March Madness: No. 2 Texas cruises past Xavier, enters Elite Eight as NCAA tournament's top remaining seed

This was unexpected.

No. 2 seed Texas cruised past No. 3 Xavier for an 83-71 win on Friday to advance to the Elite Eight. There, it will arrive as the highest-seeded team remaining in the NCAA tournament.

Prior to the Texas-Xavier tip, Alabama and Houston both lost. They joined fellow No. 1 seeds Purdue and Kansas with early exits from NCAA play. No. 2 seeds UCLA, Arizona and Marquette also fell short of the regional finals, leaving Texas as the lone survivor from the tournament's top eight teams. No. 3 seeds Gonzaga and Kansas State are the next-highest seeded teams in what projects as a wide-open final three rounds of tournament play.

Based on Friday's result, Texas is a strong contender. The Longhorns scored the game's first bucket and led 20-12 midway through the first half. They piled on before halftime with a halfcourt buzzer-beater from Timmy Allen to take a 42-25 edge into the second half.

A stout Longhorns defense held the Big East's highest-scoring team to its worst shooting half of the season (27.3%). The Musketeers didn't mount much of a challenge after halftime. They found more room to operate, but Texas kept its foot on the gas on offense, squashing any hope of a Musketeers rally.

Like much of the rest of the Elite Eight, Texas has advanced this far thanks in large part to its defense. It entered Sunday ranked 10th in the nation in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency. It held Xavier to 42.9% shooting from the field while forcing 12 turnovers. This was a Xavier team that averaged 81.2 points per game and ranked eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency entering Friday's game.

Texas brought an offense to match. It ranked 15th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency prior to Friday and finished the game shooting 52.5% from the field and 58.3% (7 of 12) from 3-point distance. Five players scored in double figures, including Christian Bishop (18 points, nine rebounds) and Sir'Jabari Rice (16 points, three assists) off the bench. Tyrese Hunter led the way with 19 points, while All-Big 12 guard Marcus Carr added 18 points and six assists.

The win further validates the tenure of interim head coach Rodney Terry, who took the program over after the suspension of then-head coach Chris Beard in December because of a domestic violence charge that was later dropped. Texas fired Beard on Jan. 5, and Terry has remained the interim coach. The Longhorns were 8-1 and ranked No. 7 in the nation at the time of Beard's suspension.

Terry has since led Texas through the entirety of the Big 12 slate, where it secured a second-place finish in the regular season's toughest conference. Instead of spiraling in the aftermath of Beard's tumultuous exit, the Longhorns thrived en route to winning the Big 12 tournament and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Terry has maintained his interim tag throughout the run, a status he could force Texas to consider with a Final Four run.

Texas is a win away from its first Final Four since 2003. No. 5 seed Miami stands in its way on Sunday in the Midwest regional final.