For most of the eight players in the Texas basketball team's rotation, stepping onto the court of an NCAA Tournament game will feel familiar on Thursday.

But for graduate guard Ithiel Horton and sophomore guard Chendall Weaver, Thursday’s NCAA opener against Colorado State will offer a new — and very welcomed — experience. Both transferred to Texas this past offseason, and both cited the opportunity to compete on college basketball’s biggest stage as one of the biggest reasons for joining the Longhorns.

“I can’t wait,” Horton said after Texas’ wrenching 78-74 loss to Kansas State in last week’s Big 12 Tournament. “I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve been waiting for this all year.”

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Ithiel Horton: Long March Madness wait is over

Horton, 23, has waited longer than anyone else. He's playing on his fourth team in five years and has suited up for 134 games on a meandering path in previous stops at Delaware, Pittsburgh and Central Florida. He said an appearance in the NCAA Tournament provides a fitting cap to his collegiate career, whether that ends this weekend in Charlotte or somewhere else down the NCAA road.

Texas' 6-foot-5 wing has had his ups and downs this season but seems to be peaking at the right time. In that loss to Kansas State, he played 32 minutes — his most since January — and scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also pulled down five rebounds and provided a defensive spark, which didn’t go unnoticed by the Texas coaching staff.

“IT (Horton) has been playing really hard for us over the last couple games defensively,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said after the Kansas State game. “He made some shots tonight, which is great. And he was aggressive, in attack-mode offensively. I thought he gave us a great lift.”

A similar performance from Horton could help lift the No. 7-seeded Longhorns (20-12) to a first-round NCAA win for a third consecutive season, said forward Dylan Disu.

“Honestly, he had an amazing game,” said Disu, a first-team All-Big 12 forward. “And that's what we've been looking for from him. It’s just about shooting the ball confidently, playing confidently, playing aggressively, and that's what he did. And if he continues to play like that, we will be in a great position.”

Disu, who’s played in five NCAA Tournament games over the past two seasons, also gave a bit of advice to his fellow graduate student about the March Madness experience.

“It's great, it's fun,” Disu said. “He’ll have a great time. It'll be something like he's never experienced, but I’d say just be himself. Do that, and we’ll be good.”

Horton plans to do just that, especially after the bitter feeing of falling in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

“Now we’re playing in the big dance,” he said. “Coach said the only thing we got is 40 minutes guaranteed, and we don’t want this feeling again. It should definitely motivate and inspire us to not feel like this again.”

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Texas Longhorns: Lots of NCAA experience

And how does the rest of the roster look when it comes to the NCAA Tournament? Fairly seasoned, especially coming off a run to the Elite Eight a year ago.

Graduate forward Brock Cunningham, Texas’ all-time leader in games played with 145, will play in his eighth tournament game this week. Same with junior guard Tyrese Hunter, who started three tournament games for Iowa State as a freshman in 2022 and four more last season.

Sophomore forward Dillon Mitchell also started all four tournament games for Texas a year ago, and graduate guard Max Abmas played in four tournament games in four seasons at Oral Roberts before arriving in Austin in the summer.

Forward Kadin Shedrick, a Virginia transfer in the offseason, played in one tournament game during his time with the Cavaliers.

Abmas, who now ranks eighth on the NCAA’s all-time Division I scoring list with 3,109 points, introduced himself to the college basketball world in 2021 by scoring at least 25 points in three straight games during Oral Roberts’ Cinderella run to the Sweet 16. Oral Roberts missed the 2022 NCAA Tournament, and Abmas had an off game with just 12 points in a round-one loss to Duke a year ago.

“I'm excited,” Abmas said. “To have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament, it's the reason I came to Texas. You work all summer and all fall for this moment right here, for March Madness. So we're just doing everything we can to prepare ourselves for the game.”

And much like Disu, Abmas hopes Weaver and Horton take a deep breath and appreciate the magic of March.

“I mean, there's nothing like your first time in March Madness, to kind of experience everything,” he said. “But really, just go out there and be yourself. Don’t overthink it too much. We've been playing high-level basketball all year even though the stakes are much higher now, for sure. Just stay in the moment and enjoy it.”

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Thursday's NCAA opener

No. 7 Texas (20-12) vs. No. 10 Colorado State (25-10), Charlotte, N.C., 5:50 p.m., TNT, 1300

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball's Ithiel Horton excited for NCAA Tournament debut