Texas Longhorns basketball: Gonzaga-Texas preview

The Texas Longhorns opened year two of the Chris Beard era with wins over UTEP and Houston Christian. Tonight, the No. 2-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs will take the court in Austin coming off a 64-63 win over Michigan State November 11.

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The contest tonight will be the first of a number of resume-building non-conference game opportunities for Texas. The Longhorns have non-conference games against four AP top 25 ranked teams – No. 2 Gonzaga, No. 10 Creighton, No. 19 Illinois and No. 22 Tennessee.

The Longhorns will take the court tonight with the opportunity to tie a record for defeating the highest-ranked opponent in school history. In home games, Texas has topped the No. 2 team in The AP poll just once before (73-68 win over No. 2 Oklahoma on Feb. 21, 2009). 

Texas entered tonight’s contest ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll after moving up one spot through the first week of the season.

Texas heavy on experience 

The Longhorns return five players that were key in the success of the 2021-22 team. Super seniors Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr started the the first two games along with senior Dylan Disu, while Christian Bishop and and Brock Cunningham play key roles off the bench. 

Beard and staff added transfers Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice to the group of returnees to form a nucleus of seven players with 679 games of college experience, including 479 starts and 19 NCAA Tournament games played.

Texas signed a four-man high school recruiting class in 2022 that ranked among the top seven classes in the country. Five-stars Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris have significantly upgraded the athleticism and transition ability of the Texas program. Mitchell has started the first two games of the season, while Morris provides offensive pop off the bench. 

How to watch the game

Gonzaga (2-0) and Texas (2-0) tipoff at 8:30 p.m. Central on ESPN2 with Dave Flemming (play by play) and Fran Fraschilla (color analyst) calling the action.

The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 4-0, including 86-74 last season in Spokane, Wash.

Gonzaga is coming off a 64-63 win over Michigan State after blasting North Florida 104-63 to open the season. 

The Longhorns have beat UTEP 72-57 and Houston Christian 82-31 to begin the season.

The Chris Beard File

Chris Beard enters Wednesday with a career record of 166-72. This is his eighth season at the Division I level. Beard has posted a 75-51 conference record in seven seasons. 

Beard is 5-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament Round of 64 games. He sports an 11-5 career record in five NCAA Tournament appearances. That includes a National Championship game appearance in 2018-19 while at Texas Tech. He led the Red Raiders to the Elite 8 the year before in 2017-18. 

Beard has competed against Gonzaga as a head coach twice. The Red Raiders beat No. 1 seed Gonzaga 75-69 in 2019 to advance to the Final Four. Gonzaga beat Texas 86-74 last season.

The Mark Few File

Mark Few enters his 24th season as the head coach of Gonzaga. He enters Wednesday with a career record of 660-129. He has won 25 or more games in 21 of his 23 season in Spokane, including seven seasons of 30 or more wins.

Few sports a 38-22 record in the NCAA Tournament, including 19-3 in NCAA Round of 64 games. Gonzaga has advanced to 11 Sweet 16’s, four Elite 8’s, and two National Championship games under Few.

There have been 18 players from Gonzaga drafted in the NBA since Few has been in charge of the program.

Gonzaga likely starters

PG Nolan Hickman, 6-2, sophomore (8.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists)

SG Rasir Bolton, 6-3, senior (9.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists)

SF Julian Strawther, 6-7, junior (14.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals)

PF Anton Watson, 6-8, freshman (6.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 steals)

PF Drew Timme, 6-10, senior (22.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists)

The Bulldogs have played an eight man rotation thus far with 7-foot center Efton Reid, 6-foot-5 guard Hunter Sallis and 6-foot-4 guard Malachi Smith off the bench. Smith plays starter minutes off the bench, and averages 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Texas starters

PG Tyrese Hunter, 6-1, sophomore (14 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

CG Marcus Carr, 6-2, super senior (11.5 points, 2.5 assists, 3.0 steals)

F Timmy Allen, 6-6, super senior (9.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

F Dillon Mitchell, 6-8, freshman (7.0 points, 8.0 rebounds)

PF Dylan Disu, 6-9, senior (9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks)

The reserves 

SG Sir’Jabari Rice, 6-4, super senior (12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

PF Christian Bishop, 6-7, super senior (1.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks)

CG Arterio Morris, 6-3, freshman (6.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

F Brock Cunningham, 6-6, senior (2.0 points, 2.5 rebounds) 

PF Alex Anamekwe, 6-5.5, freshman (Logged 14 minutes through two games)

SG Gavin Perryman, 6-1, redshirt freshman (Logged 12 minutes through two games)

PG Rowan Brumbaugh, 6-4, freshman – *Planning to redshirt this season