{"id":212591,"date":"2026-03-20T07:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212591\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:05:21","slug":"texas-basketball-vs-byu-game-score-replay-highlights-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212591\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas basketball vs BYU game score: Replay, highlights, coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Sure, late struggles by\u00a0Matas Vokietaitis<\/a> almost cost Texas basketball<\/a> a big lead late in Thursday night’s 78-71 win over BYU in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at Moda Center.<\/p>\n

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But make no mistake that the 7-foot Vokietaitis is the biggest reason \u2014 quite literally \u2014 that 11th-seeded Texas won the game and advanced to a second-round meeting Saturday against either No. 3 Gonzaga or No. 14 Kennesaw State, Texas coach\u00a0Sean Miller<\/a> said after the game.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMatas played potentially the best game that he’s played at Texas today,\u201d Miller said, eyeing a stat sheet that showed 23 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for the first-year Longhorn. \u201cA big reason we won is because of what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vokietaitis, a sophomore who transferred to Texas from Florida Atlantic, helped Texas dominate the glass 40-31 in rebounds, and he made 10 of his 17 shots from the floor. However, his shooting from the foul line helped BYU close to within four points with 1 minute, 17 seconds left in the game. Vokietaitis missed all seven of his foul shots in the final 7 minutes, an unusual stretch of ineptness for a player who has shot 69.1% from the stripe for the season.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas post Matas Vokietaitis lays in a basket\u00a0while being guarded by Keba Keita of the\u00a0BYU Cougars during the first half in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 19, 2026, in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Soobum Im\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I love playing physical with a lot of contact,\u201d Vokietaitis said. \u201cThat’s what I like to do. Talking about free throws … I don’t know what to say. Just need to work more on that and improve. I will just clear my head and get ready (for Saturday).\u201d<\/p>\n

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MORE: Texas upsets BYU basketball: Matthew McConaughey, UT fans celebrate March Madness win<\/a><\/p>\n

BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, who may get drafted as the NBA\u2019s No. 1 pick this summer, scored 35 points on 11-of-25 shooting while being guarded primarily by Dailyn Swain and Tramon Mark. But only one other Cougar reached double figures for a BYU team that shot just 42.9% against a suddenly scrappy Texas defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tramon Mark had 19 points for Texas, and Swain added 14 points five rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n

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His final assist found Jordan Pope in the corner in front of the Texas bench, where Pope sank a 3-pointer that Miller called \u201cthe biggest shot of the game for us.\u201d The bucket gave Texas a 75-68 lead with 1:29 left in the game, a deficit that proved a little too steep for Dybantsa and the Cougars.<\/p>\n

Follow below for a replay and highlights Thursday as the Texas Longhorns (20-14) beat the BYU Cougars (23-12) in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. The winner will play either No. 3 Gonzaga or No. 14 Kennesaw State in the second round Saturday in Portland.<\/p>\n

MORE: How Tramon Mark and Chendall Weaver lifted Texas basketball to NCAAs | Golden<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas almost goes wire-to-wire while dispatching No. 6 BYU. Next up? A second-round matchup Saturday against No. 3\u00a0Gonzaga unless No. 14 Kennesaw State can pull off the massive upset later tonight in Portland. Matas Vokietaitis leads Texas with 23 points and 16 rebounds despite some late troubles at the foul line.<\/p>\n

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A BYU 3 from Aleksej Kostic, and a Texas timeout by Sean Miller. Let’s see if the Cougars send Matas Vokietaitis to the line since the Texas big man is just 3 of 8 on foul shots tonight.<\/p>\n

BYU closes to four after Matas Vokietaitis misses his second consecutive front end of a 1-and-1, but Jordan Pope nails a corner 3-pointer on a nice pass from Dailyn Swain. Huge bucket for Texas. Timeout, BYU.<\/p>\n

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A scoring drought for Texas is getting serious. The Longhorns have made just one of their last 10 shots and haven’t scored in 3 minutes, 50 seconds.\u00a0 AJ Dybantsa (35 points) is willing BYU to stay alive in this first-round game.<\/p>\n

It’s now or never for BYU, which fell behind 68-51 with 11:08 to go. AJ Dybantsa (30 points) is trying to lead a comeback, and the Cougars are upping their defensive pressure. But Matas Vokietaitis has 21 points and a career-high 14 rebounds; let’s see if his last two points stand with BYU challenging a goal-tend call.<\/p>\n

