Texas Longhorns Stay Alive Scoring Upset vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs: Live Updates

The Texas Longhorns keep pushing along through the NCAA Tournament, starting as one of the teams that found themselves in the First Four, and now are a win away from making it into the Sweet Sixteen.

The Longhorns have rattled off back-to-back NCAA Tournament wins after surviving against the NC State Wolfpack in the First Four and then, in the First Round, pulled off an upset, taking down the BYU Cougars to punch their spot in the Round of 32.

Now, Texas gets ready to face another challenging opponent with a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament on the line, taking on the No. 3-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs, who post a 31-3 record and took care of business in their First Round matchup, winning 73-64 over Kennesaw State.

Texas Longhorns vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Texas Longhorns center Matas Vokietaitis keeps the ball from BYU Cougars center Keba Keita in the second half. | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

The Longhorns received a big-time performance from center Matas Vokietaitis, who made his presence down low in the paint all game long against the Cougars. The big man ended the night with a team-high 23 points while shooting 10 of 17 from the field to go along with 16 rebounds.

Continuing his good start to the NCAA Tournament was Tramon Mark, who also put in a solid performance to help Texas upset BYU on Thursday. The veteran guard ended the game with 19 points, shooting 6 of 13 from the field along with four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a career high four blocks.

The Longhorns have been much better defensively in the first two games of the tournament, and they'll have to be just as good, if not better, taking on a Gonzaga team that has one of the top offenses in the country, averaging 84.8 points per game, making the Bulldogs one of the top-20 scoring offenses in the nation.

Texas will have to keep its focus on forward Graham Ike, who heads into the game on Saturday as the Bulldogs' leading scorer, averaging 19.7 points per game while shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The Longhorns will look to survive another round in the NCAA Tournament and punch their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen in year one under Sean Miller as they take on the Bulldogs in Portland, OR, from the Moda Center at 6:10 p.m. CT. Be sure to check back here at tipoff for live updates as the game goes on.

Live Updates

It'll be the usual starting five for the Longhorns to start this one: guard Jordan Pope, guard Tramon Mark, forward Dailyn Swain, forward Camden Heide and center Matas Vokietaitis.

Matas Vokietaitis wins the tipoff, and the Longhorns will have the first possession of the ballgame.

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It's a tight start in the ballgame for both teams as Gonzaga opens with a 6-4 lead over Texas with 15:34 minutes remaining in the first half.

After a quick start to the game agasint BYU, the Longhorns have started tonight's ballgame struggling as they've shot 2 of 7 from the field and have missed their only three-point shot attempt of the game so far. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have started 3 of 6 from the field; however, they've used all three of their three-point shots.

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The Bulldogs have sustained an 18-15 lead with 9:37 minutes left in the first half.

The Longhorns are slowly picking up a rhythm, currently shooting 7 of 16 from the field. However, from beyond the arc, the Longhorns have not been successful, shooting 1 of 5. Gonzaga is finding no resistance from the Longhorns in the paint, with the Bulldogs having 16 of their 18 points coming inside the paint.

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The Longhorns continue to trail as the Bulldogs lead 23-19 with 7:08 minutes remaining in the first half.

Dailyn Swain leads the Longhorns in scoring midway through the first half with five points while shooting 2 of 2 from the field. Texas also has Jordan Pope and Nic Codie with four points. The Longhorns will have to find a way to slow down Graham Ike, who already has nine points, shooting 4 of 6 from the field.

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Texas stays behind as Gonzaga starts building a 28-20 lead with 4:20 minutes left to play in the first half.

The Bulldogs have built their largest lead of the game at eight, thanks to a 10-2 run over the last two minutes of the game while the Longhorns haven't scored over the last three minutes of the game.

Halftime: Texas 35, Gonzaga 33

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The Longhorns keep holding onto a slim 43-40 lead coming out of the locker room with 15:33 minutes left to play in the second half.

Coming out of the break, Chendall Weaver is starting to make himself very present in the game with a steal turned into a fastbreak layup and a block all within the same minute. In the game, Weaver has eight points along with three rebounds, a lone assist, a rebound and a steal.

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It's a back-and-forth affair through the middle of the second half as the Longhorns stay on top 49-47 with 11:43 minutes left to play.

Matas Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope are finding some success on the offensive side of the court, with each of them having 11 points thus far. Vokietaitis is shooting 5 of 9 from the field to go along with five rebounds. Pope, on the other hand, is shooting 5 of 12 from the field with two assists and a rebound.

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It's still a close 57-54 Longhorn lead with 7:04 minutes remaining in the second half.

The Longhorns now have four players at double-digit points, with Dailyn Swain, Jordan Pope, and Matas Vokietaitis all at 11 points, and Nic Codie follows right behind with 10. For Gonzaga, Graham Ike keeps firing as he is up to 19 points, the Longhorns will have to make a concentrated effort to slow him down the stretch.

Vokietaitis will have to play a bit more conservatively through the rest of the second half with the big man in a little bit of foul trouble as he has three on the night with a little over seven minutes remaining, in the game.

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It'll be a nail-biting finish out in Portland as the Longhorns lead 66-64 with 2:52 minutes remaining in the game.

Matas Vokietaitis now leads the Longhorns with 15 points and nine rebounds as he picks up right where he left off on Thursday against BYU. Jordan Pope follows him closely with 14 points, and the Longhorns have gotten solid minutes out of Nic Codie, as he was 12 points, shooting 5 of 6 from the field.

Final: Texas 74, Gonzaga 68

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