The Horns face the Orange to open the Legends Classic on Thursday.
Since Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns have been in New York City in preparation for the UKG Legends Classic at the Barclays Center that begins on Thursday with an opening game against the Syracuse Orange at 6 p.m. Central on ESPN2 before facing the Saint Joseph’s Hawks or the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Friday.
With a current strength of schedule in the 300s, according to BartTorvik.com, the games in Brooklyn are critical for Texas because the non-conference schedule only features a handful of opportunities to notch quality wins as the Longhorns attempt to build an NCAA Tournament resume prior to SEC play, especially since a chance to secure that type of win went wanting in the season-opening loss to the Buckeyes in Las Vegas.
Texas may still be without senior Arkansas transfer wing Tramon Marks, who hasn’t played in the first four games due to a preseason ankle injury that has him still listed as day to day by head coach Rodney Terry.
“He’s moving in a much better pace than he was even a week ago, so we’re excited with the progress that he’s made to this point right now,” Terry said on Tuesday.
About a half hour before tip, the news broke that Marks will make his debut for the Longhorns, but senior forward Jayson Kent is out with a wrist injury.
Without Marks, one of six transfers on the team, the Horns have spent the last three games against bad opponents trying to build their identity.
“For us in November, it’s about identity. We’re trying to establish an identity to where we’re consistent every night, we know we can sit down and guard really hard, try to have a really good defensive effort with energy and activity, try to play fast on offense, try to get up the floor as well and have an identity, from an offensive standpoint as well, try to play inside out,” Terry said.
Through four games, the Longhorns are still establishing their defensive identity ranked No. 30 in adjusted efficiency, a ranking depressed by struggles to defend the three-point line — Texas is allowing opponents to shoot 34.7 percent from beyond the arc, 238th nationally, but have defended well inside the arc by limiting opponents to 36.6-percent shooting on two-point attempts, third nationally. Defensive rebounding has been a strength, bolstered by playing low-major teams without much height, with Texas allowing an offensive rebounding rate of 22.4 percent, No. 21 in the country. The free-throw rate, however, is a little bit high at 27.9 percent, 82nd nationally.
On offense, the efficiency of star freshman guard Tre Johnson has set the tone for a team that has limited turnovers at an elite level, but still has room for improvement in playing faster and increasing an assist rate that indicates the Horns are relying on too much one-on-one basketball instead of emphasizing ball and player movement.
College basketball’s new paradigm with increased player movement during the offseason means consistent roster turnover and a higher value placed on wringing the most out of each minute of non-conference play, even against bad opponents like Houston Christian, Chicago State, and Mississippi Valley State.
“Every minute that you play in non conference is very valuable for chemistry, guys getting more and more familiar with the way you want to play scheme-wise, defensively, offensively. So there’s never a minute you can just take off any more,” Terry said.
“You can be up and it’s eight minutes to go and you still need your guys out there on the floor because they’ve still got to get used to playing with each other in game situations. We can practice all day down here, but it’s not the same as a game situation in front of a crowd. So this day and time, it’s a premium on chemistry for guys being with each other, playing different combinations, trying to figure out your team.”
The hope is that those game reps are enough for Texas to beat Syracuse, which enters the game ranked No. 95 in adjusted efficiency and at 3-0 with wins over Le Moyne, Colgate, and Youngstown State — Thursday’s matchup features the first real test for second-year head coach Adrian Autry’s team.
Coming off a 20-12 season during which the Orange finished 11-9 and tied for fifth in the ACC as Autry replaced legendary head coach Jim Boeheim, Syracuse was picked to finish 11th in the 18-team conference.
Even though Autry was a longtime assistant to Boeheim, he’s shifted the Orange’s defensive identity away from Boeheim’s preferred 2-3 zone.
“They’ve made a commitment over the last year and a half or so to be a team that sits down and guards and takes on some really strong man principles, and they’ve got athletic guys that can get in the gaps and really defend at a high level as well,” Terry said.
Through three games, they’ve been careful with the basketball and efficient on the defensive glass, but have shot the ball poorly, especially from three — hitting at 25.4 percent is bad enough to slot the Orange at No. 329 nationally. They’ve been bad at the free-throw line, too, making 63.6 percent, 311th in the country, and are average at making it to the charity stripe.
Five players are scoring in double digits, led by guard JJ Starling at 21.3 points per game in a breakout season. The 6’4, 206-pounder is only hitting at 31.3 percent from three on 5.3 attempts per game, but he’s been efficient getting the rim and effective on a small sample size of mid-range shots.
In the frontcourt, Texas fans will recognize burly center Eddie Lampkin, the TCU and Colorado transfer who is difficult to keep off the offensive glass and is now even showing some playmaking ability with seven assists in the two-overtime win over Youngstown State and five against Colgate.
On the wing, freshman Donnie Freeman was a consensus five-star prospect in the 2024 class ranked as the No. 15 player nationally after a recruitment that saw the Horns in heavy pursuit, even hosting the Washington DC product on an official visit. Freeman is already making an impact, averaging 11.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.
BartTorvik.com gives the Horns a 78-percent win probability with an expected score of 82-73.