Texas Basketball: 3 reasons the Longhorns will upset No. 1 Gonzaga

It feels weird to say in the fall, but there is a lot more excitement surrounding a Texas basketball game than there is for the football program. On the same night, Texas football is set to take on head coach Lance Leipold and the struggling Kansas Jayhawks at home at DKR. Meanwhile, the Texas men’s hoops program and head coach Chris Beard get set to take on head coach Mark Few and the No. 1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs on the road in Spokane, WA, on the night of Nov. 13.

This looks to be one crazy night for the Longhorns, at least as far as the men’s basketball and football programs are concerned. But this swing in impact for Texas-Gonzaga in basketball compared to Texas-Kansas in football has a lot to do with the four-game losing streak that first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian finds himself in the midst of.

Chris Beard and No. 5 Texas basketball can put Chet Holmgren and No. 1 Gonzaga on upset alert

Texas taking on Gonzaga on the night of Nov. 13 actually sees the Longhorns coming in as a pretty sizable underdog. Gonzaga is roughly an eight-point favorite ahead of tip-off. And the ESPN matchup predictor (based on the Basketball Power Index) gives Texas less than an 18 percent chance to upset Gonzaga on this night.

Moreover, the Longhorns come into this meeting with Gonzaga with a record of 1-0 (0-0 Big 12) following their dominant win in the regular season opener, by a score of 92-48, over the Houston Baptist Huskies back on Nov. 9. Meanwhile, Gonzaga comes into this game sporting a record of 1-0 (0-0 WCC) following a win over Dixie State at home back on Nov. 9.

This is the fourth time that Texas and Gonzaga have faced each other in the past two decades. Texas is looking to snap a three-game losing streak to the Zags over that span of time too. But the good news here is that Beard is 1-0 during his time as a head coach in facing the Zags.

Here’s a look into three reasons why the Longhorns can upset No. 1 Gonzaga on Nov. 13.