After a seven-game winning streak against mostly below-par competition, a young Texas Longhorns men's basketball team hosts the 6-2 Temple Owls on Saturday.
Temple returns the majority of a team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament under fifth-year head coach Fran Dunphy.
The Owls are led by 6'4 senior guard Ramon Moore, who is averaging 18.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists this season.
Their experience will be a tough test for a Longhorns team that features six true freshman in their rotation.
Texas is led by 6'1 junior guard J'Covan Brown, the only key player to return from last season's NCAA Tournament team that sent three first-round picks to the NBA. Brown has been at times explosive and erratic in his time in Austin, but he's been extremely consistent for Rick Barnes this season, averaging 18.9 points on 46% shooting this season.
With Temple's 6'11 senior big man Michael Eric out, neither team has much size in the front-court, so Saturday's game could be a wild up-and-down affair.
For the Longhorns, beating a solid Atlantic 10 program would be a huge boost for their Tourney chances, as their victory over UCLA loses luster by the day while their Dec. 21 game in Chapel Hill against a UNC team stacked with NBA prospects will be extremely tough.
The 1:30 PM game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
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