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Gonzaga Basketball

Texas wins numbers game against BYU

Tramon Mark #12 of the Texas Longhorns attempts a shot while being guarded by Aleksej Kostic #6 of the BYU Cougars during the second half in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 19, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. (Getty Images)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Texas didn’t have BYU outnumbered on the court.

It was 5 on 5 both ways, but the 11th-seeded Longhorns had a sizable advantage in point producers and their strength in numbers was enough to overcome BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa’s impessive 35-point performance Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland.

The Longhorns, two days removed from a hard-fought 68-66 First Four win over N.C. State in Dayton, Ohio, hung on 79-71 against the sixth-seeded Cougars to earn a date against Gonzaga on Saturday in the round of 32.

Dybantsa, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.3 per game, scored 15 consecutive BYU points to trim the Longhorns’ lead from 17 to six late in the second half, but the Cougars couldn’t complete the comeback.

Texas built a 46-37 halftime lead on the broad shoulders of 7-foot Lithuanian center Matas Vokietaitis, who posted 15 points and 11 rebounds, and four others with at least five points in the opening 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Dybantsa scored 20 of BYU’s 37, but only two teammates cracked the scoring column.

Vokietaitis continued to dominate the paint in the second half, finishing with 23 points and 16 boards, but he missed all seven of his free throws in the closing 20 minutes.

Tramon Mark, who hit two tough, contested jumpers in crunch time against N.C. State, chipped in 19 points, Dailyn Swain had 14 and Jordan Pope contributed 11, including a big 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining.

The Longhorns (20-14) dropped five of six games prior to Tuesday’s win over N.C. State. Texas, which faded to 10th in the SEC standings, will be playing its third game in five days Saturday.