HOW THEY GOT HERE: The Longhorns earned an at-large bid after going 13-3 in the rugged Big 12 and then advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Sycamores also earned an at-large -- their first NCAA invitation since 1979. Indiana State went 14-4 to win the Missouri Valley Conference's regular season title before getting upset in the second round of the conference tournament. As a No. 12 seed, the Sycamores were one of the final at-large teams to get in.COACHES: Texas' Rick Barnes has plenty of NCAA tourney experience. Unfortunately for him, most of it is bad. This will be Barnes' eighth time in the tourney as a head coach -- three times with Providence, three times with Clemson and twice, now, with Texas. His teams got past the first round just once -- in 1997 when No. 2 ranked Clemson was upset after getting to the Sweet 16. . . . Royce Waltman won nearly 200 games at DePauw before taking over the Indiana State program three years ago. He's 53-32 at ISU. This is his first trip to the "Big Dance" as a coach.
KEYS TO THE GAME: In 7-foot center Chris Mihm, the Longhorns have perhaps the most dominating big man in college basketball. The Sycamores, meanwhile, are undersized, starting a 6-7 center, Djibril Kante. ISU will likely have to double and even triple-team Mihm in the post. That may mean that Texas' inconsistent guards will be the difference. If Darren Kelly, Ivan Wagner and William Clay are on -- as they have been in the majority of the Longhorns' big wins this year -- it could be a long night for ISU. But if they have a rough night -- like that have in the majority of Texas' losses -- an upset could be in the making. Nate Green, meanwhile, will have to come up big, like he has all season, for the Sycamores to advance. Green is the MVC player and defensive player of the year, only the second time in league history someone has earned both honors in the same season. Green leads the team in scoring, assists, blocked shots and steals and is second in rebounding. The last Indiana State player to earn MVC player of the year honors, by the way, was a guy named Larry Bird.
STYLES: Indiana State is patient. They like to use much of the shot clock on every possession and then play in-your-face defense and they make it tough for opponents to get fast-breaks going. Seven times this season the Sycamores have won games in which they scored fewer than 60 points and opponents averaged just 63.2 points against them. The Longhorns, meanwhile, are an athletic team that likes to push the ball up the court whenever possible. Still, they are no slouches should it turn into a halfcourt game with Mihm and 6-7 Gabe Muoneke in the post. Texas is also strong defensively, limiting opponents to just 38.9 percent shooting this season.
NOTABLE: Indiana State's last game in the NCAA Tournament -- 21 years ago -- was the same building as Thursday's battle. Back when the Huntsman Center was known as the Special Events Center, the Bird-led Sycamores lost their only contest of the season to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the national title game . . . Texas went 16-0 when holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting. The 'Horns allowed only three opponents to shoot better than 47 percent from the field . . . Both teams start with three-guard lineups . . . Indiana State's most impressive win this season was a 63-60 victory over instate-rival Indiana . . . Texas has the advantage of having played in the Huntsman Center this year -- although they lost in a late-night Big Monday game to the Utes . . . The Sycamores and the Longhorns have no common opponents this season.
Texas
No. Starters Pos. Year Ht. Wt. ppg. rpg. apg.
3 Gabe Muoneke F Sr. 6-7 250 13.6 6.3 1.9
4 Chris Mihm C Jr. 7-0 262 17.8 10.4 0.7
25 Darren Kelly G Jr. 6-3 185 10.1 2.8 2.5
5 Ivan Wagner G Sr. 6-1 195 8.9 3.2 4.6
23 William Clay G Sr. 6-2 190 8.0 3.5 1.6
No. Reserves Pos. Year Ht. Wt. ppg. rpg. apg.
20 Chris Owens F So. 6-8 237 9.3 5.4 0.5
22 Lawrence Williams G Jr. 6-1 190 5.1 1.7 1.1
21 Chris McColpin G Jr. 6-0 190 1.9 0.5 1.2
45 Chris Ogden F Fr. 6-7 215 1.8 11.2 0.8
1 Roosevelt Brown G Fr. 6-3 180 1.5 0.2 0.1
2 William Wyatt F Fr. 6-3 220 0.7 1.4 0.3
10 Yair Harari G Fr. 6-1 175 0.3 0.0 0.2
Indiana State
No. Starters Pos. Year Ht. Wt. ppg. rpg. apg.
32 Matt Renn F Jr. 6-6 205 10.8 7.3 2.1
3 Djibril Kante C So. 6-7 235 3.9 3.5 0.3
4 Nate Green G Sr. 6-5 195 14.1 5.0 4.3
5 Michael Menser G Jr. 5-11 160 10.7 2.9 2.6
14 Kelyn Block G So. 6-2 200 10.6 2.6 1.4
No. Reserves Pos. Year Ht. Wt. ppg. rpg. apg.
34 Abasi Thompson G/F Sr. 6-5 205 6.1 3.7 0.8
42 Brian Giesen G/F Jr. 6-9 230 4.4 3.2 0.4
31 Terence Avery C Sr. 6-6 240 3.4 1.3 0.1
40 Matt Broermann G/F Fr. 6-5 190 3.0 0.8 0.5
55 Ben Anderson C C 6-6 240 0.5 1.0 0.1