Texas Beats Zags 87-77 to get shot at UConn (all 2023 teams)

 We previewed this 2023 rematch and the results were the same.

Early that season Texas was favored by 4 at home against Gonzaga, which would go to the Final 4, but instead blew them away 93-74.

In our Value Add Basketball Game tonight that Texas team was a 1-point favorite on a neutral court (you know this by Texas rating being a -1 and Gonzaga being a -2). Once again they won much easier than expected, with an 87-77 win.

With both teams hitting shots, two Longhorns may have been the difference on defense. As you can find on the scoresheet below, Marcus Carr had five steals including two on plays that we know from the dice would have been made 3-pointers for the Zags against many defenders. 

At the rim, backup center and former Creighton player Christian Bishop had five blocked shots despite just playing possessions 44 to 27.

Texas now needs to play the champion from that season, UConn and the Huskies will be an 11-point favorite from a season where they won all six tournament games by double figures.

,Only two games are left before we are down to our Sweet 16 for this tournament, as you can see from the bracket below. The bracket shows Texas as ranked as the 71st all-time great team in our game, but this win to take them to 3-0 will actually move them up to 55th when we recalculate before the Sweet 16 games. The UConn 2023 national champs currently rank as the 7th greatest team in our game.