Texas men’s basketball looks to build on the strong 2025-26 season it had in year one under head coach Sean Miller after reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Now heading into year two, Miller eyes a fast start to his second season with the nonconference portion of the 2026-27 season.
The Longhorns will compete in 14 nonconference games, facing teams from the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference to the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Big South Conference.
Miller broke down his philosophy in terms of building a nonconference schedule.
“What we tried to do was put the best nonconference schedule together to help us get the highest seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said in a July 28 media availability. “To make the NCAA Tournament, to put our team in the best position to advance.”
The Longhorns open the season with three straight home games at the Moody Center, starting against the Chicago State Cougars on Nov. 2. Following that, Texas will take on the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs on Nov. 5 and the Grambling State Tigers on Nov. 9.
The first time the Longhorns take to the road will be a short trip down I-35 to San Antonio for the San Antonio Hoops Showdown, where they will face a former Big 12 rival in the Baylor Bears at the Frost Bank Center on Nov. 15.
Texas will return home right after to take on the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Nov. 19 and the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles on Nov. 22.
The Longhorns will get back out on the road after that, leaving the state of Texas for the first time of the season and heading west for the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego, Calif.
Texas will take on the Georgetown Hoyas of the Big East Conference, who look to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, on Nov. 26.
The Longhorns will play a second game as part of the Rady Children’s Invitational against either the Saint Mary’s Gaels or the UCLA Bruins, both of whom reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago, on Nov. 27.
Miller’s squad will remain out on the road as it competes in the SEC/ACC Challenge, taking on the ACC’s Louisville Cardinals in Louisville, Ky., on Dec. 1. The Cardinals reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, ending the 2025-26 season with a 25–11 overall record and 11–7 conference record, finishing No. 6 in the ACC.
The Longhorns’ first home game in December comes against the Jackson State Tigers on Dec. 8.
However, the stay at home will not last long as the Longhorns head to Space City to take part in the Houston Hoopfest. Texas will face the Miami Hurricanes at the Toyota Center on Dec. 12.
The Hurricanes reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago, bowing out in the second round to the Purdue Boilermakers, who also knocked Texas out in the Sweet 16.
The Longhorns will end their nonconference slate with three straight home games, starting with the Memphis Tigers on Dec. 16. The mid-December game is the first of a home-and-home series, which will see Texas make the return trip to Memphis in the 2027-28 season.
The final two games before the Longhorns begin Southeastern Conference play have Texas taking on the Prairie View A&M Panthers on Dec. 21 and the East Texas A&M Lions on Dec. 29.