Vokietaitis leads Texas against Mississippi State after 22-point performance

By Canadian Press on January 3, 2026.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-5) at Texas Longhorns (9-4)

Austin, Texas; Saturday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Texas hosts Mississippi State after Matas Vokietaitis scored 22 points in Texas’ 94-71 win against the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks.

The Longhorns are 7-1 on their home court. Texas is seventh in the SEC with 27.2 defensive rebounds per game led by Dailyn Swain averaging 5.2.

The Bulldogs have gone 1-0 away from home. Mississippi State is 3-2 in games decided by 10 or more points.

Texas makes 49.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 8.7 percentage points higher than Mississippi State has allowed to its opponents (41.2%). Mississippi State averages 8.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.8 more made shots on average than the 6.7 per game Texas allows.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jordan Pope is shooting 38.8% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Longhorns, while averaging 13.2 points. Vokietaitis is averaging 15.8 points and 6.4 rebounds over the past 10 games.

Quincy Ballard is averaging 6.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Josh Hubbard is averaging 2.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Longhorns: 7-3, averaging 89.3 points, 37.9 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 6.5 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 51.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.4 points per game.

Bulldogs: 6-4, averaging 79.8 points, 36.4 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press