The Texas basketball team will face Syracuse in a non-conference game

AUSTIN — The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team has reportedly secured its matchup for the first game of next season’s 2024 Legends Classic.

According to college basketball expert Jon Rothstein, the Longhorns will play the Syracuse Orange in the first game of the 2024 Legends Classic at the Barclays Center this fall. The Texas Tech Red Raiders will face St. Joe’s in the other matchup, meaning Texas and Texas Tech could be set for a rivalry meeting as non-conference rivals if they both win their opener.

The 2024 Legends Classic is set to begin on Thursday, Nov. 21 in Brooklyn. Despite Rothstein’s report, matchups and game times have not yet been made official.

According to Texas Athletics, the Longhorns will be participating in the Legends Classic for the fourth time. The team participated in the inaugural event in 2007 and competed in the tournament during the 2011 and 2016 seasons. Texas won the Legends Classic in 2007 after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game.

Texas has played Syracuse just once all-time, and it happened on one of the biggest stages in sports.

The Orange defeated the burnt Orange 95-84 in the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans, as Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Syracuse to the National Championship, where they won it all two days later.

Legendary Texas guard TJ Ford scored 12 points and dished out a game-high 13 assists in the loss. Longhorns great Royal Ivey scored four points and dished out four assists, while Brandon Mouton led Texas with 25 points.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry was an assistant under Rick Barnes during that run to the Final Four, and he’ll get a chance for revenge a little more than 20 years later.

Syracuse is coming off its first year without legendary coach Jim Boeheim, who had been at the helm since the start of the 1976-77 season. The Orange put together a solid 20-12 campaign in the first year under head coach Adrian Autry, but missed the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.

During the offseason, Texas reshuffled its roster with several transfer additions, including Oregon State’s Jordan Pope, Arkansas’ Tramon Mark, Kansas State’s Arthur Kaluma, Vanderbilt’s Malike Presley and the Indiana State duo of Julian Larry and Jayson Kent, who are heading into their first year with the team. Chendall Weaver and Kadin Shedrick are the key returning players, while Devon Pryor will look to take a step forward as a sophomore. Ze’Rik Onyema, Cole Bott and Preston Clark will round out the bottom half of the roster.

The Longhorns begin the regular season in Las Vegas against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Hall of Fame Series on Monday, November 4.