Texas Basketball is officially the bracket busters of the West Region. Just two days after surviving a nail-biter in the First Four, Texas walked into the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, and sent the No. 6 seed BYU Basketball packing with a 79-71 victory on Thursday night.

For 40 minutes, it looked like AJ Dybantsa might single-handedly carry BYU into the second round. The projected No. 1 overall pick was every bit as advertised, finishing with a massive double-double of 35 points and 10 rebounds. Dybantsa played every single second of the contest, raining down jumpers and attacking the rim with a ferocity that kept the Cougars within striking distance until the final horn.

However, one superstar wasn't enough to overcome a balanced Longhorns attack. Texas head coach Sean Miller clearly prioritized interior dominance, and it paid off. The Longhorns controlled the paint from the jump, heading into halftime with a 46-37 lead. Freshman big man Matas Vokietaitis set the tone early with his physical play, while Dailyn Swain provided the steady scoring punch Texas needed to weather the Dybantsa storm.

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The Cougars made things interesting late in the second half, cutting the lead to five behind a flurry of transition buckets. But every time BYU threatened to steal the momentum, the Longhorns found an answer. Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope hit timely shots to keep the Cougars at arm's length, proving that Texas’s grueling path through the Big 12 and a trip to Dayton prepared them for this exact moment.

Texas shot a collective 48 percent from the field and capitalized on BYU’s lack of bench depth. While the Cougars relied heavily on their star freshman, the Longhorns utilized their rotation to keep legs fresh in the thin Portland air.

With the win, Texas moves on to the Round of 32 to face the winner of the matchup between Gonzaga and Kennesaw State.