Texas battles fellow conference tournament champion Colgate in first round of NCAA Tournament

On Sunday, the Texas Longhorns knew they would be selected to the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament thanks to their win in the Big 12 Tournament final over Kansas. That didn’t make the experience of seeing their name appear as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region on the Moody Center video board any less sweet.

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“This time of year you have to be excited about every opportunity that presents itself,” Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry said. “Being in the NCAA Tournament, the body of work that we were able to do this season being a two-seed, I’m really proud and happy for our guys in terms of what we were able to do.”

While watching CBS’ selection show with college basketball faithful around the country, they learned their opponent for Thursday’s round one affair. The Longhorns, who were the No. 6 overall seed in the field of 68, will face the Colgate Raiders.

Colgate, who boasts a 26-8 record, won the Patriot League regular season title by winning 17 of 18 conference games. The Raiders then marched through Loyola, Army, and Lafayette to clinch a spot in the tournament field. They are the No. 1 three-point shooting team in the country and rank No. 2 in field goal percentage.

“Colgate, they’ll be on our minds,” Terry said. “That’s where we’re going to start working on those guys, myself and our staff. We’ll work tirelessly, start here in a couple of hours and just really try to dig into them and their season. Obviously, they’re a conference champion, so we know they’re a really good team.”

The Longhorns and the Raiders have a conference tournament title in common, but Texas was safely in the field even if they hadn’t beaten Kansas on Saturday. The same could not be said for the Raiders. Even after a dominant march through the Patriot League with the only setback a one-point loss on the road to American, Colgate had to win its conference tournament in order to hear its name called on Selection Sunday.

Terry, whose only appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach prior to this year was in 2016 with Fresno State, knows what teams like Colgate are tasked with at this point in the year. His Bulldogs had to win the Mountain West Tournament championship or else they were heading to the NIT at best. His team emerged undefeated from a three-games-in-three-days stretch, just like Colgate did this past week.

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The Raiders are obviously hot, but so too are the Longhorns.

“This time of year, everyone’s had a great season,” Terry said. “If they’re in the field of 64, they’ve had a great season. You’re on a neutral court. Nobody is going to be intimidated by us.”

One thing about the Raiders is they are still a No. 15 seed. Colgate was No. 335 out of 363 in KenPom’s strength of schedule rating. Overall in the same metric, the Raiders were No. 114.

In the NET, the primary sorting tool for the NCAA Tournament selection committee, Colgate was No. 101 with a 22-2 record in games against weaker Quadrant 4 teams and a 3-6 mark against all other opponents.

Obviously, they didn’t have to go through the same conference slate the Longhorns had. The 18-game round-robin schedule and the additional three games of Big 12 play are now complete, which is an aspect of March Madness Terry is happy to see arrive.

“We’re excited in the very near future starting on Thursday to play someone outside the Big 12,” Terry said.

The Longhorns’ interim head coach emphasized that though the offense has picked up of late, defense on a neutral floor will be needed to advance. Not only that, but being ready to go from the opening whistle no matter which team is on the opposite side of the Longhorns will be imperative.

“The team that shows up for that 40 minutes and doesn’t waste 20 minutes trying to figure it out, that team’s going to get it done on that day,” Terry said.

The first ‘that day’ arrives Thursday. Texas vs. Colgate will tip at 6:25 p.m. Central in Des Moines, Iowa. The game will air on TBS.