Luck. It has no bounds, no convictions nor does it discriminate. Can it be measured? Can one buy more of it? No; like the waves of the Pacific bordering San Jose, it comes in flows, peaks and bottoms out at times.
For 39 minutes and 49 seconds, it looked like the Longhorns would do it again, keeping another far superior opponent on its heels.
But as luck peaked for Texas, with a game-tying layup from junior forward Dailyn Swain with 11 seconds left in the game, it bottomed out at the worst possible moment — the last possession of the game.
Purdue senior guard Braden Smith marched down the court, driving hard to the rim, but it wasn’t Smith who played the hero — senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn tipped Smith’s missed layup in with 0.7 seconds on the clock.
Texas’ improbable run in the NCAA Tournament ended in the Sweet 16, falling to a last-second dagger, something the Longhorns lived by for three games, to Purdue, 79-77, at the SAP Center in San Jose.
“Tonight’s game could have gone either way,” head coach Sean Miller said. “We played at a very, very high level the last couple of weeks, gave ourselves a chance to compete for a Final Four.”
Senior guard Jordan Pope played 33 minutes on a broken foot, an injury he suffered against Gonzaga last week. Graduate guard Tramon Mark played on one leg, limping for the majority of the night after he stepped on a Purdue Boilermakers’ foot in the first half.
Still, not knowing it would be their last game in a Texas uniform, they kept fighting until the very end. Mark was the heart and soul of the Longhorns’ offense. Whenever Texas needed some juice, he would cash in around the perimeter for a three-pointer.
Mark, despite hobbling up and down the court for over 20 minutes, put up 29 points, his season high in the most important game of his career.
“I’m just thankful that I was still able to go out there and produce and do things for my team and give us a chance to win — that’s all I can ask for,” Mark said.
Pope looked effortless despite being on a broken foot, shooting 4-10 from the field and 4-9 from around the arc for 12 points.
“I’m playing for my teammates, my coaches. I’ll never have this opportunity again,” Pope said. “I couldn’t let that pass. I think I would regret that a lot if I (did).”
While many had written this season off as a rebuilding year for Miller and just another season to forget about and leave to the pages of history, this group managed to shock a nation of doubters.
From opening up the tournament in the First Four, to two daunting tasks in BYU and Gonzaga in Portland, and now putting the preseason No. 1, Purdue, on the ropes in San Jose. An incredible run for a team that lost five of its last six games in the regular season and barely made March Madness in the first place.
“One final comment I gave those guys in the locker room is, ‘There will come a day when I believe everybody in that locker room will watch us at Texas take this next step,’” Miller said. “In large part, when we do, a big reason is the tone that they set in our first year.”
Pope, Mark and fellow senior and guard Chendall Weaver will move to greener pastures. Swain’s future is in doubt with possible NBA talks, and in this era of college basketball, teams can be uprooted at a moment’s notice.
But you can never take down “2026 Sweet Sixteen” out of the rafters of the Moody Center in Austin.
