pope that led to a pair of free throws for Mark at the other end put the Longhorns up by nine, their largest lead of the game.
     
    Texas 71, Texas A&M 62 (53.3 seconds)
    Griffen’s missed 3-pointer with 1:41 to go after Dibba picked Swain’s pocket prevented what would’ve been a huge momentum swing going the Aggies’ way. After Swain rebounded the miss (Texas A&M was 3-for-16 from 3-point range at this point), Miller called a timeout with 1:25 remaining in regulation, setting up Pope’s short-corner jumper with 1:14 to go and the shot clock winding down.
     
    Texas 75, Texas A&M 65 (21.5 seconds)
    After a 3-pointer by Griffen, the Longhorns successfully inbounded the ball, which eventually led to a foul and two free throws for Mark. He converted the two-shot situation with Texas in the double bonus, and a bucket by Isaacs and a subsequent timeout by McMillan proved to be too little, too late.
     
    Texas 76, Texas A&M 70 (FINAL)
    The late surge by the Aggies was all for naught. Mark’s game-high 23 points, Pope’s 17-point afternoon, Swain’s 11-point, 10-rebound effort, a 15-for-16 performance from the foul line and a defensive effort that saw Texas A&M go 23-for-60 (38.3 percent, including 5-for-19 from beyond the arc) carried the Longhorns to a résumé-boosting win in Aggieland.
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