How did Texas basketball fare against UConn back in November? In hindsight, pretty good.
How did Texas fare when it faced off with 2024 NCAA men’s basketball champion Connecticut way back in November? A heck of a lot better than any of the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament opponents.
The Huskies, who never trailed in the game, held on for an 81-71 win Nov. 20 at Madison Square Garden in the finals of the Empire Classic. They won their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 23.3 points, including a 75-60 win over Purdue in Monday’s title game.
No team in the NCAA Tournament came closer to Connecticut than 14 points.
More: Texas basketball recruit Tre Johnson lights up scoreboard at McDonald's All-American Game
So how did the Longhorns pull with four points of Connecticut with 5 minutes left in their game despite not playing with the injured Dylan Disu and Kadin Shedrick? By leaning on a career game from Dillon Mitchell and a big second half from Tyrese Hunter.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward, scored a career-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds with two blocked shots. Hunter, Texas’ junior guard, had all 13 of his points in the second half.
But UConn looked different, too. Post Donovan Clingan, the Huskies’ leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament, had just seven points and two rebounds in 13 minutes while Alex Karaban led UConn with 20 points.
Connecticut finished the season with a 37-3 record while becoming the first team to win back-to-back national titles in 17 years. Texas finished 21-13 and reached the second round on the NCAA Tournament.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How did Texas basketball fare against UConn in November? Better than many
