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Texas Basketball: 3 keys for a Longhorn victory at Marquette Golden Eagles

By Cole Amundson

Nov 19, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Max Abmas (3) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 19, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Max Abmas (3) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports ac.
Texas Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports ac. /

The Texas Longhorns face a tough road test against their former coach on Wednesday night.

To find the last time Texas Basketball squared off against Marquette, you would have to go back 46 years ago when the Longhorns were ousted by a top-10 Marquette Golden Eagles squad 65-56 when the Longhorns were coached by the late Abe Lemons.

Flash forward to 2023, the 12th-ranked Longhorns find themselves back in Milwaukee (although Texas has played in Milwaukee in the NCAA Tournament, most recently in 2022) to face off against the eighth-rated Marquette Golden Eagles (and their former coach, Shaka Smart) as part of the Big East/Big 12 Battle at 7:00 p.m. CT.

It’s a crucial game for Rodney Terry’s Longhorns, who find themselves still looking for their first big-time win of the season. The NCAA’s NET Rankings, which were released on Monday, Dec. 4, further proved this point by placing the Longhorns at 60th-best in the country with all of their six wins coming from Q4 games. Other metrics, such as KenPom, are a bit more kind to the Longhorns but still place them outside of the top 25 at 30th in the country.

It should be noted that although Texas doesn’t necessarily have a grueling upcoming schedule for the rest of this month, the Big 12 will have no shortage of Q1 and Q2 opportunities that will surely increase the Longhorns’ NET (and possibly KenPom) whether they win or lose.

Led by Oral Roberts transfer Max Abmas (16.7 PPG, 4.0 APG) alongside the core of UCF transfer Ithiel Horton (12.6 PPG) Dillon Mitchell (11.6 PPG and 8.9 RPG), Tyrese Hunter (12.0 PPG) and Virginia transfer Kadin Shedrick (14.2 PPG), Texas will need to come out ready to play as Marquette looks to bounce back at home from their upset loss to Wisconsin last Saturday. Here are three keys for the Longhorns to storm out of Milwaukee victorious this Wednesday.

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