After five Texas-based college basketball teams were selected in the 2025 men’s college basketball tournament, only two were able to survive the first weekend.
The five squads to be selected to the Big Dance were 1-seed Houston, 3-seed Texas Tech, 4-seed Texas A&M, 9-seed Baylor and 11-seed Texas.
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Texas met its demise first, participating in a First Four matchup against fellow-11-seed Xavier. Despite holding a 10-point lead with 12 minutes remaining, the Longhorns faltered down the stretch and sharp free throw shooting helped the Musketeers pull away late for an 86-80 victory. The early exit for Texas led to the dismissal of head basketball coach Rodney Terry.
Ironically, Texas went on to hire Xavier’s Sean Miller to be its new head coach after the Musketeers lost to 6-seed Illinois in the opening weekend.
The next domino to fall in the Lone Star State was Texas A&M. The Aggies took down 13-seed Yale in comfortable fashion, opening their tournament run with an 80-71 dub, but their second-round opponent was clearly a tougher draw. After a competitive first half against 5-seed Michigan, the Aggies jumped out to a lead. However, the Wolverines took over and never relinquished control, ending A&M’s tournament run with a 91-79 victory.
The third Texas team to exit the dance was 9-seed Baylor. After squeaking by 8-seed Mississippi State in a 75-72 win to advance to round two, the Bears met their match against 1-seed Duke in an 89-66 thrashing.
That leaves two teams representing Texas in March Madness: Houston and Texas Tech.
The Cougars blew out 16-seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40 to open their tournament run, and they held off 8-seed Gonzaga in Round 2 for an 81-76 win. Friday night, they’ll face 4-seed Purdue for a chance to play in the Elite Eight.
The Red Raiders have faced the least resistance thus far in their two matchups, taking down 14-seed UNC Wilmington 82-72 in round one and 11-seed Drake 77-64 in round two. In the Sweet 16, they’ll face yet another double-digit seed, taking on 10-seed Arkansas Thursday night.
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