{"id":208246,"date":"2026-03-17T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/208246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T13:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:00:10","slug":"texas-north-carolina-state-meet-in-first-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/208246\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas, North Carolina State meet in First Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAYTON, Ohio \u2014 The winter blast that rolled across Ohio on Monday offered a fitting greeting to Texas basketball<\/a> and North Carolina State, who both arrive for Tuesday\u2019s First Four meeting stuck in a cold snap.<\/p>\n

Both teams have lost five of their past six games, and both have plenty to prove in a rematch of a game that took place a long time ago and far, far away. Back in November, Texas beat NC State 102-97 in the Maui Classic in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like years ago since we played them,\u201d Texas senior guard Chendall Weaver<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

It might feel like years ago that either Texas (18-14) or North Carolina State (20-13) last got a win, considering the way the teams stumbled down the stretch. Both squads boast explosive offenses that can get buckets against anyone, but both also have gaping defensive holes that keep getting exposed. Over the last six games for each team, North Carolina State has allowed 88.8 points per game while Texas has given up 85.7 points a contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn’t finish as strong, and maybe you could say the same thing about us,\u201d Texas coach Sean Miller<\/a> said, taking the diplomatic approach to the struggles of both teams.<\/p>\n

Yet both Power Five conference teams picked up enough quality wins during a rugged schedule to earn a spot as an 11th seed in the\u00a0NCAA Tournament<\/a>, albeit with the detour to Dayton. The selection committee <\/a>deemed both squads worthy of a shot despite their struggles, and that\u2019s a message that Weaver told his teammates after the Longhorns found out their fate on Selection Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to the guys, just trying to get them in the right mindset,\u201d he said. You know, this could be our last game. So, just come out and play with everything we got. It\u2019s either that or it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weaver, the longest-tenured scholarship player for Texas at three seasons, joins fellow guards Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope as the seniors in the rotation who could play their final collegiate game Tuesday at University of Dayton Arena. He\u2019s never the loudest player in the locker room, but Weaver hopes his sense of desperation reached each of his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis message was basically that the NCAA gave us an opportunity to get in a tournament, so why not make the best of it?\u201d said sophomore forward Nic Codie. \u201cGo on a run. We know we all can. Play together, play for each other. Some people, these are they last games. Let’s see how far we can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner of Tuesday\u2019s First Four game will travel to Portland for a first-round matchup with No. 6 BYU Thursday at 6:25 p.m.<\/p>\n

TEXAS VS. NORTH CAROLINA STATE: How to watch<\/p>\n

When\/where:\u00a08:15 p.m. Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0truTV; 1300 AM., 98.1 FM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAYTON, Ohio \u2014 The winter blast that rolled across Ohio on Monday offered a fitting greeting to Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2692,69852,3112,81148,27,29,537,28],"class_list":["post-208246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa-march-madness","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-north-carolina-state-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}