KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyrese Hunter scored 19 factors, Marcus Carr and Christian Bishop added 18 apiece, and second-seeded Texas rolled to an 83-71 victory over No. 3 seed Xavier on Friday evening to achieve the Elite Eight of the NCAA Event for the primary time in 15 years.
Enjoying many of the means with out ailing star Dylan Disu, the Longhorns — the very best seed left after No. 1s Alabama and Houston misplaced earlier within the evening — constructed a 42-25 lead by halftime. They rapidly pushed it previous 20 earlier than cruising the remainder of the best way right into a matchup with fifth-seeded Miami on Sunday evening for a spot in the Ultimate 4 in Houston.
Sir’Jabari Rice had 16 factors and Timmy Allen added 11 for the Longhorns (29-8), who stored Souley Boum and the remainder of Xavier’s perimeter threats in examine whereas making life depressing for Jack Nunge down low.
Adam Kunkel hit 5 3-pointers and led the Musketeers (27-10) with 21 factors. Nunge scored 15 however wanted 19 pictures to get there, whereas Colby Jones additionally had 15 factors. Boum didn’t hit a discipline purpose till early within the second half and completed with 12 factors.
The job the Longhorns did in shutting down Xavier was merely the most recent instance of some masterful work by interim coach Rodney Terry. The longtime assistant took over in December, when Chris Beard was suspended and later fired over a since-dropped home violence cost, and Terry has not solely stored the season from falling aside however despatched his crew hovering.
Issues gained’t get any simpler in opposition to Miami, which romped to an 89-75 win over the Cougars.
And particularly with out Disu, who led the Longhorns to a Huge 12 tourney title and earned MVP honors on the identical ground simply over two weeks in the past, and who’d been dominant by way of the first two rounds of the NCAA Event.
Disu tried to play by way of a left foot harm that the Longhorns had efficiently stored secret Friday evening, however he lasted solely a few minutes earlier than limping off the ground and straight to the locker room. When he returned to the bench, he was sporting an enormous strolling boot, a black hoodie and a grim expression.
Relegated to a 6-foot-9 cheerleader, Disu not less than had loads to rejoice.
Carr obtained the Longhorns off to a quick begin, spinning by way of the lane like a Tilt-A-Whirl for robust buckets on the rim, and even pulling down a spinning, desperation 3 because the shot clock expired. And when Musketeers coach Sean Miller traded out a man-to-man protection for a zone, the Longhorns started to pound the ball to Bishop within the paint.
With dozens of household and associates readily available, the Creighton switch from the Kansas Metropolis suburb of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, went to work. Bishop threw down one dunk on Carr’s alley-oop lob, then slammed down one other a couple of minutes later.
By the point Allen banked in a half-court heave, the Longhorns had established a 42-25 halftime benefit — and needed to be redirected from the Xavier tunnel, the place they had been busy celebrating, towards their very own locker room.
Xavier tried to creep again a few instances, however the Longhorns by no means allowed their result in sniff single digits. And that gave Terry, who returned to Texas after head teaching jobs at Fresno State and UTEP, an opportunity to breathe deeply and benefit from the second.
The 54-year-old from the small Texas city of Angleton was on Rick Barnes’ employees the final time the Longhorns reached the Elite Eight, again in 2008. He was on the 2003 employees that guided all of them the best way to the Ultimate 4, too.
Now, he’s one step away from taking Texas on one other unbelievable journey to school basketball’s largest stage.