Texas-Virginia Tech NCAA highlights: Horns bust through, past Hokies for first-round win
Highlights from today's Texas-Virginia Tech first-round game in the NCAA Tournament, played at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee:
On to the Round of 32 — finally.
Remember the narrative heading into this first-round NCAA Tournament matchup between Texas and Virginia Tech?
The Horns, seeded sixth, had lost their last three games and have struggled shooting the ball all season. The Hokies, once given up for dead, caught fire at the end and dispatched Clemson, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Duke to win the ACC Tournament, bringing all sorts of momentum and the nation's third-best 3-point offense to the NCAAs.
For today at least, Texas showed defense beats championships.
The Horns, as they have all season, leaned on their defense — contesting shots, forcing 13 turnovers and frustrating the ACC champion Hokies in an important 81-73 victory. Important not only because it moves Texas (22-11) into the second round, but because it's the program's first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014.
More: Our four takeaways from Texas' first-round win over Virginia Tech
The Hokies did make it interesting at the end, cutting the Texas lead to seven after a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left. But the Horns closed it out.
Maybe it was Marcus Carr's electric 75-foot buzzer-beater that ended the first half with a thunderbolt, or Andrew Jones' big first-half shooting heroics, or the continuous defensive performance that Texas displayed. But the second half was an impressive display on both ends of the court.
Top scorers: Texas — Andrew Jones 21, Timmy Allen 14, Marcus Carr 15, Christian Bishop 10, Courtney Ramey 5. Keve Aluma battled foul trouble throughout the game, but led the Hokies with 15. Hunter Cattor, the hero of the ACC title game after putting up 31 points on Duke, finished with only 12 today on 4-of-7 shooting.
Texas shot 47.4% from the field and a scorching 52.6% from 3-point range. Virginia Tech shot just 33% from long range.
Next up for Texas: No. 3 seed Purdue, which pasted 14th-seeded Yale 78-56 today. The game will be on Sunday, again in Milwaukee, and the NCAA will announce a starting time later tonight.
The Boilermakers' best player is All-American guard Jaden Ivey, who scored 18 points in the win over Yale.
Four minutes left, and Texas is cruising (2nd, 4:04)
Texas has controlled the second half, riding the hot hand of Marcus Carr and strong fundamentals, especially on the defensive end, and lead the Hokies by 11 with four minutes to go.
Andrew Jones leads all scorers with 19 points. Carr has 13. Timmy Allen has 14 points and six rebounds and Christian Bishop has 10.
An unfortunate Virginia Tech milestone (2nd, 8:26)
The Hokies just committed their 10th turnover. It's been one of the big storylines of this game.
Texas leads 61-47. The Horns have taken control of this one.
Hokies take a timeout to cool off Carr (2nd, 10:37)
The Longhorns have opened up their first double-digit lead of this game, going up 55-43 on the latest big shot from Marcus Carr.
Carr's 3-pointer with a Hokie closely guarding him has given Texas a 12-point lead. Virginia Tech has called timeout to regroup.
Andrew Jones, who was scorching-hot from long range in the first half, has been pretty quiet in the second half. He's holding steady at 17 points.
Carr keeps driving Texas' offense (2nd, 12:50)
The Longhorns are up 44-38 after Marcus Carr's 3-point shot just gave Texas a bit of breathing room. His 75-foot buzzer beater to close the first half gave Texas a nice boost heading into the break, and the Horns have opened the second half looking strong.
Andrew Jones, who's hit five 3-pointers and an impressive shot in the lane, leads the Longhorns with 17 points. Timmy Allen has 10.
Halftime: Marcus Carr's one shining moment
Texas point guard Marcus Carr has struggled today, but he sure looked good in the final second of the first half.
His Hail Mary heave at the buzzer, launched a few feet past Virginia Tech's top of the circle on the other end of the court, was true, giving the Horns a wild 34-32 lead at halftime.
The story of the game so far, though, is Andrew Jones. The Texas guard has hit five 3-pointers.
Andrew Jones is in a zone (2:56)
Andrew Jones has tied this game up 27-27. This time, he did it the old-fashioned way, simply by a beautiful drive through the lane and an underhanded scoop shot in traffic.
Texas' senior sharpshooter has hit four 3-pointers already. The Longhorns are averaging only six treys a game this season.
Aluma goes to the bench (1st, 6:34)
Virginia Tech forward Keve Aluma, the Hokies' leading scorer today, has been sent to the bench after picking up his second foul.
Aluma's first foul was on the offensive end, fighting with Texas' Brock Cunningham for position down low, and his second came on the defensive end as he tried to block a shot by Dylan Disu.
Virginia Tech already has committed four turnovers. Texas' Andrew Jones has hit three 3-pointers.
Virginia Tech leads 23-22 with 5:09 left.
Texas takes lead (1st, 10:54)
Andrew Jones' hot shooting from long range has Texas back in this game.
The Longhorns, mired in a 1-for-12 slump from inside the three-point line, are getting it done from far away. Jones hit back-to-back 3-point shots to get Texas back into this game, and the Horns took the lead on Christian Bishop's fine post move down low.
Horns are up 14-13.
"It's a lot easier when we're making shots," Texas coach Chris Beard told TBS coming out of .
More: 1,200 miles later, Texas AD completes wild road trip to Milwaukee
First points! (1st, 15:02)
It has been a shaky, shaky start to this first-round game. For Texas, anyway. After a slew of misses, including an open fast-break layup that clanged off the rim from Marcus Carr, Texas fell behind 6-0.
After a timeout, the Longhorns finally got on the board — a put-back off a miss, naturally, by Timmy Allen.
That made it 6-2 with 15:03 left in the first period.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas, West Virginia meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
