Texas will be moving on to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They will have a date with BYU on Thursday, but to get to that point, Texas had to defeat NC State. The Longhorns led most of the game, but nearly collapsed until Tramon Mark bailed the team out late in the game.
While Mark had a huge game, head coach Sean Miller said there was another reason that Texas won the game, per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.
“This might be, like, the first game that I can really look at and say we won because of our defense,” Miller said. “When you play NC State, this year's team, you have to defend the 3-point shot. And if you really look at the game until the very, very end, it's the thing we did the very best, and that's what I think we can hang our hat on as we leave here.”
NC State was tenth in the regular season in three-point shooting percentage, hitting 38.8 percent of their shots. Meanwhile, they averaged making 10.2 three-pointers per game while attempting 24.3 three-point shots per game. While the Wolfpack had a normal shooting night percentage-wise against Texas, hitting 37.5 percent of their shots from three, they had trouble getting three-point shots off against the Longhorns.
NC State was able to attempt just 16 three-pointers, while making only six. In a game with such tight margins, the defense stepped up and led Texas to a win. While Texas got the win, Miller knows there is still work to do.
“Sometimes a player or a team is not themselves. It's just kind of like that. I don't want to say jitters, but March Madness looms big. Our nerves sometimes can settle through Game 1. You can gain confidence … but we're going definitely have to play better than we played tonight,” Miller concluded.
Texas will now face AJ Dybantsa and BYU on Thursday at 7:25 pm ET.
