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The No. 2 seed Texas Longhorns continued its dominant run in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament with an emphatic 83-71 victory over the No. 3 Xavier Musketeers on Friday in the Sweet Sixteen.
Texas stormed to a 42-25 halftime lead and never looked back thanks in part to guard Marcus Carr, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half. Backcourt mate Tyrese Hunter led all Texas scorers with 19 points.
Longhorn reserves Christian Bishop and Sir’Jabari Rice came off the bench to score 18 and 16 points, respectively.
It was a remarkable performance from a team missing big man Dylan Disu, who came into the game with a reported bone bruise in his left foot and played just one minute.
In a tournament rife with massive upsets, Texas is the highest seed remaining with all four No. 1 seeds and the other three No. 2 seeds out of March Madness.
The Longhorns have won their three games against Colgate, Penn State and Xavier by an average of 12.33 points under the tutelage of interim head coach Rodney Terry, who led Texas to a Big 12 championship after a 76-56 blowout win over Kansas.
Terry took over for former head coach Chris Beard, who was suspended in December and fired in January after being arrested on a felony domestic violence charge, which was dismissed in February.
Terry still carries the interim title, but it’s clear that he deserves to be named Texas’ full-time head coach after leading the Longhorns deep into this tournament.
The Longhorns could very well win the national championship, and that’s something that’s never been done before in team history.
Numerous analysts praised Terry and stated that he’s earned the job full time.
Matt Norlander @MattNorlander
Rodney Terry has Texas a win away from its first F4 in 20 years. Horns are 21-7 since Terry took over.
AD Chris Del Conte should go to the postgame presser tonight and declare he’s taking the interim tag off Terry, that he’s earned the full-time job. What are we waiting for?
Dan Wolken @DanWolken
Texas may not want to hire Rodney Terry but they’re going to have to hire Rodney Terry
Dave Matter @Dave_Matter
I gave Rodney Terry my vote for AP national coach of the year. At what point does he actually get named Texas head coach?
Mike Finger @mikefinger
When Chris Beard was fired, the most common names (some realistic, some not) pitched to replace him were Calipari and Oats and Musselman and Sampson.
What’s funny is all of those guys now have free time to watch Rodney Terry tonight.
Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops
Texas is up 17 at half. Without Dylan Disu.
Rodney Terry out here doing his best Wooden.
Tommy Castor @TweetsFromTommy
If Rodney Terry isn’t handed the permanent Texas job at this point, I truly don’t know what more that administration needs to see.
That team could have folded up back in December, but they didn’t.
Myron Medcalf @MedcalfByESPN
How Texas AD Chris Del Conte should run onto the court with a contract and permanent job for Rodney Terry in the second half: pic.twitter.com/7qJR5DGCVn
Texas will now face No. 5 Miami on Sunday in the Elite Eight. A win there would put Texas back into the Final Four for just the first time since 2003 and the second time since 1947.
Watch March Madness Live to stream every tournament game through the Final Four.
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