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Texas men’s basketball finalizes schedule with Connecticut, will host defending champs

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Texas men’s basketball finalizes schedule with Connecticut, will host defending champs

Texas men’s basketball finalized its contract Tuesday to bring two-time defending national champion Connecticut to Moody Center on Dec. 8 for a marquee nonconference matchup.

As first reported by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein and confirmed to the American-Statesman in May, Texas will play the Huskies in a home-and-home series over the next two seasons. This upcoming season’s meeting will take place on a Sunday a month into the 2024-25 campaign and give the Longhorns a high-profile nonconference contest on their home court.

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A tip time and television network coverage for this year’s game in Austin will be announced at a later date.

The 2025 meeting will take place Dec. 12 at Connecticut.

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Last season’s nonconference schedule didn’t include a home games against such an opponent, much to the dismay of some season-ticket holders as well as the analysts who use strength of schedule to help rate teams on a national basis. Texas head coach Rodney Terry vowed after last season’s nonconference slate to upgrade his team’s home schedule.

“At Texas, we’re going to have a marquee game or two at home, always,” he said in January. “This year, we weren’t able to have one of those. But moving forward, we will always have a great home-and-home series.”

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In the 2023-24 season, Connecticut beat Texas 81-71 at the Empire Classic in New York City in November.

Texas still has some compelling neutral-site games scheduled for next season. The Longhorns will open the year on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas against Ohio State pending a final agreement, a UT source confirmed to the American-Statesman last month.

The Longhorns already know they will play in the 2024 Legends Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Nov. 21-22 along with Syracuse, Saint Joseph’s and Texas Tech. Semifinal pairings and television coverage in that event will be announced later. They also know who they will compete against in an 18-game conference schedule in their first season in the SEC.

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