The Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center (originally Special Events Center ) was a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas . It was also sometimes referred to as "The Drum" or "The Superdrum", owing to its round, drum-like appearance from outside (not to be confused with Big Bertha , the large bass drum used by the University of Texas marching band).
125-649: The multi-purpose facility hosted entertainment events and was the home court for the Texas Longhorns men's and women's basketball programs until 2022, when it was replaced by the Moody Center . The Erwin Center was located at the southeastern corner of the UT central campus and was bounded on the east by Interstate 35 . Built to replace Gregory Gymnasium as the men's and women's basketball teams' home arena,
250-652: A 13–5 overall record in 1921. Bellmont then led Texas to its first 20-win season during his final year. The Longhorns finished 20–4 overall and 14–4 in conference play in 1922. Missing five players to injury and grades in the latter part of the season, including the SWC's leading scorer in Phillip Peyton, Texas nonetheless entered its final game with a chance to win the SWC championship for the first time since 1919. The Longhorns fell short in College Station against
375-576: A 24–18 loss to Rice in Austin. Texas' winning streak stood as the NCAA record for consecutive wins in men's basketball for almost 40 years (until Phil Woolpert 's Bill Russell -led San Francisco teams won 60 consecutive games from 1955 to 1957), and the achievement today remains the fifth-longest winning streak in Division I history. Van Gent departed after coaching for one season in each sport—winning
500-548: A 24–21 record, Gray's 1938–39 team posted a 19–6 overall mark and won the Southwest Conference championship outright for UT's first basketball conference title in six years. The season featured the then-most anticipated intersectional matchup in school history, as Phog Allen 's Kansas Jayhawks came to Austin. The Jayhawks appeared to be on their way to winning the first game until the Longhorns rallied late in
625-704: A No. 15 ranking in the Associated Press Poll, Texas' first appearance in the poll since a one-week showing at No. 20 in 1949, the inaugural season of the AP basketball poll. Texas would finish the regular season ranked No. 12 in the AP poll with records of 22–4 overall and 14–2 in conference play, sharing the Southwest Conference Championship with the Razorbacks. Despite the impressive season, Texas saw its hopes of playing in
750-697: A close decision. He then moved up to the Lightweight division to take on IBF champion Leavander Johnson . In an unfortunate bout, Chávez out-hustled Johnson throughout the entire fight, beating him severely for the entire fight until the referee finally stepped in and ended it. Johnson died several days later after he went into a coma . Despite being implicated in the tragedy, Johnson's family encouraged Chávez to keep fighting. In 2007, Chávez lost his IBF title to Julio Díaz . On September 6, 2008, Jesús "El Matador" Chávez, (44-4 with 31 Win by TKO) knocked out visiting Andres Ledesma,of Colombia 42 seconds into
875-528: A domestic violence charge. The Texas men's basketball program began in 1906 under the direction of Scotland native Magnus Mainland , a graduate engineering student and lineman for the Texas football team who organized, coached, and played on the university's first varsity basketball team. Mainland had been a nationally known basketball player as an undergraduate student at Wheaton College (Illinois) prior to coming to UT. His Wheaton team placed second out of
1000-429: A five-year span of futility in which the Longhorns produced an overall record of 41–78 (.345). Between coaches Harold Bradley , hired as head coach in 1959, and Leon Black , who directed the basketball team from 1967 to 1976, the Longhorns played in four NCAA Tournaments , two under each coach, as a result of winning the Southwest Conference five times (three times outright) in 17 years. In Bradley's first season,
1125-592: A four-game improvement in its season record over the 9–17 squad of the prior year, finishing 13–13 on the season. No significant preseason expectations attended the 1977–78 Texas Longhorns , a team that would produce one of the more successful seasons in Longhorn basketball history. After a one-point loss in the opening game against Southern California in Los Angeles, Texas inaugurated the $ 37-million, 16,231-seat Special Events Center with an 83–76 victory over
