Texas basketball draws tough Big 12/Big East Battle test in Villanova
Texas basketball head coach Shaka Smart and his No. 19 ranked Longhorns drew No. 3 Villanova for the Big 12/Big East Battle on Dec. 6 at home.
More of the looming schedule for the 2020-21 regular season for the Texas basketball program took shape early this week. Texas got the news this week that they would be facing head coach Jay Wright and the vaunted Villanova Wildcats in their draw for the Big 12/Big East Battle. The matchup between Texas and Villanova is set to take place on Dec. 6, at home at the Frank Erwin Center.
Actually there were multiple sources of big news for the Longhorns basketball program to start off the week. Head coach Shaka Smart and his Texas men’s hoops team got the news on Nov. 9 that they sit at the No. 19 slot in the preseason AP Poll. This is the highest ranking that the Longhorns had in any preseason AP Poll under Smart’s direction.
However, it will be difficult to hold a slot in the AP Top 25 for too long early in the Longhorns non-conference slate. Smart and the Longhorns open up the 2020-21 regular season schedule against UTRGV at home on Nov. 25. And then the schedule ramps up really fast later this month, when they take part in the Maui Invitational.
It is also very much worth noting that the Longhorns take on legendary head coach John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats on the road at Rupp Arena on Jan. 30, 2021, in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. This is a difficult regular season schedule all-around for the Longhorns.
Villanova in particular finished off the 2019-20 shortened season in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic with a record of 24-7. Villanova won the Big East regular season title last year, and finished up the campaign with the No. 10 ranking in the AP Poll.
The Wildcats are all the way up at No. 3 in the preseason AP Poll this year. Villanova got three first place votes in this preseason AP Poll too. The only teams that ranked ahead of them were the No. 2 Baylor Bears and No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Next. Disappointing Longhorns football players halfway through 2020. dark
Texas finished up the 2019-20 season with a record of 19-12 (9-9 Big 12). The last game that the Longhorns played in before last season finished up prematurely was against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in a home loss in their regular season finale back on March 7.