The Texas Longhorns will put their 21-0 non-conference record on the line at the Moody Center on Sunday when the No. 25 UConn Huskies come to Austin on Sunday to face head coach Rodney Terry’s seven-postseason team Wins in a row – opening defeat against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Las Vegas.

Terry and UConn head coach Dan Hurley know each other not only from meeting last year at the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden, but also from Terry’s time recruiting Hurley’s St. Benedict’s Prep players as Texas assistants – Tristan Thompson and Myck Kabongo. These recruitments led to mutual respect between the two coaches, with Terry praising Hurley for leading a college-level program there before parlaying success at Wagner and Rhode Island into an opportunity at UConn, where he quickly became one of the became the best coach in college basketball.

The beginning of this season presented the Huskies with some challenges, replacing center Donovan Clingan, the No. 7 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft after a dominant season at interior defense, and guard Cam Spencer, a knockdown shooter and solid playmaker.

Hurley brought in St. Mary’s Aidan Mahaney to replace Spencer and Michigan’s Tarris Reed to replace Clingan, with varying degrees of success – Reed was dominant, averaging 8.6 rebounds per game and grabbing 31 percent of all defensive rebounds and 19.8 percent of UConn’s missed shots, but Mahaney is only averaging 5.4 points in 16.8 minutes per game.

Whether that’s because Mahaney is struggling to adapt to a much higher level of competition or because of the development of guards Solo Ball and Hasan Diarra is debatable. What’s clear is that Ball has vastly improved his shooting, shooting 46 percent from three on 5.6 attempts per game after shooting 31.9 percent from deep as a freshman last season. And that Diarra has emerged as the team’s most important playmaker, averaging five assists per game and leading the Huskies with a rate of 37.1 percent.

The addition of consensus five-star winger Liam McNeeley alongside star forward Alex Karaban provides sideline matchup programs for opponents. Karaban leads the team with 15.9 points per game by hitting 46.8 percent of his three-point attempts, followed by McNeeley with 13 points per game and 34 percent from long range. As a junior, Karaban has also become a better passer with three assists per game, a doubling from last year, while more than doubling his assist rate.

Karaban hurt Texas in UConn’s 81-71 win over Texas in the Big Apple last year, scoring 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting and making four three-pointers. The other player who did significant damage and has returned for the Huskies is center Samson Johnson, who scored 15 points with eight rebounds and two blocks along with a steal in a 6-of-8 active performance.

UConn is averaging over 10 made three-pointers per game at 36 percent. In Terry’s estimation, they are arguably the best shooting team Texas has faced this season. What makes the Huskies particularly dangerous, however, is the fact that 48.6 percent of their shots come from distance and they move the ball extremely well, ranking seventh nationally in assist rate at 67.8 percent.

Inside the arc, UConn ranks third nationally with a shooting percentage of 63.7 percent. When they miss, they hit the target hard as a top-50 offensive rebounding team. Therefore, shooting defense will not only be of utmost importance for Texas

Given the Huskies’ offensive quality, how did UConn lose three straight games to Memphis, Colorado and Dayton in late November? The losses to the Tigers and Buffaloes could have gone either way, with the former leading by two points in overtime and the latter down by just a single point. After those two losses, UConn was beaten by Dayton by 18 points.

What all three games had in common was that the Huskies played extremely poorly defensively. This is a group that blocks a lot of shots, is actually second best in the nation in block rate, and generally defends well inside the arc.

However, UConn is allowing its opponents 36.2 percent from three-point range, which is 293rd nationally, and has really struggled with shooting defense in the three losses, as its opponents made 29 of 55 shots from three-point range (52.7 percent) met).

Defending without fouling is also a huge difficulty for the Huskies, which manifested itself in these losses – UConn ranks 337th out of 364 teams in free throw percentage, allowing 40 free throws against Memphis, 28 free throws against Colorado and 30 free throws against Dayton.

Texas isn’t necessarily well positioned to take advantage in any of these areas, as the Horns shoot well from three, albeit at low volume, are 298th in three-point percentage, and rely heavily on their star freshman -Guard Tre Johnson left attempts by the Garland product accounted for more than 35 percent of three-point attempts for Texas.

The Longhorns are just outside the top 100 in free throw percentage, but are average from the line, making 71.3 percent of their free throws, 182nd nationally.

Since Texas hasn’t defended the three-point line particularly well, the concern is that UConn might be able to shoot them out of the game through volume and accuracy, while the Horns can offer little volume in response other than Johnson’s chase shots . Johnson’s shooting ability is a positive, but the risk of the freshman getting involved in the game has caused his turnover rate to skyrocket against Syracuse, Saint Joseph’s and NC State.

Regardless of how the game turns out, it is the Longhorns’ most important non-conference home game, which prompted Terry to offer a public service announcement for fans traveling to the SEC Championship Game who also have tickets to Sunday’s basketball game.

“The other thing I would like to say is a message to our season ticket holders: If you travel to Atlanta and don’t get back in time for Sunday’s game, please do your part to transfer your tickets to a Texas fan who can come out with UConn on Sunday and support the game? If you have any problems, please contact our ticket office who will be able to assist you.”

According to BartTorvik.com, Texas has a 67 percent chance of winning Saturday’s game with a projected score of 72-67 and is a 1.5-point favorite on FanDuel.