AUSTIN — Texas Longhorns men’s basketball has reportedly secured its matchup for the first game of the 2024 Legends Classic this upcoming season.

According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, the Longhorns will play the Syracuse Orange in the first game of the 2024 Legends Classic at the Barclays Center this fall. The Texas Tech Red Raiders will face off against St. Joe’s in the other matchup, meaning Texas and Texas Tech could be set for a rivalry reunion as non-conference foes should thet both win their first game.

The 2024 Legends Classic will begin on Thursday, Nov. 21 in Brooklyn. Despite Rothstein’s report, matchups and game times have not yet been made official.

Per Texas Athletics,the Longhornswill make their fourth appearance in the Legends Classic. The team played in the inaugural event in 2007 and competed in the tournament during the 2011 and 2016 seasons. Texas won the Legends Classic in 2007 after taking down the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game.

Texas has played Syracuse just once all-time, and it happened on one of the biggest stages in sports.

The Orange took down the burnt orange 95-84 in the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans, as Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead Syracuse to the National Championship, where they won it all two days later.

Legendary Texas guard T.J. Ford scored 12 points and dished out a game-high 13 assists in the loss. Longhorns great Royal Ivey had four points and four assists while Brandon Mouton led Texas with 25 points.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry was an assistant under Rick Barnes during that Final Four run, and he’ll get a chance at some slight revenge over 20 years later.

Syracuse is coming off of its first year without legendary coach Jim Boeheim, who had been at the helm since the start of the 1976-77 season. The Orange put together a solid 20-12 campaign in the first year under head coach Adrian Autry, but missed the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

This offseason, Texas changed up the roster with multiple transfer additions, as Oregon State’s Jordan Pope, Arkansas’s Tramon Mark, Kansas State’s Arthur Kaluma, Vanderbilt’s Malike Presley and Indiana State duo Julian Larry and Jayson Kent all head into their first year with the team. Chendall Weaver and Kadin Shedrick are the notable key returners while Devon Pryor will look to take a step forward as a sophomore. Ze’Rik Onyema, Cole Bott and Preston Clark will fill out the bottom of the roster.

The Longhorns begin the regular season in Las Vegas against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Hall of Fame Series on Monday, Nov. 4

AUSTIN — The Texas Longhorns won’t be making up for the NFL Draft departures of Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat this upcoming season. The d-line duo were big-time players during their time in Austin, and aren’t easily replicated in both play style and overall production.

However, the Longhorns don’t need another Sweat and Murphy. They have Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins.

When speaking to the media Monday, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian spoke highly of what the veteran pair has done this offseason as they head into their fifth collegiate season playing together. 

“Vernon and Alfred are playing at a really high level and they have a different skill set, let’s say, than Murph and Sweat had last year — their movement skills, their length, they’re different players,” Sarkisian said.

Last season, the duo wasn’t quite at the star-studded level that Sweat and Murphy established for themselves, but both players now have a chance at career years.

Broughton finished with a career-high 17 total tackles while adding one sack, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup. The stats don’t jump off the page but his important role on the defensive front was undeniable. 

Collins has been a steady presence throughout his four years in Austin. He had two sacks last season, bringing his career stat line to 86 total tackles, six sacks, five pass breakups and one interception. During the spring game this past April, he picked off quarterback Quinn Ewers and returned it for a touchdown.

With Collins as a key clog in the middle, the Texas defense allowed the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game (80.8) in the country during the regular season last year.

“It’s Texas, man,” he said earlier this offseason. “The best school in the nation. I stayed because I wanted to finish my degree. My mom graduated from here. She always tells me to finish what you start. I didn’t want to leave and then have to come back. Once I’m done with school, I’m done.”

Greetings, BBN!

The SEC finale for the Kentucky Wildcats, and their last chance to improve their finish in the standings, will take place in Austin against the Texas Longhorns.

Only once have the teams faced off: A 1951 non-conference game in Austin, when No. 11 Texas hosted and defeated Bear Bryant’s No. 6 Wildcats in a 7-6 mid-September victory.

This game might not be as high profile, but it’ll still be highly anticipated — especially by Kentucky fans. Let’s dive into this matchup:

Kentucky at Texas

• Date: November 23rd
• Time: Flex scheduling: 3:30 – 4:30 pm or 6 – 8 pm ET start
• TV Channel: TBA
• Location: DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, TX
• Series History: Texas leads the series 1-0-0

It seems like an eternity ago that the breaking news headline dropped that Texas and Oklahoma were leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC. I was still two months away from starting college at UK and have had to wait until my senior year now to actually watch the first Kentucky vs. Texas game on TV (and have to wait for my fifth year to see the first home game in the Kroger Field student section).

But, here we are at last. We’ll be seeing UK playing on football fields and basketball courts with Longhorns and Sooners logos, drawing UT and OU in SEC Tournament games, and no longer playing in the SEC East.

The 2024 season will feature a new-look SEC (and every other conference) and an expanded playoff. It’s going to be a fun, exciting season with so much new and never-before-seen stuff to anticipate!

Kentucky’s only traveled to the state of Texas to play football a handful of times. They’ve played in Austin the one time before, been to Waco twice, played TCU in Dallas in the Cotton Bowl, played at Houston once, faced SMU in Dallas, beat Rice in 1953, and, of course, gone to College Station twice to play the Texas A&M Aggies.

There haven’t been a whole lot of trips to the Lone Star State. They are 3-6 there with wins over Rice, Baylor, and Texas A&M.

Prediction: The Longhorns are looking like they’re going to be a top-five team this season. They’re coming off a CFP appearance and a 12-2 season, which pretty much tells me to expect UK to run into a buzzsaw.

The one glimmer of hope, though, is that next week, the Longhorns travel to Texas A&M for their season finale, so UK might be able to catch them looking ahead. The A&M game hasn’t been played in over a decade, so it will be very highly anticipated by not just those fanbases but the entire country. Even so, this will probably be as difficult as winning at Alabama or Georgia.

Texas 38, Kentucky 22