J'Covan Brown scored 23 points to lead Texas to a 73-59 win over Rice at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center.

Texas (10-3) improved to 6-0 versus Rice under head coach Rick Barnes, who owns a 116-15 all-time record against in-state opponents.

Rice (9-5) trails the all-time series with the Longhorns 135-59.

Brown, who scored 12 of his points in the first half, played an aggressive pace, getting six of his points at the foul line. He buried a deep 3-pointer in the corner in the final minutes to secure the win for the Longhorns, finishing 3 of 7 from beyond the arc.

Texas held a 35-27 lead at halftime, but Rice came out firing in the first five minutes of the second half. The Owls closed the lead to two points on a three-point play from Tamir Jackson, who finished the game with 19 points.

Rice kept pace with Texas for the first 10 minutes in the second half, thanks to the dead-eye shooting of Connor Frizzelle, who knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.

The Longhorns attacked the rim in the second half, getting to the foul line 23 times and knocking down 18 of those chances. Those freebies helped Texas pull away in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Sheldon McClellan scored 19 points of the bench for the Longhorns. Outside of Brown, Texas' other starters were a combined 5 for 11 for just 18 total points.