Shaka Smart is returning next season for a fifth year as Texas men’s basketball coach after the Longhorns won their last five games and turned a 16-16 record into a 21-16 season capped by winning the National Invitation Tournament, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte confirmed to Horns247 Thursday night.

The Longhorns defeated Lipscomb 81-66 at Madison Square Garden to win the program's first NIT title since 1978.

“We’re not where we want to be,” Del Conte told Horns247. “But we're making progress. Our goal is to win the NCAA championship. But we won the NIT championship, and that locker room is cohesive.

"I’m happy and excited for Shaka and our players. Very rarely do you get to win your last game of the season, and we did that tonight."



Smart's job security became a hot topic toward the end of the Longhorns' regular season, when Texas lost five of six, including a home game against TCU in the regular-season finale as well as a first-round Big 12 tournament loss to Kansas to fall to 16-16 (8-10 in Big 12 play). The Longhorns missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three years under Smart after being passed over for one of 36 at-large bids.

The biggest piece of job security for Smart at that time was the $13 million remaining on the final four years of a fully-guaranteed contract at Texas. But the Longhorns' NIT championship run in which Texas played its best defense of the year, holding its five opponents (South Dakota State, Xavier, Colorado, TCU and Lipscomb) to an average of 62.8 points per game, is now the prevailing reason Smart is returning.

Smart is 71-66 overall in four seasons at Texas and 31-41 in Big 12 play with an 0-2 record in the NCAA Tournament and one NIT championship.

The Longhorns will lose their top two leading scorers from this year's team — seniors Kerwin Roach (15.0 points per game) and Dylan Osetkowski (10.9 points, 7.1 rebounds per game) — and could lose their third-leading scorer, Big 12 Freshman of the Year Jaxson Hayes (10.0 points per game), who is considered a potential lottery pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

If those three move on, the Longhorns' nucleus next season would be guards Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey, wing Jase Febres and forward Jericho Sims.

The 2019 recruiting class for Texas is ranked No. 13 in the country, according to 247Sports, and includes five-star, 7-footer Will Baker of Austin Westlake; four-star, 6-foot-10-inch forward Kai Jones of Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire); and four-star, 6-foot-5 shooting guard Donovan Williams of Fort Bend Elkins.

All three are top 70 prospects nationally in the 2019 class.

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Texas also remains in the mix for five-star forward Jaden McDaniels (Federal Way, Wash.). The McDonald's All-American and the No. 5 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings took an official visit to Texas on Nov. 2, 2018.