They don’t call it March Madness for nothing.
College basketball has long been defined by the small, finite moments performed by chosen individuals that create lasting memories for their respective teams. On this particular night, in the waning seconds of the game, no less, Texas men’s basketball graduate guard Tramon Mark was chosen to be the harbinger.
On an island with North Carolina State senior guard Tre Holloman in his face, Mark had sole possession of the Longhorns’ season fate in his hands. A missed basket? The unknown of an overtime period would be a certainty.
As the harsh, cold Dayton weather wavered outside, Mark was colder on the court, banking his step-back jumper and putting Texas up 68-66 with just 1.1 seconds left in the game. It was the game-winning dagger in the Wolfpack’s dreams of dancing further in March.
“We all kept our composure coming in the timeouts,” junior guard Dailyn Swain said. “They hit really tough shots, and (head) coach (Sean) Miller calmed us down (by saying), ‘Hey, we’re going to win this game,’ and he drew up the right things and made the right adjustments on defense.”
North Carolina State attempted one last Hail Mary in the final possession of the game. The Wolfpack tossed a deep in-bounds pass, but in a fitting end, Swain, the Longhorns’ resident Ohioan, sealed the night with a thrashing block to secure Texas’ first appearance in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 in two seasons.
Though Mark’s game-winner marked the first memorable moment of the tournament, his heroics earlier in the game were just as big. The fifth-year graduate fired a 17-foot jumper to maintain the Longhorns’ thin lead, but the Wolfpack wasn’t far behind with its own answer.
Wolfpack senior forward Darrion Williams launched a deep, 25-foot three-pointer to make it a one-point game. For a brief moment, North Carolina State had life, aggressively trapping Swain on the inbound pass for a game-defining turnover.
Texas senior guard Jordan Pope fouled Holloman with 18 seconds left in the game on the next possession. Holloman, with the moment resting on his shoulder on the free-throw line for his own team, missed his first attempt to give the Longhorns a break they desperately needed.
“In games like that, your emotions can waver up and down,” Mark said. “I feel like our team, we kept our emotions in check — we did what we needed to do.”
Holloman made his second free throw, tying the game up at 66. But on this night in Dayton, it was destiny for Texas, ending the night with a trademark moment for veteran Mark.
This Texas team lost five of its last six games of the season, a large part of the reason why the Longhorns ended up back in the First Four for a second time and almost missed the tournament entirely. A surprising defensive performance rallied the Longhorns for much of the night, keeping the game close.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this … this might be the first game that I can really look at and say we won because (of) our defense,” Miller said.
The defensive effort, led by senior guard Chendall Weaver in a double-double performance with 11 points and 10 rebounds, six of them coming on the defensive glass, was able to limit North Carolina State to just 66 points. It was the inverse of when the two met back in November in Hawaii, when Texas allowed 97 points.
“Knowing that this could be my last game, I was just trying to leave it all out on the court,” Weaver said. “Whatever my team needed, I tried to bring it.”
Sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis was able to dominate the paint against the Wolfpack’s lack of a true big, picking up 15 points and eight rebounds of his own.
Texas will live to see another day, and a date with No. 6 BYU awaits on Thursday in Portland, Ore. The question now reveals itself — will the Longhorns have another miracle?
