Will the Texas Longhorns get an at-large bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament?
The Texas Longhorns looked very good in their 87-79 overtime victory over 20th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in Austin on March 5. It was the seventh overtime game for the Horns, who are 3-4 in those contests.
Texas showed tremendous grit on Saturday as they were without its top three players once again. Star freshman Mo Bamba missed his second straight game with a toe injury. Guards Andrew Jones, who is currently battling leukemia, and Eric Davis Jr. also missed the game. Jones last played on New Year’s Day, while Davis has sat out the last three games amid allegations that he took money from an agent.
Texas (18-13, 8-10 in Big 12) entered its Big 12 regular season finale needing a victory over WVU (22-9, 11-7 conf.) to have any conceivable shot at-large bid. The Longhorns managed to accomplish the feat by shooting the lights out. And they got career-best performances from some of their youngsters.
UT drained 56.7% (29-51) of its shots from the floor along with 57.9% (11-19) from the three-point line against WVU. The shooting performance marked the Longhorn’s second best performance overall, and their best three-point shooting performance overall.
Guards Matt Coleman and Kerwin Roach II had career games as did freshman big Jericho Sims. Coleman, a 6-2 freshman, tied his career-high with 22 points as he made a personal nine field goal attempts. It was the 14th time he scored in double-figures and second time he topped the 20 point mark.
Roach tied his career-high with 22 points and eight assists. The 6-4 sophomore has now reached double-figures 19 times this season. In the meantime, Sims contributed a personal-best 17 points along with eight caroms.
While the victory over the WVU was big for Longhorns, they still have some work to do. UT will likely have to win one or two games in the Big 12 conference tournament to cement an at-large bid. The Longhorns are currently among the last four in the NCAA according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm.