Texas @ Nevada preview

Texas overcame a ton of adversity to get back to the NCAA Tournament. The 10th-seeded Longhorns' reward is trying to stop seventh-seeded Nevada's high-powered offense in the first round of the South Region in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday.

The regular-season Mountain West Conference champs feature four players in double figures who all have NCAA Tournament experience with the Wolf Pack or their former teams. Twins Caleb and Cody Martin combine for 32.7 points and 11.6 rebounds for Nevada, which is looking for its first NCAA Tournament win since 2007. The Longhorns' up-and-down season included playing without Andrew Jones (diagnosed with leukemia in January) and consistent bench contributor Eric Davis Jr. (withheld during investigation since Feb. 23). The young Texas team - which played four freshmen in its seven-man rotation in Thursday's loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 quarterfinals - got 6-11 freshman forward Mohamed Bamba back after he missed three games with a toe injury.

TV: 4:20 p.m. ET, TBS

ABOUT TEXAS (19-14): Junior forward Dylan Osetkowsi leads the Longhorns with 13.6 points and 7.1 rebounds, while junior guard Kerwin Roach II adds 11.9 points and 3.7 rebounds. Bamba chips in 12.9 points to go along with a Big 12-best 10.4 rebounds and 3.7 blocks. Freshman guard Matt Coleman (9.7 points, 4.1 assists) has been solid all year, while freshman forward Jericho Sims (5.1 points, 3.9 rebounds) and sophomore guard Jacob Young (6.2 points, including a career-high 29 points on Thursday) increased their production down the stretch with more minutes.

ABOUT NEVADA (27-7): Junior Caleb Martin averages 19.1 points while Cody Martin adds 13.6 points for the Wolf Park, who won 12 road games while going 1-2 in neutral games. Junior wing Jordan Caroline adds 17.9 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds, while senior guard Kendall Stephens adds 13.2 points after hitting a league-record 73 3-pointers in Mountain West play. The Wolf Pack, who average 9.9 turnovers per game, are coming off their worst game of the season in Friday's 90-73 loss to San Diego State, allowing the eventual Mountain West Tournament champs to shoot 51.9 percent from the floor.

TIP-INS

1. Texas is one of six schools to appear in at least 26 of past 30 NCAA Tournaments.

2. Nevada is one of five teams nationally without a double-digit loss during the regular season.

3. Stephens (single-season school-record 118 made 3-pointers) and Caleb Martin (89) combined for the second most 3-pointers (207) by a pair of teammates this season (Marquette's Andrew Rousey and Markus Howard, 212).

PREDICTION: Nevada 75, Texas 68