Thursday night, Matas Vokietaitis was a total force inside Moda Center, and the sophomore center’s historic effort led Texas to a gritty 79-71 first-round NCAA Tournament win over No. 6 seed BYU. Vokietaitis became the first player in Longhorn history to complete a 20-point, 15-rebound performance in the NCAA tournament, adding 23 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, nine of them on the offensive glass, while converting 10 of 17 field goal attempts in 33 minutes.
Tramon Mark helped him with 19 points, a career-high four blocks, and a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer that sent Texas into the break with a 46-37 lead.
The Longhorns never trailed by more than a possession after the opening minutes, but BYU was not going to go quietly. With eight minutes to go, the Cougars reduced a 17-point second-half deficit to four, turning the Texas lead into a white-knuckle final stretch.
The dagger was Jordan Pope’s three from the left corner with 1:29 left, and Mark capped it off for the 11th-seeded Longhorns with a perfect 4-for-4 free-throw performance in the final 18 seconds to preserve the win.
Dailyn Swain scored 14 points and six assists in a balanced offensive effort.
With the win, Texas (20-14) heads to the Round of 32 for the fourth time in five seasons and will next face No. 3 seed Gonzaga in Portland on Saturday, March 6, at 6:10 p.m. CT on TBS. And it is also the first time that the Longhorns have won a tournament game as a No. 8 seed or lower since 1997, a testament to how far this team has come down the stretch.
