Camden Heide’s first points of the NCAA tournament’s second round were really, really big.

Heide hit a 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds to go to give No. 11 Texas a four-point lead in the Longhorns’ 74-68 upset win over No. 3 Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet 16. Texas is the sixth team to play in the First Four and advance to the Sweet 16 since the NCAA implemented the play-in games in 2011.

Texas has won three games in five days. On Tuesday, the Longhorns beat NC State in a game between two of the last teams in the 68-team field. That earned Texas a matchup with No. 6 BYU and potential top 2026 NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa. Even though Dybantsa dropped 35, the Longhorns were in control in the second half.

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Saturday, Texas and Gonzaga delivered a close game — and an upset — that college basketball fans had been yearning for. No underdog had won during Friday’s 16 first-round games and all four favorites won in the second round before Texas and Gonzaga’s game began.

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Leave it to one of the biggest athletic departments in college sports to play the role of spoiler. And in more ways than one. Texas’ win busted the remaining perfect brackets in Yahoo Sports’ Bracket Mayhem.

Neither team led by double digits in a game that was as close as the score indicated throughout its entirety. Heide’s shot came after Gonzaga star Graham Ike cut the lead to one with a dunk with 40 seconds remaining.

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The Longhorns called a timeout with 32 seconds to go before Heide was open in the corner for the bucket. After Mario Saint-Supery’s desperate 3-pointer missed, Texas added onto its final margin with a bucket by center Matas Vokietaitis.

A year ago, Texas was eliminated in the First Four by Xavier. The man coaching the Musketeers that night was Sean Miller. The former Arizona coach is now at Texas, and the Longhorns are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since they were a No. 2 seed under Chris Beard in 2023.

Previous First Four teams to make the Sweet 16

The NCAA expanded the men’s tournament field from 64 to 68 teams in 2011 when it added four play-in games ahead of the main event. The bracket-busting potential of the First Four was on full display that first season when VCU — then coached by Shaka Smart — made an incredible run to the Final Four that included wins over Purdue and Kansas.

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Since then, 2013 La Salle, 2014 Tennessee, 2018 Syracuse, and 2021 UCLA have also made the Sweet 16 — though the Bruins are the only other team to get past that round. Five years ago, UCLA beat Alabama in overtime in the Sweet 16 before taking down Michigan in the Elite Eight. The team UCLA lost to in the Final Four?

Gonzaga.

No Sweet 16 is rare air for the Bulldogs

Gonzaga lost in the second round a year ago to No. 1 Houston, but that was understandable. The Zags entered the tournament as a No. 8 seed. It was the first time since 2014 that Gonzaga had failed to win at least two tournament games — a remarkable run for a team outside of a power conference.

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Before 2025, Gonzaga had made the Sweet 16 in each of the last nine NCAA tournaments, with two Final Four and five Elite Eight appearances in that span.

This season, the Zags were one of the top 12 seeds but were also shorthanded. Second-leading scorer Braden Huff (17.8 points per game) has been out since Jan. 15 with a left knee injury. Without him, just two Gonzaga players scored in double figures on Saturday. Ike had 25 and took 22 shots. No other player took more than nine shots as Jalen Warley had 10 points on seven field goal attempts.

Next season, Gonzaga will also find itself in a new conference. The Zags are joining the remodeled Pac-12 and leaving their longtime home in the West Coast Conference. The WCC got three teams in the tournament in 2026 for just the fourth time ever as Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara also made the tournament field. But with both the Gaels and Broncos falling in the first round, the conference won’t have anyone in the Sweet 16.