Big 12 play is here, but Texas coach Rodney Terry wants a better nonconference home slate
Texas men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry knows traveling to the cauldron of Marquette’s home court will help his team in Big 12 play, which will start Saturday against visiting Texas Tech. He understands the experience of playing on the biggest of stages before a partisan UConn crowd at Madison Square Garden will pay dividends down the road. He realizes a neutral-site game in Houston against fellow Power Six opponent LSU can serve as a primer for tournament play in March.
But Terry also recognizes a glaring hole in the Longhorns’ recently completed nonconference schedule. Texas didn’t face a single marquee opponent at Moody Center, a fact that rankled some season-ticket holders as well as the analysts who use strength of schedule to help rate teams on a national basis.
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“I always say you play the nonconference schedule to get you ready for conference play,” Terry said. “Obviously, we would love to start a really good home-and-home series, and we will find a really good home-and-home series at Texas because we can.
“But we also love playing neutral and playing big-boy games on the road and in great venues. Playing the UConn game plan in New York, I mean, it's like playing Kansas in Kansas City, you know? You can't put a price tag on those type of nonconference games. But at Texas, we're going to have a marquee game or two at home, always. This year, we weren't able to have one of those. But moving forward, we will always have a great home-and-home series.”
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Terry got a late start on finalizing Texas’ 2023-24 schedule, considering that he served last season as the interim head coach after the firing of head coach Chris Beard. Historically, Texas does face traditional powers in a home-and-home series in nonconference play, such as Gonzaga (2021 and 2022) and North Carolina (2011-15). This year, the highest-rated team that visited Moody Center was UNC-Greensboro, which slots in at No. 138 in the latest KenPom rankings.
Terry said he likes facing off against blue-blood teams, but he also tries to find opponents that will help his squad prepare for the rigors of the Big 12 — at least for one more season.
“Scheduling is one of those tedious things that you have to do,” Terry said. “You have to spend a lot of time trying to find the right type of matchups and what really works for other opponents, but I think what you really try to do is put together styles of play that are going to prepare you for conference play.”
And are the Longhorns prepared for a final run through the Big 12, which includes six teams ranked in the latest Associated Press poll? Graduate forward Brock Cunningham, now in his sixth season at Texas, thinks so. The No. 20 Longhorns (11-2) dropped games against No. 4 UConn and No. 7 Marquette, but those games came without Texas’ full rotation. With forward Dylan Disu back healthy, Cunningham said the team has plenty of room to grow.
“We have the ability to be a really good team,” Cunningham said. “You start the season; you think you're going to be good. And whenever you get into actual games, you figure out what your ceiling can be. At this point in the season, you're trying to get better at everything, because if you're at your peak at the beginning of January, you're not going to play late into March. So we're working on every aspect of our game."
Saturday's game
Texas Tech (11-2, 0-0) at No. 20 Texas (11-2, 0-0), 7 p.m., ESPN2, 1300
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rodney Terry wants better home nonconference slate for Texas basketball
