The Longhorns will be coming off of a really tough win.
What a morning session that just was from Nashville.
Ole Miss pulled off a buzzer-beater over Arkansas, then Texas somehow outlasted Texas A&M to likely punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. After 50 minutes of a ridiculously physical game, Texas now moves on to face No. 4 seed Tennessee on Friday.
It’ll be yet another meeting between Rick Barnes and his longtime assistant Rodney Terry. Tennessee escaped Austin with a 74-70 win back in January.
“I mean both of those teams are good teams,” Tennessee assistant coach Justin Gainey said. “Both of them are well-coached teams, and I think regardless of who we play, nothing changes for us and what our mindset is and what we have to do. We got to defend, we got to rebound, we have to take care of the basketball. Those are the three things, regardless of who we play, we have to do. But our guys will be amped up, they’ll be prepared, they’ll be ready to rock and roll.”
True freshman Tre Johnson put up 20 points, including a late dagger from the logo. The Longhorns shot over 40 percent from three-point range and forced 13 turnovers from the Aggies. Texas overcame 29 points from Wade Taylor, who shot 17-18 from the free throw line. A whopping 52 fouls were called in this one.
Tennessee’s slot on Friday is set for approximately 25 minutes after Auburn-Ole Miss, which will begin at 1 p.m. ET. ESPN will have the broadcast.