Longhorns Take Down Va Tech In 1st Round of NCAA Tournament 81-73
The Texas Longhorns made their 20th NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 23 seasons on Friday afternoon, joining only seven other teams in the history of the sport to do so.
Waiting for them in Milwaukee was arguably the hottest team in college basketball in the No. 11 seeded Virginia Tech Hokies, who were coming off of a Cinderella run on their way to an ACC Tournament title.
And thanks to an unorthodox yet effective performance from his offense, Chris Beard's Longhorns were able to survive and advance, taking down the Hokies 81-73 at Fiserv Forum -- its first NCAA Tournament win in eight seasons.
Texas was led by a vintage March Madness performance from super senior Andrew Jones, who finished the game with 21 points while hitting 5 of 6 shots from three-point range.
However, Jones wasn't alone, with all five Longhorns starters finishing in double figures in scoring.
Marcus Carr was also heavily involved on the offensive end, adding 15 points of his own, including an impossible buzzer-beating three from half court as the clock expired in the first half of play. Carr also added a season-high nine assists.
Forward Timmy Allen was the third Longhorn in double figures, scoring 14 points, to go along with six rebounds and two steals, while Christian Bishop finished with 11, and Courtney Ramey added 10.
As a team, the Longhorns hit 46.4 percent from the field overall and were 10 of 19 from beyond the arc. However, inside the arc, the Horns struggled, hitting just 17 of 40 shots.
Following the win, the Longhorns will advance to the second round to take on the No. 3 seeded Purdue Boilermakers.
Purdue (28-7) is also coming off of a narrow loss to Iowa in the Big 10 Tournament final, and has won four of its last five games.
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