For the fourth time in five years, the No. 11 seed Texas Longhorns are through the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament with a 79-71 win over the No. 6 seed BYU Cougars at the Moda Center in Portland on Thursday.
Sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis scored a team-high 23 points and added 16 rebounds for the Longhorns as head coach Sean Miller’s team was able to overcome a 3-of-11 performance at the free-throw line for Vokietaitis, who missed five in the final 3:29.
In the last 18 seconds, graduate guard
Tramon Mark converted his two trips to seal the game, finishing with 19 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three, four blocks, two assists, and two steals.
Texas took a nine-point lead at halftime to overcome 20 points from star BYU freshman forward AJ Dybansta, who scored 35 points and took 44.6 percent of the shot attempts by the Cougars. Guard Robert Wright III added 14 points in a BYU attack that didn’t feature much punch beyond the team’s two leading scorers.
Both teams got off to hot starts offensively, unsurprising given the efficiency scoring and the inefficiency defending for Texas and BYU with the Horns taking a 15-12 lead into the first media timeout thanks to three different players hitting three-pointers and shooting 6-of-11 overall. For the Cougars, Dybantsa hit all three of his shots to start the game despite the Longhorns forcing him into mid-range shots by sending an extra defender against his dribble.
The nation’s leader in free-throw attempts, Dybantsa secured his first trip to the line after the timeout and took advantage of the defensive focus on him to create a good look at the rim for guard Kennard Davis Jr. , who converted the three-point play. After Texas junior wing Dailyn Swain got into the paint for his own three-point play, Dybantsa hit another mid-range jumper.
When Longhorns senior guard Chendall Weaver turned the ball over dribbling into the traffic, leading to a driving layup by Wright, Texas head coach Sean Miller used his first timeout at the 12:02 mark trailing 21-20.
Texas senior guard Jordan Pope responded by rattling home a catch-and-shoot three, the only score before the under-12 media break as the Longhorns gave up 16 points in the paint to the Cougars to start the game.
Breaking full-court pressure, Mark hit a mid-range jumper and Vokietaitis flipped in a left-handed shot in the paint to take a six-point lead. Dybantsa continued to hit mid-range shots as the Horns switched Mark onto the BYU star, converting on his four-inch height advantage over the 6’5 Longhorn guard.
Working against Swain again, Dybantsa proved just as unstoppable, using some impressive footwork to navigate the lane for a layup with 6:06 remaining, having scored eight of 10 points for the Cougars.
A driving layup by Pope, a driving dunk by Vokietaitis, and a tip in by the big Florida Atlantic transfer helped Texas maintain its lead, 37-32, at the under-four timeout with help from BYU missing its first six three-point attempts. Vokietaitis extended the margin with a effort around the rim, tipping in a basket after two misses, tipping in a miss by sophomore forward Nic Codie, and getting to the free-throw line on another offensive rebound, his seventh of the first half, making both at the stripe to take a 43-34 lead with under a minute remaining.
Out of a timeout called by the Cougars, BYU hit a corner three, its first of the half, but Texas responded when Mark hit a three to beat the buzzer and send the game into halftime at 46-37. Only three players scored for Kevin Young’s team in the opening 20 minutes — Dybantsa with 20 points, Davis with nine points, and Wright with eight points, with the rest of team only taking two shot attempts — as Vokietaitis scored 15 points with 11 rebounds and the Longhorns secured more offensive rebounds (nine) than the Cougars secured defensive rebounds (eight).
Texas started the second half with a pick-and-roll between Swain and Vokietaitis producing a lob dunk for the Longhorn center, but seven quick points scored by the Cougars cut into the margin and forced a timeout by Miller at the 17:31 mark with the lead down to four points.
A good cut by Weaver off of penetration by Pope produced an important layup for the Horns before the two teams traded threes and Vokietaitis found Swain on a backdoor cut for a layup to allow Texas to take a 55-47 lead into the under-16 timeout.
After trading driving layups, Texas went on an 8-2 surge when Vokietaitis and Swain added their own driving layups after a pullup jumper by junior guard Simeon Wilcher, leading 63-51 when BYU called a timeout at the 12:28.
Wilcher hit another basket, a big three, and Mark’s defense against Dybantsa improved, blocking his fourth shot of the game in contesting an effort by the BYU star, then combining on a double team to create a steal that turned into a golatending on the other end and a 17-point lead for Texas.
The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run by Dybantsa to cut the deficit to single digits before Vokieataitis drew a goaltending call to send the game into the under-eight timeout with the Horns leading by 11 points. The first three by Dybantsa and two free throws cut the margin to six as Texas went through a 1-of-10 shooting stretch going into the final media timeout.
On a second-chance effort, Vokeitaitis broke the scoring drought, but couldn’t convert his opportunity at the line, and BYU hit two free throws and stopped a drive by Mark at the rim. Contesting a rebound on the defensive end, Vokietaitis drew a whistle on Keba Keita, who fouled out. Vokietaitis missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Horns gave up a layup on the other end, setting up an important possession finished by Pope with a huge, contested corner three on a skip pass fro Swain to go up by seven points with 1:21 remaining.
The Cougars hit a three on a set play out of a timeout by Young before Miller took his own timeout with 58 seconds remaining, beating a foul attempt by BYU eventually committed on Vokietaitis in the paint, prompting a review of Swain ripping through contact by Dybantsa on the perimeter that was not ruled a flagrant on review.
Once again, Vokietaitis missed the front end of a one-and-one, leading to a Cougars possession the Longhorns finished when Vokietaitis drew another foul and missed both free throws, leaving the outcome in jeopardy before he came up with a big block and Mark drew a desperation whistle and hit both with 18 seconds remaining.
On airball by BYU sealed it, as Mark caught the inbounds and battled long enough to get another call and convert for the final margin.
Texas advances to face the winner of No. 3 seed Gonzaga and No. 14 seed Kennesaw State in the late game at the Moda Center on Thursday.
