After taking care of business in a handful of tune-up games at home over the past couple of weeks, Texas basketball (3-1, 0-0 SEC) travels up to Brooklyn, NY, for the Legends Classic on Thursday and Friday at the Barclays Center.
Texas plays its first game at the Legends Classic in front of what is pretty much expected to be a road crowd against the Syracuse Orange (3-0, 0-0 ACC) from the ACC on Nov. 21. Syracuse has a big fan base around NYC and Brooklyn since the campus for the Orange is about four hours upstate in New York.
A win for head coach Rodney Terry and the Longhorns over Syracuse in their first game of the Legends Classic on Thursday evening could set up a final matchup against their former Big 12 foe, the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Depending on their result vs. Syracuse on Nov. 21, Texas either faces Texas Tech or Saint Joseph's in the final of the Legends Classic on Friday (Nov. 22).
Here's a look at the TV/streaming information, game time, betting odds, and game prediction for the regular season opener between Texas and Syracuse in the first game of the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Nov. 21.
How to watch Texas basketball vs. Syracuse
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Radio/Audio Stream: Longhorn Radio Network
Game time: 6 p.m. CT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Kevin Brown and Jay Williams will call the action for the Texas-Syracuse game on ESPN2 on Thursday. Craig Way and Eddie Oran have the call for Texas's radio broadcast on Longhorn Radio Network.
Texas basketball vs. Syracuse betting odds
Texas is an 8.5-point favorite against Syracuse in the Legends Classic on Nov. 21 (per FanDuel). The over/under is 154.5 points.
Texas is 2-2-0 against the spread this season (per TeamRankings). Syracuse is 0-3-0 against the spread.
Texas vs. Syracuse prediction
The starting five for the Orange have all produced at a high level on the offensive end of the floor this season.
Syracuse and star junior guard JJ Starling will test Texas's defense in this game tomorrow. Starling, the ACC's leading scorer (21.3 points per game), is red-hot and coming off the best scoring night of his career, with a 38-point effort in an overtime win for Syracuse over Youngstown State last week.
In Syracuse's starting five, former TCU transfer center Eddie Lampkin Jr. leads the way among four in that group scoring in the double figures this season. Delaware forward transfer Jyare Davis has also given Syracuse a boost as their sixth man coming off the bench, averaging 10.3 points per game.
Guarding the defensive end of the floor has been Syracuse's Achilles heel this season. The Orange have allowed over 80 points per game, and Syracuse has yet to defeat an opponent by double digits, despite not facing a single Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponent in their first three games.
This could be an extremely high scoring game between Texas and Syracuse, with both teams averaging over 88 points per game on the offensive end. The difference here could be Texas's defensive efforts.
If the Longhorns defense holds up against Starling and the Orange's up-tempo offense, Texas should be able to come away with their first victory over a major conference foe this regular season.