{"id":215066,"date":"2026-03-22T04:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215066\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T04:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:20:09","slug":"cam-heide-propels-longhorns-into-ncaa-sweet-16-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/215066\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Heide propels Longhorns into NCAA Sweet 16 round"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Before\u00a0Texas basketball<\/a>‘s most important offensive possession of the season, several media members and fans all wondered aloud.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Why is Cam Heide back in the game?<\/p>\n

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They found out soon enough.<\/p>\n

Heide is a starter, but he hadn’t played much in the second half as Texas coach Sean Miller paired backup forward Nic Codie with Matas Vokietaitis.<\/p>\n

Not to worry. Heide, a former Purdue Boilermaker, improved his personal record to 3-0 against Gonzaga with a dagger 3-pointer that lifted the 11th-seeded Longhorns to a\u00a074-68 win <\/a>and their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2023.<\/p>\n

After a 1-5 finish entering the NCAAs, the Horns have brought sexy back to Austin and their first-year coach just earned his ninth Sweet 16 appearance in 21 seasons.<\/p>\n

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\"Camden\u00a0Heide<\/p>\n

Camden\u00a0Heide of the Texas Longhorns attempts a shot against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the second half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Moda Center on March 21, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Photo by\u00a0Soobum Im\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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

And this time it came in unexpected fashion.<\/p>\n

MORE CED: Vokietaitis sturdies Texas paint game but about those free throws…<\/a><\/p>\n

While the usual suspects were present in this West Region second round matchup at Moda Center \u2014 Tramon Mark, Dailyn Swain, Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope all played prominent roles \u2014 it was the second-line performers that took center. Codie was 5 of 6 from the field and finished with 12 points, three assists, a steal and a block. Chendall Weaver scored nine points with three rebounds, a block and a steal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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And then there was Heide, who sat for 17 minutes after picking up his third foul. When he reentered the game with the Horns leading 69-68 thanks to Pope\u2019s 3-pointer on a badly sprained ankle, the call was for Mark \u2014 the team\u2019s closer \u2014 to create some offense for himself. Mark drove to his right, drew a double team and spotted Heide in the right corner.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Texas Longhorns celebrate after defeating the\u00a0Gonzaga Bulldogs during the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Moda Center on March 21, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Photo by\u00a0C. Morgan Engel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

C. Morgan Engel\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And just like that, Heide went back to his childhood days outside Minnesota\u2019s Twin Cities when he, like most young basketball players, dreamt of one day hitting a big shot in front of a packed house and a national TV audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fortunate enough that my dad actually put a basketball court in the backyard for me and my brother,\u201d Heide said. \u201cSo that\u2019s where I\u2019ve counted down 3,2,1 many times. And obviously when you do that as a kid so much and then you do it on a big stage, like, it\u2019s a cool feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MORE HOOPS: Bryanna Preston emerges for Texas women<\/a><\/p>\n

The record will show that third-seeded Gonzaga missed a desperation triple which Swain rebounded and heaved the ball downcourt to a waiting Vokietaitis for a layup, but Heide\u2019s shot will go down as the one we\u2019ll remember most.<\/p>\n

\u201cCam is our best 3-point shooter,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAnd I just think when you have a single possession to potentially win the game, there\u2019s great value in him being out there. Obviously, utopia is the ball finds him and he makes a shot like he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Miller continues to push the right buttons in this postseason and the Horns, who limped into the tournament with a First Four play-in win over North Carolina State as a wounded bunch, has became one of the biggest stories of March Madness. Now they\u2019re the only team that came out of Dayton still playing.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ced’s Corner\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign up for Cedric Golden\u2019s newsletter<\/a> for hot takes and expert analysis each Tuesday on Texas Longhorns football and beyond. \u00a0It’s called Ced\u2019s Corner, from the mind of the American-Statesman\u2019s resident sports columnist, the 2025 NSMA Texas Sportswriter of the Year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI will put it on the context of this is what it\u2019s all about,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThis is what you want to be a part of as a player and coach and at Texas, this is what we want to be a part of in the second weekend of the tournament. We\u2019re here, we\u2019re playing well and we want just want to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something to be said about resilience and this whole late season has been about that trait. Take Saturday’s first half, for instance. The Horns trailed 28-20 with 4:20 left until the half and Miller inserted the energetic Weaver into the game. The guard’s\u00a0return coincided with a 15-5 run that ended with Pope\u2019s last-second triple to give the Horns a 35-33 lead at the break.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns are a hot team now<\/p>\n

It has all come together at the perfect time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Horns (21-14) are a tough out now, whether it\u2019s against Miami or Purdue at San Jose\u2019s Shark Tank. Survive. Advance. Prep for the next one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t supposed to be here,\u201d Swain said. \u201cWe talked before Selection Sunday about our chances. I\u2019m just super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzaga coach Mark Few had dismissed any talk of the Longhorns being some Cinderella story<\/a> because of the dearth of athletes at Texas’ disposal and the great resources its athletic department provides, though there are hoops fans in Longhorn Nation who believe the purse strings should be loosened a bit more to attract more name talent.<\/p>\n

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With that said, the Austinites might not be missing a gold slipper, but there\u2019s something special happening with this team.<\/p>\n

The Horns are still dancing and the clock isn\u2019t close to striking 12 just yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Before\u00a0Texas basketball‘s most important offensive possession of the season, several media members and fans all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11511,2692,9602,4861,48876,19752,69852,83229,3112,19753,27,29,537,19751,28],"class_list":["post-215066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-cedric-golden","tag-college-basketball","tag-columnists-opinions","tag-gonzaga-bulldogs","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"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215066","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=215066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}