Texas men’s basketball junior forward Camden Heide is used to this March Madness thing.
Heide was a member of the Purdue Boilermakers for the past two seasons, and although his “put-back” dunk in the national championship game with the Boilermakers in 2024 might be one of his most iconic moments, his three-pointer with 14 seconds left in the Longhorns’ second-round matchup against the No. 3-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs may just take the cake.
That three-pointer secured Texas’ first bid to the Sweet Sixteen in three seasons, beating Gonzaga 74-68 Saturday night at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore.
“Just super proud of our group, our team, coaches,” head coach Sean Miller said. “Like I’ve mentioned time and time again, our ride has never been easy, but we have fought the good fight the whole way, and today, we did it again.”
Owing zero points to his name, Heide was subbed out for sophomore forward Nic Codie in the Longhorns’ final timeout of the game. It proved to be the biggest tactical decision of the night from Miller.
On the next possession, graduate guard Tramon Mark drew all of the attention as the ball handler, driving into the paint and bringing the entire Bulldog defense with him. It left Heide all alone at the corner for the late-contested three-pointer.
In the biggest shot of the game, Heide was all net, growing the Longhorns’ lead from one point to four as time quickly ticked down until the final buzzer.
“Just to have that other guy out there who’s capable, and in Cam’s case, you can make the case. He’s our best three-point shooter,” Miller said. “To not have him in there, I just didn’t think it made any sense.”
Texas, faced with the daunting circumstances of playing three games in five days alongside the travel between Dayton, Ohio, and Portland, overcame the odds to advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
For a team that lost five of its six games to close out the season, the Longhorns have found their identity at the right moment.
“We didn’t end the regular season the way that we wanted to, but we never gave up on each other, and that grew us closer,” junior guard Dailyn Swain said. “We all took a different approach. We all kind of stepped up our play — more balanced attack in this postseason.”
The Longhorns were able to spread the ball around well, putting up 20 assists and neutralizing the Bulldogs’ defense around the perimeter. Senior guard Jordan Pope put together his second 10-plus point effort in the tournament with 17 points.
Sophomore center Matas Vokietaitis was a threat in the paint, using his size advantage for 17 points of his own and nine rebounds.
In a close possession game, Texas was able to avoid mistakes like sloppy turnovers or drawing too many fouls from its most productive players, which were issues that prevailed throughout the regular season.
Against Gonzaga, Texas only committed five turnovers and 11 personal fouls, limiting the Bulldogs from picking up easy points.
“No doubt these guys will tell you, there’s nothing that we talk more about right now than the value of limiting turnovers, trying to play the game with single-digit turnovers,” Miller said.
A team that was narrowly left out of the tournament entirely one week ago, the Longhorns’ Cinderella shoe still fits — at least for another week.
The Longhorns will face either Purdue or Miami on Thursday or Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
