Sheldon McClellan scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Texas defeated Rice 57-41 Saturday in the Longhorns' final non-conference tuneup before starting Big 12 competition.
    
Julien Lewis added 12 points, and Jonathon Holmes had eight boards as Texas (8-5) improved to 7-0 against the Owls under head coach Rick Barnes.
    
Austin Ramljak scored 14 points for Rice (3-9), which plays at Harvard on Jan. 5 and begins Conference USA competition Jan. 9 against Southern Mississippi.
    
The Owls established an early 19-13 advantage, but Texas came back to tie the score at 22-22 about four minutes before halftime. The Longhorns briefly moved ahead, but Ramljak hit a jumper to send the teams into the break tied 26-26.
    
Texas used a late 12-1 run to pull away, capped by a 3-pointer from McClellan with 2:10 to play that made it 53-39.
    
The Longhorns play Baylor on Jan. 5.