1250-453: A long running shot from the Aggies' backup center in the final seconds. Texas finished 18–5 with no invitation to a postseason tournament. The Premo-Porretta Power Poll retroactively assigned the 1939–40 Longhorn team a national ranking of No. 17. After his next two teams combined for a 28–19 overall record and a 12–12 record in conference play, Gray was notified of his acceptance for duty in
1375-416: A losing overall record. After Metzenthin relinquished coaching duties following the 1911 season in order to serve as UT Athletic Council chairman (precursor to the athletic director position), former Texas track coach J. Burton Rix —coaching without financial compensation, just as had his two predecessors—led Texas to a 5–1 record in his single season as head coach (1912). Professor Carl C. Taylor , also
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#17327806145631500-408: A motorcycle accident. The protracted selection of E. J. "Doc" Stewart from Clemson University as the head football coach created further turmoil and distraction when newspapers reported that he would also be charged with leading the basketball team, thus rendering Romney a lame duck with seven games to play. Texas stumbled to an 11–7 finish, losing four of its final six games, but managing to close
1625-401: A one-point win and two four-point wins over Southwestern—an opponent that had lost its previous six games against the Longhorns by an average of almost 20 points—leading to concern in the local newspapers. Contrary to prognostications, Texas opened the conference slate with two wins over Oklahoma A&M and sweeps of six other conference series to reach 14–0 in conference play, securing at least
1750-561: A raucous pro-Texas crowd of more than 8,000 fans packed into Gregory Gymnasium , the Longhorns suffered a one-point loss to the Owls, 42–41, to see their hopes of winning a second consecutive outright SWC championship dashed and their chances of even sharing the championship greatly diminished. Another painful defeat followed in the final game of the season, as the Longhorns fell to a 10–11 Texas A&M team in College Station , 53–52, on
1875-569: A record of 63–65 (.492) in conference play. Prior to Black, only two Texas head coaches had finished with overall losing records— W. E. Metzenthin (1909–11) and Marshall Hughes (1956–59)—and each had only coached for three seasons. Black coached for nine seasons, only twice finishing with a winning record. Following Leon Black's resignation, Texas Athletic Director and Longhorn head football coach Darrell Royal selected then- University of Texas-Pan American and former longtime Oklahoma City University head coach Abe Lemons as his primary target for
2000-406: A respectable mark of 16–7 and a third-place conference finish, significantly exceeding preseason expectations for the undersized 1945–46 team. Discussions had begun about the projected need to build a larger arena for UT basketball team. Longhorn basketball had grown significantly in popularity under Gray and Gilstrap's guidance. Sellouts had not been particularly common during the war years, but
2125-536: A share of the SWC championship with six games remaining, all away from Austin. The Longhorns next traveled more than 500 miles by train to open a long and bitter basketball rivalry with the Arkansas Razorbacks , then in their first year of competition in the sport, earning four- and 11-point wins in Fayetteville . Despite its unblemished record, Texas was still predicted to lose at least one game to
2250-633: A share of the conference championship, and reached the 1972 NCAA tournament . The Longhorns defeated the Houston Cougars (who had been approved for SWC membership in 1971, but did not play a conference basketball schedule until 1975–76) 85–74 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where they fell to the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 66–55. Texas also lost the regional third place game 100–70 to Southwestern Louisiana (now
2375-502: A shocking defeat in the final game of the regular season, depriving the Longhorns of sole possession of the SWC crown and forcing them to share the conference championship with Arkansas for the second straight season. Following a 39–38 loss to the ninth-ranked Razorbacks in the SWC Tournament Final, Texas received a No. 4 seed and a bye to the second round in the 1979 NCAA tournament . Texas fell to No. 5-seeded Oklahoma in
