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Texas wins Red River Game against Oklahoma in Norman, 79-69

by: Keenan Womack01/31/26

The Longhorns came back from an early deficit to beat the rival Sooners by 10 points on the road in the basketball edition of the Red River Rivalry (or the “Shootout” for the real ones). Trailing by as many as 14 points, Sean Miller and company turned around the energy after a sluggish first 11 minutes, outscoring Oklahoma 49-36 in the second period after looking listless offensively earlier on. Texas has now won eight of the last nine against OU, including seven straight.

Dailyn Swain notched another 20-point game, hitting 6-for-9 from the field along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists, further solidifying his status as a potential first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft should he decide to declare. Matas Vokietaitis had 14, Camden Heide had 13, Jordan Pope had 12, and Simeon Wilcher had 10, breaking out of his conference-play slump. The Longhorns now sit at 13-9 on the season and 4-5 in SEC play. Oklahoma falls to 11-11 and a brutal 1-8 in conference play.

It wasn’t a pretty outing for Texas, which left just about everything to be desired after scoring just 9 points through the first half of the first period, but they rallied and began to show energy after getting down early. They absolutely dominated the last few minutes of the game, extending their lead to double-digits before the buzzer sounded.

Oklahoma’s Xzayvier Brown (1) drives to the basket as Texas’ Dailyn Swain (3) defends during the men’s college basketball game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday Jan. 31, 2026.

The most notable performance of today has to go to Simeon Wilcher, who has been frankly dreadful during SEC play. Scoring 10 points on 4-7 from the field should be a big stroke to his confidence, hopefully allowing for some consistent level of production off of the bench.

Though not an upset win, Texas could not afford to drop this one on the road due to tournament implications. It’s also a rivalry game, one in which Texas has dominated for the last few years – Sean Miller understood that, and helped fire his team up after playing sluggishly for the first quarter of the 40 minutes.

Heide getting hot from three was also a blessing for a Texas team that shot it miserably through the first 11 minutes, and helped them finish 8-21 from deep after a very poor start. Swain took off in the last 10 minutes of the game, scoring 11 points by willing his way to the basket on nearly every possession.

Still, Texas won this game because their bench showed up in a big way after doing mostly nothing for them from the Mississippi State game to now. That, paired with a major advantage in paint points, made this a game that could serve as a death knell to the career of Porter Moser at Oklahoma. The Sooners brass can’t be happy with the results from this season, and certainly aren’t about their now seven-game losing streak to the Longhorns.

For Texas, they get South Carolina next, followed by Ole Miss, then go on the road to face Missouri. They have a very friendly schedule for the next two weeks, so winning tonight puts them in a good spot to go on a bit of a run.

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