No. 2 seed Horns roll into Big 12 tourney
AUSTIN — Texas’ first losing streak of the year put an end to its grueling Big 12 title chase with one regular season game remaining. But the ninth-ranked Longhorns still had plenty to play for Saturday against league-champion and reigning-national champion Kansas — conference tournament seeding, NCAA tournament seeding, a chance to stop this two-game skid before it turned into something more destructive.
Well, in Kansas coach Bill Self ’s words, Texas was “turned up” Saturday afternoon in front of another amped sellout crowd. The Longhorns (23-8, 12-6 Big 12) secured a second-place finish in the Big 12 with Saturday’s 75-59 win over the Jayhawks at the Moody Center.
That victory, the program’s third straight over Kansas at home, positioned Texas (23-8, 12-6 Big 12) as the No. 2 seed in next week’s Big 12 men’s basketball tournament in Kansas City. This will be the program’s highest seed since it was last a No. 2 seed in the 2011 tournament.
Texas will face either No. 7 seed Oklahoma state or No. 10 seed Oklahoma on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Longhorns swept their season series with both the Cowboys and Sooners.
The Longhorns beat Oklahoma twice by just 3 combined points, including a frantic 85-83 overtime win at the Moody Center on Feb. 18. They beat the Cowboys by double digits twice in January.
If Texas advances to the semifinals, it will face either No. 3 seed Kansas State or No. 6 seed TCU. The Longhorns split their season series against the league’s two purple programs.
And if the Longhorns manage to advance to the title game for the second time in three years, they will face one of No. 1 seed Kansas, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 West Virginia or No. 9 Texas Tech.
But Texas’ performance in Kansas City probably won’t have a significant influence on how the NCAA Tournament selection committee seeds it once Selection Sunday arrives next week.
Texas likely positioned itself as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens next week in Kansas City. The Longhorns are 10th in the NCAA NET rankings, a key tool the committee uses to compare teams during the seeding process. Texas finished the regular season with 11 Quadrant 1 wins, tying fellow Big 12 member Baylor for the second-most in the nation behind Kansas (15 Quad 1 wins).
That’s significant for a program looking to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2008.
As of Sunday afternoon, ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi had Texas projected as the No. 2 seed in the East region. It would face No. 15 seed Youngstown State (projected Horizon League tournament champion) in Birmingham and would move on to play either No. 7 seed Iowa or No. 10 seed Pittsburgh in the second round.
“We wanted confidence going into the postseason,” Texas graduate guard Sir’jabari Rice said. “Losing two in a row, we hadn’t done that all season. It kind of made us sit back and be like, ‘Alright, we’ve gotta get ourselves focused and re-centered.’ Everybody was locked in on the details, and it showed tonight.”
Texas owns a 28-23 all-time record in the Big 12 tournament, including a 1-6 mark in championship games. The third-seeded Longhorns defeated fifth-seeded Oklahoma in 2021 to claim the program’s first and only Big 12 Tournament championship.
The Big 12 Tournament begins Wednesday with first-round games at the T-mobile Center. All of the tournament games be televised nationally on ESPN channels and simulcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.