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AJ Dybantsa throws down a reverse, behind-the-head dunk. Dailyn Swain and Matas Vokietaitis answer with driving layups. It’s a highlight reel for both teams, and the Longhorns seize their biggest lead of the game.<\/p>\n

Good answer by Texas out of the\u00a0timeout. Tramon Mark hits another 3-pointer, this one from the corner, and he’s up to 11 points. Matas Vokietaitis leads Texas with 17 points while AJ Dybantsa has a game-high 20 for BYU.<\/p>\n

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BYU responds to its first double-digit deficit of\u00a0the game with a 7-0 run, and Sean Miller takes a timeout for Texas.<\/p>\n

Dailyn Swain finds Matas Vokietaitis on a Longhorn alley-oop, and we’re off in the second half in Portland.<\/p>\n

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Matas Vokietaitis has a double-double at the half with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Texas flexes in an impressive first half. The Horns shoot 51.4% from the floor and outrebound BYU 21-11. Oh, and Tramon Mark (8 points)\u00a0hits yet another buzzer-beater, this on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. AJ Dybantsa lives up to the hype with 20 points for BYU.<\/p>\n

Matas Vokietaitis is starting to come alive inside for Texas with nine points,\u00a0including a thunderous dunk. Better yet for Texas coach Sean Miller: Only one Longhorn (Jordan Pope (2 fouls) has more than one foul against a team that thrives getting to the stripe.<\/p>\n

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The Texas offense has been efficient all season, and it’s more of the same; the Longhorns are shooting 57.1% from the floor and have made four of nine from 3-point range. Dailyn Swain has seven to lead Texas while AJ Dybantsa is up to 14 for BYU. The fouls are starting to pile up for Texas, which has committed all six of its fouls over the past 7 minutes.<\/p>\n

Jordan Pope has now hit a pair of 3-pointers and has six points. If the Longhorn guard gets hot, he gives the Texas offense an extra element it may need against the high-powered Cougars.<\/p>\n

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A little spurt by BYU, and Texas coach Sean Miller\u00a0takes a timeout. Dybantsa has 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting, and like all the greats, he makes them look easy. BYU has made 7 of their last 9 shots.<\/p>\n

Texas wing Dailyn Swain is matched up against BYU star AJ Dybantsa. Two future NBA players going at\u00a0it tonight. A scorching start by both teams; Texas has made six of their 11 shots while BYU is 6-of-8 from the floor. Dybantsa has six points while Cam Heide has five for Texas.<\/p>\n

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Jordan Pope hits a long 3-pointer to start things off. Texas could use a big game from the West Coast native.<\/p>\n

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POS#NAMEGPPPGRPGAPGG0Pope,Jordan3313.12.11.9G12Mark,Tramon3313.63.51.9F3Swain,Dailyn3317.77.63.4F5Heide,Camden326.12.70.7C8Vokietaitis,Matas3315.56.90.6<\/p>\n

POS#NAMEGPPPGRPGAPGG1Wright III,Robert3418.23.54.7G6Kostic,Aleksej264.20.90.4G30Davis Jr.,Kennard318.52.71.3F3Dybantsa,AJ3425.36.73.8C13Keita,Keba326.37.30.3<\/p>\n

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The Longhorns and BYU will tip off at its scheduled time of 6:35 p.m. CT after the first two games in the Portland regional ended on schedule. High Point, a 12th seed, got the tournament off to a rollicking start by stunning No. 5 Wisconsin in the first game,, and No. 4 Arkansas followed with a rout of No. 13 Hawaii. Gonzaga, a No. 3 seed, will cap the night in Portland against No. 14\u00a0Kennesaw State.<\/p>\n

What:\u00a0NCAA Tournament first round game<\/p>\n

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When:\u00a06:25 p.m. Thursday<\/p>\n

Where: March 19, 2026, at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0TBS; 1300 AM, 98.1 FM<\/p>\n

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Line:\u00a0BYU is favored by 2\u00bd; total of 157\u00bd<\/p>\n

Reach Texas beat reporter Thomas Jones via email at tjones@statesman.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Sure, late struggles by\u00a0Matas Vokietaitis almost cost Texas basketball a big lead late in Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[794,67531,48876,19752,69852,83229,3112,19753,27,29,537,19751,28,2758],"class_list":["post-212591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-byu-cougars","tag-dylan-volantis","tag-march-madness","tag-men-s-college-basketball","tag-ncaa-march-madness","tag-ncaa-march-madness-tournament","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-sean-miller","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-news","tag-tramon-mark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212591","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=212591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}