Texas rolls past Xavier to complete Elite Eight that has lost all the favorites

·2 min read
Nick Wagner/nwagner@kcstar.com

Elite Eight or future Maui Invitational field?

Hard to tell with a group that includes no No. 1 seeds and as many mid-majors as power conferences represented.

With Texas defeating Xavier 83-71 at T-Mobile Center on Friday, the final Sweet 16 result was filed, and here are your regional finals:

East: Kansas State (No. 3 seed) vs. Florida Atlantic (9)

West: Gonzaga (3) vs. Connecticut (4)

South: San Diego State (5) vs. Creighton (6)

Midwest: Texas (2) vs. Miami (5)

At the Final Four in Houston, the East and South winners will meet in one semifinal on April 1, West and Midwest in the other. The winners will play on April 3.

By seed, the Longhorns are the favorite, and they dominated in their victory over the Musketeers, especially in the backcourt. Five players scored in double figures led by Tyrese Hunter’s 19. Texas went 7 of 12 on three-pointers.

On the defensive end, the Longhorns held Xavier to 43.8% shooting. When Texas took a double-digit lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half, the advantage never fell below 10 points.

Texas continued its late-season surge in the same building where it won the Big 12 tournament two weeks ago. The Longhorns will take on Miami, which soundly defeated top-seeded Houston.

“We’ve been here before,” Hunter said.

Not that the Longhorns needed it, but they got a midcourt buzzer beater by Timmy Allen that gave Texas a 17-point halftime lead.

Texas played all but two minutes without Dylan Disu, who had suffered a bone bruise in the second-round victory over Penn State. He spent the rest of the game on the bench with a boot on his left foot. He’s averaged 22.5 points and 10 rebounds in two NCAA games and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 tournament.

Longhorns Coach Rodney Terry said Disu was “day to day. The last thing you want to do is put a young man out there when he’s not ready to go full tilt.”

The Big 12 and Big East represent half of the Elite Eight, with Texas and Kansas State coming from the former. Creighton and Connecticut from the Big East join the ACC’s Miami as teams from power conferences.

Also playing for a berth in the Final Four are the Mountain West’s San Diego State, Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference and Florida Atlantic from Conference USA.