The whole city of Austin was snowed under and frozen Tuesday, and so were the rims inside the heated Moody Center.

Texas missed its first eight shots against No. 22 Missouri. The Longhorns didn’t score a bucket until more than eight minutes had gone by. And then down the stretch, Rodney Terry’s bunch missed eight more consecutive shots.

“We kind of opened the game with a little bit of a deep freeze,” Terry said. “We had great looks. It just didn’t go down.”

When your shots aren’t falling, you better get after it on the other end. That’s exactly what the Longhorns did. The Tigers made just four field goals in the final 14 minutes, and the Horns were smiling after a 61-53 win. It’s just the kind of lift Terry and UT needed with rival Texas A&M coming to town on Saturday.

WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.

Asked what it felt like to win despite shooting 34%, forward Kadin Shedrick said, “I think it was a big emphasis, especially after the Florida game, was our defense.”

Texas (13-6, 2-4 SEC) needed this in a bad way. It was the Horns’ second Quad 1 victory for NCAA Tournament purposes.

The Horns have an uphill battle to reach the postseason, and they’ll have to keep gutting it out.

Terry said he had a “come to Jesus” timeout with the players last weekend against Florida about their defense. The Gators won by 24, and at times, it looked as if there was no resistance at all. “The one thing it does for us is we’ve got it on tape,” Terry said. “The tape never lies.”

Terry was asked about Tre Johnson’s offensive performance; he was 3-for-15 shooting overall and 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

Again, Terry brought it back to defensive effort and intensity.

“Get some rebounds. Go rebound for us. Be a willing passer. It’s about doing all the uncomfortable things that it takes to be successful,” Terry said. “You better be Kobe Bryant. You better be LeBron James is you’re not going to play no defense.”

The ball wasn’t going in, but everything else was going right. Texas turned it over a manageable 10 times. And the Horns were plus-8 on the boards. It was the first time this season the Tigers were outrebounded.

“The real game stars when the shot’s taken,” Terry said. “It’s a man’s game. You don’t want to hit someone, they’re going to hit you.”

For Terry, this was one of the most passionate press conferences he’s ever held.

It was a gritty win. But it was just one win. The Horns must find a bunch more this month and next.

“I asked our guys to find a way. But more importantly, make a way,” Terry said. “That’s what we did tonight. We played Texas basketball. Wasn’t pretty. Hopefully we’ll make it a little bit better for you in the future in terms of shots going in.”