Five Things NC State Fans Should Know About Texas
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DAYTON, Ohio — The First Four will include a rare rematch in the first week of the NCAA Tournament, as NC State and Texas are set to battle over the No. 11 seed in the West Region for a right to take on No. 6 BYU. Both the Wolfpack and the Longhorns arrived at UD Arena less than 24 hours after Selection Sunday, quickly getting to work on preparing for one another.
The most interesting aspect of the matchup is the fact that these two teams faced one another in the Southwest Maui Invitational on Nov. 26. The Longhorns outlasted the Pack in a shootout, winning the tournament's consolation final 102-97. Both teams are desperate to make the NCAA Tournament, but stand in each other's way for the right to do so. What should you know about Texas?
Sean Miller has NC State ties
Texas head coach Sean Miller is no stranger to NC State. As a young graduate assistant, he worked under Herb Sendek at Miami (Ohio). Sendek later accepted the NC State head coach job, bringing Miller along for five years in Raleigh. The First Four offers Miller a full-circle moment, facing a school that helped him cut his teeth as a young coach before launching into stardom at Xavier and Arizona.
"When I was there for five years, it was like going to grad school as a college basketball coach," Miller said. "I learned so much, whether it be recruiting, coaching, and just if you were paying close attention, you were surrounded by greatness. When I look back at that time of my life, it was certainly one of the great five-year stretches, especially in college basketball, that I've had."
Dangerous shooters
As a team, Texas shot just 34.9% from 3-point range before the NCAA Tournament. Still, when these two teams met in Maui, the Longhorns proved how dangerous they can be from deep, burying 16-of-32 shots from beyond the arc. Veteran guard Jordan Pope accounted for seven of those made triples. NC State needs to avoid a similar situation on Tuesday, obviously.
Similar finish to the season
Both the Longhorns and the Wolfpack limped across the regular-season finish line. Texas lost four of its final five games in SEC play before bowing out in the conference tournament to a lowly Ole Miss squad that lost to NC State earlier in the season. Will Wade's Wolfpack lost six of its final seven games, but recovered with a nice ACC Tournament win over Pittsburgh to advance to the quarterfinals.
Middle of the road defense
While the Longhorns were a quality group scoring the basketball during the regular season, the other end won't be as much of an issue for NC State. Things didn't improve all that much on that end after allowing the Wolfpack to score 97 points. Texas finished the conference season allowing 80.6 points per game, while scoring 80.9 points per game. If there's anything to take away from that fact, it's that this one could come down to the wire.
First Four experience
Will Wade is no stranger to the First Four, but Sean Miller might as well look into Dayton real estate at this rate. Miller led Xavier to a win over none other than Texas at UD Arena in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, shortly before taking over the Longhorns for the 2025-26 season.
"I don't want anybody as part of our team or program to think back to that year ago simply because there's nothing the same. It's completely different," Miller said. "It's a new journey, and we're here on a brand new day."
Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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