Texas Longhorns Injury Report vs NC State for March Madness First Four

The Texas Longhorns are playing postseason basketball once again, as the team is heading to the First Four for the second straight season.

Texas will face NC State on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio. The winner will become the No. 11 seed in the West region, which will set up a matchup against No. 6 seed BYU in Portland, OR. on Thursday.

However, Texas is still dealing with a key injury.

Texas Longhorns Injury Report

Texas Longhorns forward Lassina Traore shoots a free throw during the first half against the Le Moyne Dolphins at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Texas will be without one of its frontcourt players once again against NC State, as forward Lassina Traore has officially been ruled out with a knee injury, per the team.

This doesn't come as a surprise. Shortly after the bracket was revealed on Selection Sunday, Texas head coach Sean Miller all but confirmed that Traore would be out for the remainder of the season if the Longhorns continue to advance.

"I don't think that he'll be with us unfortunately moving forward," Miller said.

Traore has missed the past nine games for Texas despite Miller hinting at the likelihood of his return on multiple occasions. However, that never came to be.

In the first matchup against NC State, Traore had two points, three rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes off the bench.

Traore, who followed Miller to Texas from Xavier, missed all of last year with the Musketeers after tearing his ACL in practice before the season started.

In 23 games this season (one start), Traore has posted 3.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest. This was highlighted by finishing with a season-high 10 points and 12 rebounds against Kansas City during non-conference play. He then had a season-high 14 rebounds against Chaminade during the Maui Invitational.

Traore has also provided a nice spark in some big games, including against No. 5 UConn when he finished with an unusual stat line of one point, seven rebounds, one block and a season-high three steals, a loss in which he also played a season-high 25 minutes in.

The numbers don't always jump off the page for Traore, but he provided a veteran presence in the locker room this season while being one of the team's best rebounders.

With Traore out, the Longhorns have leaned more on forward Nic Codie off the bench. Codie started the first four games of the season but eventually fell completely out of the rotation before seeing increased playing time after Traore's injury.