Texas told everyone again that it didn’t want to leave this NCAA Tournament, and this time the 11th-seeded Longhorns didn’t need any late heroics.
Two nights after Tramon Mark’s jumper with 1.1 seconds left lifted Texas to a First Four victory over NC State in Dayton, Ohio, the Longhorns advanced in a more conventional way, taking down No. 6 seed BYU, 79-71, on Thursday night in a West Regional first-round game in Portland.
Texas took a 9-point halftime lead over the Cougars from the Big 12 and didn’t let things come down to the last second this time, going up 17 with 11:08 left in the second half and holding off a late BYU rally to advance to the Round of 32 on Saturday against the winner of late Thursday night’s game between No. 3 seed Gonzaga and 14th-seeded Kennesaw State.
It’s already been a long NCAA Tournament road for Texas, which survived a nervous Selection Sunday just to squeeze into the Big Dance and now have already traveled from Austin to Dayton and now out to Portland in its pursuit of a spot in the Sweet 16. The Longhorns (20-14) would find out later Thursday who their next foe would be on Saturday, but on Thursday it was all about holding off BYU (23-12) behind Matas Vokietaitis’ 23 points and 16 rebounds.
The sophomore center led the way for the Longhorns, who outlasted the Cougars despite AJ Dybantsa’s 35 points. Mark, the First Four hero, came back 2 nights later with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 blocks for Texas. Dailyn Swain added 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in the victory, and Jordan Pope chipped in 11 points as the Longhorns kept their unlikely run going despite all those miles already traveled.
Texas prevailed despite a miserable night from the free throw line, where it went just 9 of 18. But the Horns helped make up for that stat by dominating BYU on the boards, where they held a 40-31 advantage.
They also held the Cougars to 18% shooting (4 of 22) from 3-point territory, which made coming all the way back from that 17-point hole a little too much of a mountain to climb for BYU. Texas also shut down everybody else besides Dybantsa, with Robert Wright III being the only other Cougar in double figures with 14 points.
With the Longhorns’ lead down to 4 late, Pope helped put things away with this clutch dagger.
BYU also got 0 points from its bench, with Texas putting the squeeze on things late to hold on and move on again in an NCAA Tournament journey that’s still going strong.
With Texas getting through the First Four and now the first round, the Longhorns are still in the mix to get to the Sweet 16. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the top teams it believes have the best shot to get to that Sweet 16 next week:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
