Ranking the top five non-conference matchups for Texas men’s basketball
Marcus Carr dodges TCU players as he drives down the court.
July 28, 2022
Texas men’s basketball announced its non-conference schedule for the 2022-23 season last week. In the Moody Center’s debut season, the Longhorns will match up against a few notable programs both at home and on the road in non-conference play.
The Daily Texan compiled a list of the top five most interesting non-conference matchups for Texas men’s basketball next season:
5. Leon Black Classic
While the two opponents that Texas will take on in this year’s Leon Black Classic won’t exactly move the needle in terms of ratings, the venue locations of the event are what make it intriguing.
Texas opens the Leon Black Classic against Northern Arizona on Nov. 21 in a neutral-site matchup in Edinburg, Texas. The game will be played at Bert Ogden Arena, where the Rio Grande Valley Vipers play their NBA G-League schedule. The game against Northern Arizona will mark the first time that Texas has played a regular season game in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Longhorns’ second matchup in the Leon Black Classic will see men’s basketball return to Gregory Gymnasium against UTRGV on Nov. 26. If the student crowd duplicates the environment from last year, the bout should be a fun one to watch.
4. Creighton
Texas takes on Creighton on Dec. 1 in the Moody Center as a part of the Big 12-Big East Battle. The Longhorns will have a shot at getting their first win in the event after going 0-3 in the challenge since it originated in 2019.
The Bluejays are coming off of a season in which they went 23–12, with a 79-72 loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to eventual national champion Kansas.
Senior forward Christian Bishop will play against his former school when Texas hosts Creighton, where he spent three seasons before transferring to Texas in 2021.
3. Illinois
Right after facing Creighton, Texas matches up against Illinois on Dec. 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Jimmy V Classic.
While any time Texas plays in the Garden is noteworthy, being pit against the Fighting Illini, who were co-Big Ten regular season champions last season, makes it a must-watch event.
Texas will be less than a month away from its conference season when this game is played, meaning that the Madison Square Garden game could serve as a measuring stick for the Longhorns before Big 12 play begins.
2. Tennessee
The Longhorns will get a chance to play former Texas head coach Rick Barnes and his Tennessee Volunteers for the second year in a row on Jan. 28 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The last time the two programs paired up resulted in a thrilling 52-51 Texas victory in front of a sold-out Frank Erwin Center.
While the storyline of Texas facing its old coach loses a little bit of luster when the game is played in Knoxville, the Tennessee faithful are likely to pack the Thompson-Boling Arena in hopes of getting revenge for last year’s loss.
As a team that largely struggled on the road last season, the Tennessee game serves as Texas’ only true road game in non-conference play.
1. Gonzaga
With respect to UTEP and Houston Baptist, Texas’ contest against the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Nov. 16 will serve as the first marquee sporting event to be played in the Moody Center. The Gonzaga game will likely be Texas’ only chance to see a sold-out Moody Center before conference play begins, with the rest of the Longhorns’ top non-conference games taking place away from Austin.
Last season, Gonzaga finished 28–4 and earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Although the Bulldogs lost star power in the NBA Draft with the departure of forward Chet Holmgren, they can still expect to have one of the best rosters in the country. Center Drew Timme, who torched the Longhorns for 37 points in last season’s matchup, will return for his senior season.
While the first game of the home-and-home series slipped well out of Texas’ reach last season, an early win against the Bulldogs this time around would set the Longhorns up nicely in the early-season rankings.
