NCAA Tournament: Texas beats Arizona State

Regardless of what Cameron Ridley does in his basketball career, he will go down in Texas Longhorns history as the man who made a buzzer beater in the NCAA Tournament. On Thursday night, the sophomore from Houston stole the game back from a streaking Arizona State team, vaulting the Texas Longhorns to a win in their Round of 64 game, 87-85, in Milwaukee, WI .

Turning point of the Game:

Is there any doubt?

Players Of The Game:

Cameron Ridley, Demarcus Holland, and Martez Walker

All three of these players had a significant impact for the Longhorns:'”

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[*]Off the bench, Martez Walker had a career high 16 points. Javan Felix was in foul trouble most of the night night, and Walker helped hold the Longhorns’ offensive rhythm.

 

[*]Demarcus Holland was good defensively with 3 steals, but it was his offensive efficiency that stood out. Holland was 6-6 from the field and 2-2 from the stripe for a total of 14 points.

 

[*]Cameron Ridley was Texas’ leading scorer with 17 points (Note: It was the game winning bucket that made Ridley the team’s top scorer) . Picking up his 4th foul with 2:20 to go in the game, Ridley did an excellent job of maintaining his intensity. Of course there’s also the small matter of grabbing the key offensive rebound and scoring the game-winning basket at the buzzer.

 

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Epilogue

This was an important win for the Texas Longhorns. While Rick Barnes will want to address the team’s lack of consistency on Thursday night, one of the tournament’s cliches holds true – “survive and advance.” Texas advances to play the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. Michigan is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region and won the Big 10′s regular season title. The Wolverines are led by Nick Stauskas who is a sharp shooter from 3 point range.

If the Longhorns want to dance in the Sweet 16, they will have to play a near perfect game. It’s worth noting that this Texas team is capable of that level of effort, as evidenced in February against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Game time for the Saturday has not been announced. When tipoff is set, Horn Sports will provide the information.