Texas to play UConn on network television as part of 2023 Jimmy V Women's Classic

The Texas and UConn women have found a bigger stage to play basketball on.

It was announced on Tuesday that ABC will air the Texas-UConn game on Dec. 3. As part of the 2023 Jimmy V Women's Classic, Texas and UConn will meet at Moody Center at 2 p.m.

The Jimmy V Women's Classic also will showcase the South Carolina-Duke game at noon and an Ohio State-Tennessee showdown at 4 p.m. The Duke-South Carolina game also will be shown on ABC while ESPN will broadcast the tripleheader's finale.

"On that day, there's going to be three really special games with six women's basketball teams being a part of something that in the basketball world has become very special, and that's Jimmy V Week," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. "We're honored at Texas to have a chance to be a part of that."

Named in honor of legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano, the Jimmy V Classic raises money for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. At first, the Jimmy V Classic was just a showcase for men's basketball. Starting in 2002, women's basketball was also included.

Texas and UConn actually met in the Jimmy V Classic in 2016, a 72-54 Huskies win. Texas has yet to beat UConn in any of the 10 meetings between the two schools.

Seven years ago, that matchup between Texas and UConn was aired on ESPN. According to a Texas press release, this year will mark only the second time that ABC has aired a Jimmy V Women's Classic game. It has been at least 10 years since the Longhorns appeared on network television.

"ESPN has been so good and so supportive of our game over the years, and now you're getting a chance to play on ABC," Schaefer said. "I get that they're both owned by the same people, but it's ABC."

The Huskies give Texas an opponent worth circling on its nonconference schedule, which has not yet been finalized. Schaefer revealed that UT will open its season on Nov. 8 against a yet-to-be-announced opponent. The Longhorns have already saved the dates for the UConn game, a trip to Arizona on Dec. 13 and a three-game tournament in the Virgin Islands.

Schaefer met with the local media for about 25 minutes on Tuesday. As he prepares for his fourth season at UT, he gave positive updates for Aaliyah Moore and Jordana Codio, who are both rehabbing knee injuries. He shared that sixth-year guard Shaylee Gonzales has recently been given "Grandma" as a nickname. He also discussed why he has made it a tradition to take photos with his players on their first day of class each year.

Schaefer said that Texas won't begin practicing until the end of September. By then, six months will have passed since UT was beaten by Louisville in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Not that the Longhorns will be able to forget that 73-51 loss. Several printouts of that score have been placed around the team's practice gym and facility.

Schaefer said he borrowed the redecorating idea from his time at Mississippi State. To end the 2015-16 season, Mississippi State was beaten by 60 points by UConn in the NCAA Tournament. The following year, Mississippi State upset UConn in the Final Four.

"We put the number 60 all over our facility, on my desk, in our locker room, on the bathroom stall when you shut it, in the weight room, anywhere, in the elevators, on the stairwell," Schaefer said. "It only works if it works, right? But it's not OK. At the end of the day, it's not OK. It wasn't OK then, and it's not OK here. And obviously that (Mississippi State) team 365 days later had another opportunity at the same team in the Final Four and found a way to win. They had remembered and it was a completely different approach.

"Hopefully this team will embrace that same attitude. I believe they have just from their work ethic, what I've seen this summer, the time that they put in.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ABC will broadcast basketball game featuring Texas, UConn women