Jeff Howe

Miller said Chendall Weaver is a throwback player because he's coming to the end of his career as a Texas kid who loves his program and his university. "Every game he's playing right now can be his last," Miller said. "There's a healthy dose of desperation with a kid like Chendall."

Tramon Mark's recovery from shoulder surgery meant Texas was being judged through January while trying to get familiar with each other and figuring out how the pieces fit. "Maybe it took us longer," Miller said. "The journey for us, where we started in late March, early April, is very different from what I hope it'll be moving forward.

On what's changed with the Longhorns in recent weeks, Miller goes back to last spring and the challenges he faced trying to put the roster together. "You have to build your team in about a 4-6 week period of time," he said, adding that a lot of the key decisions had to be made in a 14-day window.

The time between the end of the SEC Tournament and leaving for Dayton, Miller believes, the Longhorns matured a lot. "I hope we're not in that predicament any time soon," Miller said. "But we handled it really well."

Miller believes Texas has gotten better at closing out on 3-point shots, but he doesn't have a great answer for why the Longhorns have been much better defending 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament compared to the rest of the season.

"The other part with Matas is that he can really put fouls on the other team," Miller said. Matas' ability to get Purdue's bigs to commit fouls is a huge factor on Thursday, he added.

Matas scores in a lot of different ways. Miller specifically mentioned that second shots off offensive rebounds and running the floor in transition are opportunities where Matas needs to score.

Swain cutting down on his turnovers has made a huge difference in Texas' ability to get into a flow on offense. Swain had a combined 12 assists and one turnover in the wins over BYU and Gonzaga.

Miller said Dailyn Swain came up in basketball as a pass-first guy. He's always had a gift for being a facilitator and playmaker who can set guys up, Miller said.

Texas has been more efficient lately when playing Matas and Nic Codie together. Miller said they'll explore more of that against Purdue.

Purdue's tendency to play with two big men on the floor gives the Boilermakers an advantage in offensive rebounding (Purdue is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country and gets a lot of second-chance scoring opportunities). "When Purdue misses, we can't let them kill us on the glass," Miller said.

On Purdue's Braden Smith, Miller said it's remarkable that he broke Bobby Hurley's NCAA assist record, which had stood for more than 30 years. "He's a big, big part of why Purdue is so great offensively," Miller said.

Miller believes Jordan Pope will be fine. He was able to get treatment for his ankle yesterday since the team had the day off.

Miller believes the officiating crews in the NCAA Tournament do let a little bit more slide in terms of calling fouls. Still, Miller said the Longhorns have gotten better about not fouling and avoiding some of the kinds of fouls they committed earlier in the season.

Miller: "We're looking forward to our trip to San Jose. Certainly, a hard-earned trip by our players, our coaches and our staff."

This is the first time since 2004, and the fifth time ever, that Texas has had the men's and women's teams reach the Sweet 16 in the same season.

I'm on a Zoom call with Sean Miller ahead of Texas taking on Purdue in the West Regional semifinal on Thursday (6:10 p.m., CBS). This will be the only time Miller or the Longhorns meet with the media before Tuesday's departure for San Jose.

He's not shooting it as much as he did last year at Cincinnati or his sophomore season at Texas. Still, 3.0 assists per game are a career high and 2.1 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game is right where he's been in his career. The outside shot never came (he's 0-for-14 from three this season).

FINAL: Texas 100, Oregon 58 The Longhorns defeat the Ducks to advance to the Sweet 16.

Texas 90, Oregon 53 3:50 to go, 4Q

She's played eight minutes.

HALFTIME: Texas 45, Oregon 34

A corner three right before the buzzer allows Oregon to cut it to 11 at halftime.

Oregon is 2 for its last 10 from the field. Texas has really tightened up defensively after a good start by the Ducks.

Texas has a 44-31 lead. Booker heads to the line with 22.8 seconds left in the half.