The Texas Longhorns Are Turning a Critical Corner at the Right Time

The Texas Longhorns looked to have fixed a significant part of their game that has held them back this season

Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller celebrates a win against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at Moody Center. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns continue their magical run in the NCAA Tournament, and after advancing from their win in the 'First Four', have taken down the BYU Cougars and top NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa.

For the Longhorns, in their 79-71 win, they finally achieved something they have been missing at critical points of games this season: closing out their wins and maintaining their leads effectively.

If head coach Sean Miller can turn that into a trend during the tournament, rather than a one-off performance in the round of 64, the Longhorns quickly become a dangerous team to any opponent they could face the rest of the way.

Learning Something New

Texas Longhorns guard Tramon Mark (12) shoots against BYU Cougars guard Aleksej Kostić (6) and forward AJ Dybantsa (3) in the second half during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

The Longhorns have shown throughout the year that they are one of the most volatile teams in the country. With an offense that can put up a lot of points in a hurry and has overwhelmed teams at times, they have had a chink in their armor on defense.

That problem was often the topic of conversations near the end of games as they tried to maintain the lead they had established. Multiple times, they were unable to hold their lead, collapsing in the final minutes, going cold on offense, while struggling to get key stops on defense.

It happened throughout conference play, including against their rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners, at the end of the regular season, setting an important scene for what could be the key to the Longhorns' March Madness run. It nearly prevented an NCAA Tournament run at all as the Longhorns needed a last-second shot from Tramon Mark to avoid blowing a seven-point lead with less than two minutes left.

Now, though, in their win against the Cougars, the Longhorns looked like a completely different team in the final minutes of the game. Despite some second-half fall-off in their stats, including only scoring 33 points in the second half, which is 11 points lower than their season average, they finished strong.

After jumping out to a 15-point lead with 11:08 remaining in the game, their lead only shrank to four points, the closest at any point after that time, and that came with 1:17 left in the matchup. The Longhorns immediately responded, though, playing tough defense and hitting their free throws in the final seconds to ensure they finished with a win.

For Miller's team, the problem that had been a concern this year was mitigated by their performance in the opening round. Should they find a way to maintain their ability to close out games, they could be in for a deep run this March Madness.

The Longhorns will take on the winner of the Gonzaga-Kennesaw St. matchup on March 21.

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