No. 11 seed Texas beats No. 6 seed BYU, 79-71, to advance

Mar 19, 2026; Portland, OR, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Dailyn Swain (3) and center Matas Vokietaitis (8) celebrate after a play in the second half against the BYU Cougars during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images 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. “I’m beyond thrilled to be able to advance and have the opportunity to play into the next round,” Texas head coach Sean Miller said . “I’m thrilled for the University of Texas.

Thrilled for these guys. One word I would use to describe our group is resilient — nothing has ever been easy for us starting with our opening game against Duke in Charlotte. From there, we’ve fought the fight a number of times throughout the year.

” 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.