Texas Basketball: 3 reasons the Longhorns end Cal Baptist’s undefeated run

On the day informally known as Thanksgiving Eve, new head coach Chris Beard and No. 8 ranked Texas basketball gets set to take on the undefeated California Baptist Lancers to round out their run in the Abe Lemons Classic at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. As part of this three-game run during the Abe Lemons Classic, Texas has also taken on the Northern Colorado Bears and San Jose State Spartans.

Beard and the Longhorns are carrying a record of 3-1 (0-0 Big 12) into this final meeting of the Abe Lemons Classic on the night of Nov. 24 against Cal Baptist. In their last game, the Longhorns took down struggling San Jose State by the dominant final score of 79-45.

Texas wound up blowing the spread out of the water in the win over San Jose State last weekend. This was the most complete-looking win for the Longhorns so far this season. After struggling at times to close out Northern Colorado last week and falling short by a double-digit margin at the hands of head coach Mark Few and the No. 1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, the win over San Jose State might serve as a launchpad of sorts for this team.

Tre Mitchell can lead No. 8 Texas basketball to end the undefeated start for Cal Baptist

Moreover, Cal Baptist is actually off a really solid start themselves out of the gates this season. Cal Baptist carries a record of 5-0 (0-0 WAC) into this meeting with Texas. The Lancers also downed Northern Colorado and San Jose State to start off their run in the Abe Lemons Classic.

Coming into this game, the Longhorns are around a 22-point favorite over the Lancers. And the ESPN matchup predictor (based on the Basketball Power Index) gives Texas nearly a 95 percent chance to beat Cal Baptist on Nov. 24.