How sleep-deprived, rebound-hungry Texas orchestrated a convincing upset win over BYU in the NCAA Tournament

Published: March 19, 2026, 9:42 p.m. MDT

Texas head coach Sean Miller calls out to his players during a first-round college basketball game against BYU in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Jackson has been writing about sports for the Deseret News since 2023.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Texas was already motivated for its NCAA Tournament date with BYU, but looking into the stands before Thursday’s game added even more fuel to the fire.

The Moda Center in Portland was covered in BYU blue, as Cougar fans vastly outnumbered the Longhorn faithful. It was essentially a road game for Texas — but Dailyn Swain and his teammates turned that into an advantage for them.

“Being an underdog in terms of attendance of your fans, it adds an extra chip on your shoulder,” Swain said. “We were already motivated to come out and win this game. When we saw how many of their fans showed up, how they had the crowd on their side, I think it was just some added motivation, and we handled it well.”

BYU head coach Kevin Young looks to the floor as a play unfolds against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer to end the first half during a first-round college basketball game against BYU in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU center Keba Keita (13) dunks the ball against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) talks with his teammates as they huddle during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) lays the ball up past Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives the ball toward the basket while guarded by Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) gestures to his teammates as he brings the ball up the court during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU head coach Kevin Young calls out to his players during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

The ball bobbles in the hands of BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) as he drives toward the basket between Texas guard Tramon Mark, left, and guard Jordan Pope, right, during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) defends Texas guard Jordan Pope (0) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU fans cheer after a play against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) reacts to a referee’s call during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) goes up for a dunk against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Richie Saunders looks to fans offering items for him to sign before a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) lays the ball up past Texas guard Jordan Pope (0) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Texas fans cheer at the end of the first half during a first-round college basketball game against BYU in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) goes up for a shot against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Aleksej Kostić (6) lays the ball up while guarded by Texas forward Camden Heide (5) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) reacts to a referee’s call as he stands beside Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) controls the ball while guarded by Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) listens to head coach Kevin Young during a timeout in a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU center Keba Keita (13) guards Texas center Matas Vokietaitis (8) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) lays the ball up past Texas defenders during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) guards Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) drives the ball to the basket past Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) dunks the ball during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

A BYU fan reacts after a play against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU fans react to a goaltending call during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) calls out to his teammates as they get back on defense against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU center Keba Keita (13) fouls Texas center Matas Vokietaitis (8) on his shot after he made an offensive rebound during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) grimaces after being roughed up on a play against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) guards Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) falls back after being fouled by Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) gestures to the crowd after the Cougars were eliminated by Texas 79-71 in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Texas forward Dailyn Swain (3) controls the ball while guarded by BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

A shot from BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) is blocked by Texas guard Tramon Mark (12) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) takes a jump-shot during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Robert Wright III (1) looks to the scoreboard as he huddles with his teammates between the action against Texas during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) lays the ball up while guarded by Texas guard Chendall Weaver (2) and center Matas Vokietaitis (8) during a first-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) recovers a loose ball during a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Ben Bringhurst, of Provo, uses his phone as he waits before a first-round college basketball game between BYU and Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

A BYU fan sports an AJ Dybantsa jacket as he and others walk around before a first-round college basketball game between BYU and Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa warms up with assistant coach John Linehan before a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU fans walk by the Moda Center before a first-round college basketball game between BYU and Texas in the NCAA Tournament held in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa takes a jump-shot as he warms up before a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

BYU forward AJ Dybantsa huddles with coaches and players during warmups before a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Fan attendance was BYU’s only win of the night. No. 11-seeded Texas stunned the Cougars with a 79-71 upset victory, leading for more than 39 minutes of play and sending BYU home winless in the big dance.

“I’m beyond thrilled to be able to advance and have the opportunity to play into the next round,” Texas head coach Sean Miller told reporters after the game. “One word I would use to describe our group is ‘resilient,’ nothing has ever been easy for us.

“... As we entered this tournament in Dayton, I think all of us really came to grips with really going out playing at the highest level we can, sticking together. I think the last couple of games, from a defensive perspective, is about as good as we’ve done all year. When you connect the defense with the offense that we’ve played, you have a team that’s certainly dangerous. That’s what I would call us right now.”

Much was made pregame regarding potential exhaustion for the Longhorns, who would be playing in their second do-or-die tournament contest in the past 48 hours, in addition to taking a red eye cross country flight into Portland Wednesday morning.

But Texas looked anything but sluggish against BYU, jumping out to a 8-2 start and averaging more than 1.3 points per possession in the first half.

“I mean, we were fired up no matter what the circumstances were. We came out here to win. That’s exactly what we did,” Texas guard Tramon Mark said.

“We didn’t get much sleep, but we got enough sleep to win the game, and that’s all that matters.”

3 takeaways from BYU’s NCAA Tournament loss to Texas

The Longhorns’ road to victory Thursday was paved by rebounding, as they grabbed 16 offensive boards on the night and won the overall board battle by a 40-31 margin.

Texas center Matas Vokietaitis matched BYU’s team rebound total (11) on his own in the first half, ending with 23 points and 16 collections from the glass.

“They’re a very good rebounding team,” Miller said of BYU. “A big part of their success this year in a great conference like the Big 12 is they rebound — offensive rebound, defensive rebound. We talked a lot to these guys the last day and a half, that you can kind of get caught up in AJ (Dybantsa), the great player he is, and focus sometimes on the wrong things. The biggest point going into the game is we had to rebound.

“I thought Matas set the tone. We had 40 rebounds, 16 offensive. They had eight offensive, and a total of 31. The 40 to 31 discrepancy clearly is a big reason we were able to win. Matas had a lot to do with that.”

As for Dybantsa, the Cougars’ freshman phenom did post 35 points in his NCAA Tournament debut, but the rest of his teammates combined for just 36 additional points, denying Dybantsa the help he needed to succeed.

“The key for us, in addition to just (Dybantsa), is not allowing everybody else to join in (scoring),” Miller said of defending BYU. “That truly was our true game plan, and taking away the 3-point shot.

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“We knew (Dybantsa) was going to score. We just wanted to make sure we did a great job rebounding, and we did as good of a job as we could guarding the rest of the group. I think that’s really why we were able to win.”

The Longhorns, who had dropped five of their final six games prior to selection Sunday, are now 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve broken thousands of brackets worldwide, but more importantly, they’ve proven capable of going even further, beginning with Saturday’s round of 32 matchup with either Gonzaga or Kennesaw State.

“We didn’t end the season how we wanted to. We never folded, never gave up on each other. I think it made us closer,” Swain said.

“I feel that built our chemistry and that’s what’s making us a pretty dangerous team right now.”

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