Texas tops Tigers by 20

AUSTIN, Texas -- Kevin Durant and the young Texas Longhorns are making Big 12 play look easy. They have to know tougher games are sure to come.

Durant scored 34 points and No. 25 Texas won another Big 12 blowout Wednesday night, an 88-68 victory over Missouri that left yet another opponent befuddled on how to stop the long and lean freshman forward who seems to score at will.

Durant had already tied Texas and Big 12 freshman scoring records with 37 points a few days earlier against Colorado.

"Send him to the league. He needs to go to the league, man," said first-year Missouri coach Mike Anderson, who dropped to 0-2 in the Big 12.

Most expect Durant to jump to the NBA after one season. For now, he's a defender's nightmare in a conference that might have hoped for a Texas drop-off after the Longhorns lost all five starters from last season's co-championship team.

Durant leads the league in scoring and rebounding and like everyone else, the Tigers had no way of keeping him from scoring from just about anywhere on the court. He hit 10 of 14 shots, two 3-pointers and was 12-of-13 on free throws. He also grabbed 13 rebounds.

But the kid seems to know that two easy wins don't set up Texas to win a championship.

"Games are going to get harder and harder," Durant said. "We've got a long way to go. It's not about me, it's about everybody."

Texas (12-3, 2-0) ran its winning streak over Missouri to nine.

The Tigers (11-4) haven't beaten the Longhorns since 1999, when Norm Stewart coached his last regular-season game at Missouri, which also happened to be his final career victory.

A.J. Abrams added 16 points for the Longhorns, who hit 12 3-pointers.

Marshall Brown led Missouri with 24 points, 22 in the second half.

Texas starts four freshmen, and Missouri came out with a burst that made it look as if the Tigers could be more physical.

If Texas lacks anything, it's muscle in the post, and Leo Lyons scored Missouri's first eight points -- most of them from right under the basket.

But it didn't take long for Texas to find the right defense to shut him down and for Durant to start heating up. Lyons never scored again, and Durant had 15 points in the first half.

Missouri's tough half-court pressure forced Texas into 11 turnovers in the half but couldn't stop the Longhorns from finding wide-open shots on the perimeter. Texas hit eight 3-pointers to take a 44-26 lead into halftime.

Durant hit a 3-pointer early in the second and the Longhorns built the lead as high as 65-38.

But just when Texas was starting to make it look too easy, the Tigers found a way to make it interesting. Texas was forced into some bad shots, and Brown hit a pair of 3-pointers and a 17-4 Missouri run cut the lead to 69-55 with 7 minutes left.

The rally didn't last.