Aaron Carrara
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No. 6 Texas Longhorns vs. No. 11 Northern Iowa Panthers
Date: Friday, March 18, 2016
Time: 8:50 p.m. CST
Venue: Chesapeake Arena
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Television: TBS
The Texas Longhorns will face the Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday night in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City. Texas has claimed a spot in the Tournament 17 times in the last 18 seasons, a feat accomplished by only five other programs. This year's tournament appearance marks the first for Shaka Smart as head coach of the Longhorns, but most importantly his 6th in a row (the previous 5 were as head coach of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Northern Iowa is riding a 6 game win-streak which includes wins in 12 of their last 13 games and a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. Despite being a Mid-Major, the Panthers are a formidable opponent for the Longhorns. Ben Jacobson's team has beaten the likes of North Carolina, Iowa State and Wichita State this season - all of which were ranked in the AP-Top 25 at the time.
Texas must shoot well and be able to stop talented senior point guard Wes Washpun and his supporting cast of Matt Bohannon and Paul Jesperson in order to advance to the round of 32. Northern Iowa will take their fair share of 3-pointers and the Longhorns will need to defend the perimeter and the rim against a versatile and quick Northern Iowa team.
Big man Cameron Ridley could be a game-changer for the Longhorns, and head coach Shaka Smart wants to integrate Ridley into the game more so than not. Earlier in the week Smart mentioned he would like to see Ridley play around 20 minutes against Northern Illinois, but Ridley's playing time will depend on a variety of factors.
"I go by what the athletic trainer and doctor says. So I'm not guaranteeing he'll play that much. It's based on two things: his availability and how the game is going. And you're exactly right, when they go small, I mean, it's challenging to kind of figure out how you want to defend them because they put Carlson at the 5, and he can shoot, he can drive. He's a good athlete. And then everyone else out there can shoot as well. So if he and our other big guys our playing a lot and they're playing smaller, then our bigs are going to have to really move and get out on the floor and defend," said Smart.
Should Texas beat the Panthers they will play the winner of the Texas A&M - Green Bay game in the Round of 32.
Texas is 17-7 in first-round NCAA Tournament games since 1985, when the field was expanded to 64 teams.
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