NEW ORLEANS, La. – University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball qualified for the 2026 RRAC Men's Basketball Tournament that begins February 24 – March 1. The Trailblazers (11-15, 10-12 RRAC) clinched No. 6 Seed in their first year in the Red River Athletic Conference and will play at No. 3 Seed Xavier University of Louisiana (19-9, 15-7 RRAC) on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m.
 
IMPORTANT LINKS FOR TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
Ticket Link
Video Link
Live stats
Tournament Central
 
UNT DALLAS MEDIA
Untdathletics.com
Untdathletics (Instagram)
Untdallas.mbb (Instagram)
UNTD Athletics (@UNTDAthletics – X)
 
QUARTERFINAL ROUND
The Trailblazers travel to New Orleans for a first-round matchup with Xavier (La.). These teams split during the regular season with the road team winning each time. The Trailblazers prevailed 77-73 on January 31 at the Convocation Center.
 
DaRyan Williams (Austin, Texas) led the team with 20 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) also had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Dreyon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) added 13 points and his brother Demaryon Thornton (Chicago, Ill.) had nine. Anthony Hunter (Fort Worth, Texas) chipped in eight points.
 
Leon Williams and Nasir DeGruy led the Gold Rush with 15 and 14 points, respectively in that home contest for XULA.
 
UNTD Season Stats
XULA Season Stats
 
WHAT THE RED RIVER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE SAYS
"UNTD, the sixth seed, has an 11-15 overall record and finished 10-12 in the RRAC. The Trailblazers are coached by Josh Howard, now in his sixth season.
 
The Trailblazers have scored 1803 points, averaging 69.3 per game. They made 623-of-1544 field goals, 142-of-517 three-pointers, and 415-of-629 free throws. The team has 1057 rebounds, 337 assists, 178 steals, and 76 blocks.
 
Greg Crawford leads UNTD with 109-of-234 field goals, 178-of-260 free throws, totaling 400 points (15.4 per game), and also leads with 270 rebounds, 66 assists, and 28 steals. Demaryon Thornton leads in three-pointers with 43-of-133, and DaRyan Williams has 28 blocks.
 
UNTD and XULA split their games this season, with scores of 62-73 and 77-73." (RRAC Men's Basketball Tournament Preview)
 
WORD FROM THE PRO
Sixth-Year Head Coach Josh Howard is a former NBA All-Star and First Round Draft Pick. He has played in plenty of postseason environments and was part of the 2006 NBA Finals Team that the Dallas Mavericks reached.
 
"I am looking forward to our first appearance in the RRAC Conference Tournament," Coach Howard exclaimed. "I am looking forward to the experience."
 
TRAILBLAZER TIDBITS
- Greg Crawford is tied for fifth in NAIA for rebounds-per-game with 10.2. That mark leads the RRAC.
- Orion Virden (Pine Bluff, Ark.) is the highest scorer the past five games for the Trailblazers by surpassing double figures each time. He scored a season-best 17 points against Louisiana Christian on "Senior Day."
- Demaryon Thornton has been part of three Trailblazer teams that qualified for a conference tournament game. He had seven points in 2025 Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Round. 
- The Trailblazers are 0-2 in conference tournament games, both with the SAC in 2021-22 and 2024-25. UNTD was 10th seed in 2021-22 and lost to Mid-America Christian (83-72). UNTD was the 8th seed in 2024-25 and lost to Nelson (82-65).
 
LAST TIME OUT
UNT Dallas enjoyed Senior Day with an 82-62 victory over Louisiana Christian at Trinity Leadership Public School. It ended a two-game slide and ensured the No. 6 seed is what the team earned. The team is 4-10 on the road this season but did pick up one of them at New Orleans.
 
Xavier (La.) is on a hot streak with three straight wins including an 88-84 victory over RRAC Regular Season Champion LSU-Shreveport two weeks ago. The Gold Rush swept Texas College and Jarvis Christian at home this past week to improve to 10-4 at the friendly confines.
 
UP NEXT
The winning team will advance to the RRAC semifinals at Alexandria's Laborde Earles Coliseum, formerly the Rapides Parish Coliseum. The winner of this matchup goes against the winner of LSU-Alexandria and Jarvis Christian University on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 5:30 p.m.
 
The winner of the semifinals will play on Sunday, March 1, at 4:30 p.m.
 
The 88th Annual Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Rounds are on March 13-14 at various campus sites. The final rounds will be held March 19-24 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The tournament champion or runner-up will earn an automatic bid to nationals. LSUS has already clinched an automatic bid as the Regular Season Champion, so winning the tournament would allow the runner-up team to also qualify.