Texas makes 14th straight NCAA Tourney

AUSTIN (AP) - For coach Rick Barnes and the Texas Longhorns, 20 was indeed enough to keep their NCAA tournament streak going.

The Longhorns (20-13) earned their 14th consecutive NCAA tournament berth Sunday, a school record that includes every season since Barnes became coach.

Texas is the No. 11 seed with an at-large berth in the East Region and plays Cincinnati (24-10) of the Big East on Friday in Nashville, Tenn.

"I was excited when Texas got in," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Even our players clapped when Texas got in. I thought that was great. They deserve to be in."

Six Big 12 teams made the NCAA tournament.

Texas reached 20 wins for the 13th consecutive season with a 71-65 win over Iowa State, another NCAA team, in the Big 12 tournament Thursday night. That likely solidified getting the Longhorns into the NCAA tournament before they lost to league tournament champ Missouri in the semifinals the next night.

Barnes had believed all along that Texas was safely in the NCAA tournament in a season that started with the Longhorns having to replace all five starters.

Still, during halftime of the Iowa State game when his team was struggling, he told the players they had to make a choice with their play whether they wanted to go to another NCAA or the NIT instead.

The Longhorns are led by junior J'Covan Brown, the Big 12 scoring leader at 20.1 points a game.

The 14 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances tie for the fourth most behind Kansas (23), Duke (17) and Michigan State (15). Gonzaga and Wisconsin also have 14 in a row.

But Texas has failed to advance beyond the first weekend of the tournament four of the last five years, including the last three.

In last year's NCAA tournament, Texas held on for an 85-81 opening win over Oakland before a 70-69 loss to Arizona after the Wildcats completed a three-point play in the final 10 seconds.