Rodney Terry shed the interim tag at Texas months ago. The Longhorns are his team now and could be for a long time.
His first full-time roster has a lot of new faces for the program’s last spin through the Big 12 before No. 18 Texas joins the Southeastern Conference next year. Texas returns four players from last season’s regular rotation and adds several key transfers headed by guard Max Abmas from Oral Roberts, one of the top scorers in the country.Under head coach Rodney Terry, Texas has rebuilt a roster that was ravaged by losses to the NCAA Transfer Portal, Graduation and the NBA Fortunately, the moves made by Terry have the Longhorns in extremely good shape heading into the new season.
They will also have plenty of opportunities to add quality wins to their resume, even before their inaugural conference slate in the SEC begins.
During their non-conference slate, the Longhorns will take on a group of impressive opponents, headlined by the UConn Huskies in Austin on Dec. 8.
When they face off against the Longhorns, the Huskies will be coming off of their second consecutive national title under head coach Dan Hurley, following an absolutely dominant showing in the NCAA Tournament this season.
The Horns will also face off against the up-and-coming Ohio State Buckeyes in Las Vegas to open the season. It will be the Buckeyes’ first full season under new head Jake Diebler, who took over mid-season for Chris Holtmann, who was fired one day after the Buckeyes lost 62-54 to Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes found themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble at the end of the 2023-24 regular season, but Diebler was a driving factor that got Ohio State to that point in the first place. Texas will also face off against last year’s March Madness cinderella story – the N.C. State Wolfpack – in the SEC-ACC Challenge.
N.C. State put together a run to remember last season under coach Kevin Keatts. After entering the ACC Tournament with a 17-14 record and no shot at an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, the Wolfpack turned things around and shocked the country.
The team won five games in five days to take home the conference title before winning four straight games as a No. 11 seed in March Madness to secure a spot in the Final Four.