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Most of March Madness seemed to lack major upsets at first, but the tournament has its first Cinderella.
The 11th-seeded Texas Longhorns pulled off a huge upset against No. 3 Gonzaga with a 74-68 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
Gonzaga led by as many as eight points and went up 28-20 with 4:29 left in the first half, but the Longhorns ended the half with a 15-5 run and led by two going into the locker room.
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Texas Longhorns forward Cole Bott celebrates with teammates after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs during a second round game during the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at the Moda Center. (Craig Strobeck/Imagn Images)
Both teams constantly traded buckets and leads in the second half, with neither team leading by more than four until Texas jumped out to its biggest lead of six with a big 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the game.
And an upset alarm was officially underway.
The Bulldogs cut the deficit to two with three minutes left, but Texas responded with a massive three to go back up five. Then, up 69-66, Texas missed two 3-pointers that went in and out, and a Gonzaga dunk with about 40 seconds left made it a one-point game.
The Longhorns’ Camden Heide made the shot of his life with a corner 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left. After Gonzaga missed a shot at the other end, Matas Vokietaitis made a layup to ice the win.
Texas Longhorns guard Tramon Mark (12), guard Jordan Pope (0) and forward Nic Codie (10) react after a second half play against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during a second round game in the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at the Moda Center. (Troy Wayrynen/Imagn Images)
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The Longhorns went 5-for-15 from three, but hit three of their last five, coming up in the clutch. Gonzaga was 4-for-16 from deep.
Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope led the way with 17 points each, and Vokietaitis grabbed nine rebounds. Graham Ike scored 25 for Gonzaga.
This is just the second time Texas has made the Sweet 16 since 2008 and will also do so in 2023. As for Gonzaga, that’s back-to-back seasons with second-round exits.
Nic Codie of the Texas Longhorns reacts against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the second half of a second round game in the 2026 NCAA Tournament at the Moda Center March 21, 2026 in Portland, Ore. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Images via Getty Images)
Texas will face the winner of the No. 2 Purdue and No. 7 Miami, who battle on Sunday at 12:10 p.m. ET.
