March Madness 2026: Texas joins short list of First Four teams to make Sweet 16

It’s not been a great NCAA Men’s Tournament for the double-digit seeds. That is, unless you’re Sean Miller’s Texas Longhorns.

The No. 11 seed avoided disaster with some late Travon Mark heroics against NC State in the First Four, then vanquished AJ Dybantsa and BYU in the first round, and now they’ve taken out No. 3 seed Gonzaga 74-68 in front of an unsurprisingly pro-Gonzaga crowd at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. It’s the first time Texas has advanced to the Sweet 16 as a 10-seed or lower since 1997, and it’s tied for the lowest seed Mark Few has ever lost to in his distinguished coaching career.

With Texas up 69-68 in the closing seconds, Cam Heide, who’d only played 13 minutes and hadn’t scored all game, was left wide open in the corner for what was effectively a dagger three. The transfer from Purdue shot 46 percent from deep on the year, and he picked on hell of a time to get on the scoresheet.

Texas turned it over just five times to 20 assists, with guard Dailyn Swain putting in a highly efficient 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. It’s the clean basketball that has been key to Texas’ turnaround.

These guys will tell you, there’s nothing that we talk more about right now than the value of
limiting turnovers, trying to play the game with single-digit turnovers,” Sean Miller said to SB Nation in his post-game press conference.

“Dailyn Swain in the last two games has 12 assists and one turnover,” Miller added. “There aren’t a lot of guys at his size especially with what we ask him to do, that can do that. And he’s a big reason.“

Lithuanian big man Matas Vokietaitis wasn’t as dominant as he was versus BYU, but he still put up 17 points and 9 rebounds and had a better time at the foul line than the 3-of-11 nightmare against the Cougars.

After a late-season slump saw them lose five of their last six games, the Longhorns had to sweat out Selection Sunday to see if they would even make the tournament with an 18-14 record, and now they’ve joined the shortlist of teams to go from First Four to the second weekend.

This year marks the 15th season of First Four games in the NCAA Men’s Tournament. Texas is only the sixth of 60 First Four winners to get to at least the Sweet 16.

Last season, Sean Miller knocked Texas out in the First Four as Xavier head coach, and now in his first season as Longhorns head coach he’s two wins away from his first Final Four. It’s no wonder he’s called this team “resilient” with the road they’ve travelled.

Having gone from Dayton to Portland in a rapid-fire turnaround following their win over NC State, the Longhorns will get some well deserved rest before heading down to San Jose, California, where they’ll take on the winner of No. 7 seed Miami vs. No. 2 Purdue either Thursday or Friday. At this point, who’s to doubt their chances of becoming the next UCLA or VCU? They’ve done an incredible job making it this far, and they’ve assured that this chalk-heavy tournament will still have a double-digit seed in the Sweet 16.