No. 2 seed Texas tops Colgate 81-61 behind Rice’s 7 made 3s

DES MOINES,Iowa (AP) — Sir’Jabari Rice, reflecting on the career-high seven3-pointers he made for Texas, was asked by a reporter when he lastfelt that confident.

“I don’tnecessarily feel hot, because I missed three,” Rice said with astraight face as teammate Marcus Carr doubled over in laughter nextto him at the podium. “But I’m just trying to keep it going.”

The No. 2seed Longhorns are off to a strong start.

Rice scored23 points and Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournamenton Thursdaynight.

Carr finishedwith 17 points and Dylan Disu had 17 points and nine rebounds forthe Longhorns (17-8), who shot 13 for 23 from 3-point range to beatthe Raiders at their own game. Texas will play 10th-seeded PennState in the second round on Saturday in the Midwest Region.

“We’refortunate to get a real game the first game of the tournament.Colgate is an elite, legit team. We won by 20, but it felt like wereally won by five or seven,” said Timmy Allen, who returned from aleg injury that kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament.

In anotherinspired performance underinterim coach Rodney Terry, hisfirst NCAA Tournament win as a head coach, Rice and the Longhornspicked the perfect time to get hot on the perimeter against thenation’s leading outside shooting team. They matched their seasonbest for 3-pointers made.

“I just feelevery single guy that walked on the court today had a game plan,”Carr said. “The coaches had us prepared, and we executed.”

The Raiders(26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless andlong-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% beforethe tournament. The leading individual 3-point shooter in thecountry, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50% shooterfrom long range this season.

“They couldbeat us with 3s, but they were going to have a hard time beating uswith 2s,” Terry said.

KeeganRecords and Ryan Moffatt each scored 13 points for the 15th-seededRaiders, who have not won an NCAA Tournament game in sixappearances. Tucker Richardson, the Patriot League Player of theYear, had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting.

“Especiallythose guards when they’ve got Rice in there as a third guard,they’re just really quick,” Richardson said. “It’s kind of hard forus to get open.”

With most ofthe fans in Wells Fargo Arena rooting for the upset, the Longhornsadjusted to Colgate’s second-half zone defense and never let thelead get smaller than seven points.

About an hourbefore Texas took the court, No. 2 seed Arizona wasousted by Princetonin theWest Region. The Tigers became the 11th team seeded 15th to win afirst-round gamein 149 triesandthe third in three years.

The Longhornsplayed hard enough — and shot well enough — to make sure theydidn’t land on that list.

After drivinghard toward the block, Carr kicked the ball back out to the top ofthe key to set upRice’s fourth 3-pointerfor a 29-17lead. As the calm and deliberate Rice flashed a sheepish smile,Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down onthe retreat for defense.

Rice, thelanky super sub and graduate transfer from New Mexico State who isaiming to play in the Final Four in his native Houston, went 8 for14 from the field.

“He’s as goodof an overall basketball player as I’ve seen all year — hisintelligence, his IQ, his poise, his defense, his recognition ofhis teammates, but his ability to step up,” Colgate coach MattLangel said.

The Longhornshavecome a long waysince coachChris Beard was arrested on a later-dropped domestic violencecharge and fired soon after that.

They hit theNCAA Tournament in stride under Terry’s even-keeled guidance withtwo decisive wins over Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 championand No. 1 seed in the West Region, that included the conferencechampionship.

TheseLonghorns have a strong bond that has carried them to the verge ofa trip to the tournament’s second weekend for the first time since2008. The last Final Four for Texas was in 2003, when Terry was anassistant under coach Rick Barnes.

“I think weprepare really well, better than a lot of teams in the country,”Rice said. “I think we’re really locked into the details and lockedinto the things that we have to do to win.”