Rodney Terry Endorsed by Experts as Texas' New HC as Longhorns Rout No. 3 Xavier
The No. 2 seed Texas Longhorns continued its dominant run in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament with an emphatic 83-71 victory over the No. 3 Xavier Musketeers on Friday in the Sweet Sixteen.
Texas stormed to a 42-25 halftime lead and never looked back thanks in part to guard Marcus Carr, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half. Backcourt mate Tyrese Hunter led all Texas scorers with 19 points.
Longhorn reserves Christian Bishop and Sir'Jabari Rice came off the bench to score 18 and 16 points, respectively.
It was a remarkable performance from a team missing big man Dylan Disu, who came into the game with a reported bone bruise in his left foot and played just one minute.
In a tournament rife with massive upsets, Texas is the highest seed remaining with all four No. 1 seeds and the other three No. 2 seeds out of March Madness.
The Longhorns have won their three games against Colgate, Penn State and Xavier by an average of 12.33 points under the tutelage of interim head coach Rodney Terry, who led Texas to a Big 12 championship after a 76-56 blowout win over Kansas.
Terry took over for former head coach Chris Beard, who was suspended in December and fired in January after being arrested on a felony domestic violence charge, which was dismissed in February.
Terry still carries the interim title, but it's clear that he deserves to be named Texas' full-time head coach after leading the Longhorns deep into this tournament.
The Longhorns could very well win the national championship, and that's something that's never been done before in team history.
Numerous analysts praised Terry and stated that he's earned the job full time.
Texas will now face No. 5 Miami on Sunday in the Elite Eight. A win there would put Texas back into the Final Four for just the first time since 2003 and the second time since 1947.
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