Texas, after winning the Big 12 Tournament championship, landed as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region, despite some thinking a No. 1 seed was possible. The Longhorns will head to Des Moines, Iowa for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Here is everything you need to know about the Longhorns’ first two matchups:

Colgate Raiders, No. 15 seed

Texas drew the Patriot League champions, Colgate, in its first round matchup. The Raiders are a dangerous team that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Led by senior guard Tucker Richardson and senior forward Keegan Records, Colgate features five players scoring in double figures. They also have five players shooting above 35% from the 3-point line. As such, the Raiders shoot a combined 40.9% from beyond the arc, ranking first in the nation. 

After defeating every opponent they faced in the Patriot League tournament by 17 points or more, Colgate is on a nine game winning streak and posted a 17–1 record in conference play.

It is worth mentioning that the Raiders had a strength of schedule ranked 335th out of 363 Division I teams. The toughest opponent they played all year was Auburn, who comes into the tournament as a No. 9 seed. The Tigers blew out the Raiders by 27 in that game.

Colgate’s weakness is its defense. With an adjusted defensive efficiency of 107.7 that ranks 231st in the nation, the Longhorns should be able to put up a lot of points on the Raiders.

Texas A&M Aggies, No. 7 seed

If both the Longhorns and Aggies win their first round matchups, fans are in for a mouthwatering rivalry game. The two squads haven’t met since 2019, but that could change very soon.

Texas A&M finished its season strong, making it to the SEC championship game before falling to No. 1-seed Alabama.

The Aggies are a solid team, ranking in the top 40 in both offensive and defensive adjusted efficiency. Led by sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, who averages 16.5 points per game, Texas A&M earned big wins over SEC foes Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn and Missouri, all of which are tournament teams.

Should the Longhorns face the Aggies, expect a hard-fought game that has a little more at stake than your average second round matchup.

Penn State Nittany Lions, No. 10 seed

Thanks to a late season push, the Nittany Lions found themselves as a No. 10 seed. Similarly to Texas A&M, Penn State made it to its conference championship, but fell short to No. 1-seeded Purdue by just two points.

A strong 8–2 finish to the season bolstered the Lions’ tournament bid hopes. Throughout the season, Penn State beat Illinois three times, Indiana and Northwestern twice and Maryland. All of these Big Ten teams are single-digit seeds in the tournament.

Similar to Colgate, Penn State lives or dies by the three-ball. The Nittany Lions score 43% of their points from deep, second most in the nation.

Penn State boasts tremendous guard play and often opts to play small-ball lineups. Senior guard Jalen Pickett does it all for the team and is likely an All-American. He leads the team in points, assists, rebounds and steals per game. Senior guards Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk also put up double-digit points per game.