The Longhorns, hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, will play Holy Cross first Friday and will play either UC-Santa Barbara or Tarleton State the next day.
Holy Cross is 25-28 after winning the Patriot League Tournament. Tarleton State (37-19) won the Western Athletic Conference in the regular season then dominated the league tournament winning its three games by a combined score of 35-14. UCSB tied for first place in the Big West and is 38-18 despite winning just one game in the conference tournament.
After sharing third in the highly completive SEC — seven of the 16 regional hosts come from the conference — the Longhorns are a national seed for the fourth time since 2021.
The winner of the region will take on whichever team emerges from the Eugene Regional:
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2, 6 p.m.