2500-467: A strong reputation for basketball expertise, acquired during his years at Drake University . His Texas team finished with an overall record of 8–4 and, beginning with a 70–7 rout of Southwestern in San Marcos , contributed the first three victories to what would become a national-record winning streak . At the conclusion of the 1912–13 academic year, the UT's Cactus yearbook declared, "Basketball
2625-833: A strongly pro-LIU crowd of 18,453, the Longhorns upset the Blackbirds, 47–46. Texas next traveled to Chicago to face the DePaul Blue Demons of Ray Meyer , whose team had won the NIT two years earlier, and won the final game of their road trip in a rout, 61–43. Before returning to Austin, the 7–0 Longhorns stopped in Oklahoma City to play in the All-College Tournament. Texas dominated the Missouri Tigers 65–46 before falling to Oklahoma A&M,
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#17327806145632750-437: A three-point upset of 10th-ranked Arkansas in Fayetteville , a 23-point blowout of Shelby Metcalf 's No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies in Austin, and an eight-point win over the 11th-ranked Aggies three weeks later in College Station . During the preceding thirty seasons, Texas had only managed a total of six wins against AP-ranked opponents, and never more than one such victory in a single year. A home loss to 14th-ranked Arkansas
2875-496: A top-twenty ranking, Lemons replied, "You mean in the state?" After starting the season with a 6–9 record, Texas managed a six-game winning streak against some of the conference's weaker teams before stumbling to a 1–4 finish over the final five games. Despite Lemons' dejected mood following the final game of the season, a loss to Baylor in the final men's basketball game in Gregory Gymnasium , his first team had posted
3000-914: Is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC super featherweight title from 2003 to 2004, and the IBF lightweight title from 2005 to 2007. Chávez was born in Delicias, Chihuahua , Mexico, and raised in Chicago, Illinois . He became a legal U.S. resident as a child, but at age 16 he was convicted of being an accessory to armed robbery, spent four years in prison, and was subsequently deported back to Mexico . Nevertheless, he struggled to regain American citizenship and work his way up in boxing ranks. Chávez's first title opportunity came against WBC Super Featherweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. where he retired in
3125-471: Is no longer a minor sport at the University of Texas. It always has been so considered until this year Prof. Carl Taylor took charge of the work and infused new life into it." L. Theo Bellmont , the first athletic director at The University of Texas—and a man instrumental in the formation of the Southwest Conference —took the reins as head coach from 1914 to 1915, for the first of his two stints leading
3250-522: Is second only to Kansas in both all-time wins and all-time win percentage. The Longhorns have won 28 total conference championships in men's basketball and have made 38 total appearances in the NCAA tournament (9th-most appearances all time, with a 40–40 overall record), reaching the NCAA Final Four three times (1943, 1947, 2003) and the NCAA regional finals (Elite Eight) eight times. As of
3375-495: Is the Moody Center , named after the Moody Foundation, which had donated $ 130 million to University of Texas athletic programs. A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Moody Arena was held on the UT campus, just south of Mike A. Myers Soccer Stadium, on December 3, 2019; the new arena was completed in 2022. The Erwin Center hosted its last ticketed event on April 2, 2022; it was a basketball game which featured
3500-468: The 1948 NIT with two conference games remaining. (Baylor would go on to advance to the championship game of the 1948 NCAA tournament , where the Bears fell to Adolph Rupp 's Kentucky Wildcats in the first NCAA championship game appearance for either program.) Texas narrowly avoided an upset loss to SMU at home before blowing out Texas A&M in College Station, 54–34, to finish 9–3 and in second place in
3625-606: The Harlem Globetrotters . The newly completed Moody Center opened on April 20, 2022. The final UT graduation ceremonies to take place at the Erwin Center were held on May 20–21, 2022; they were the Erwin Center's last scheduled events. A year after the closure of the Erwin Center, the UT System Board of Regents unveiled plans for the structure's demolition. The announcement was made on May 1, 2023, and
3750-525: The NCAA tournament for the second time. The Longhorns drew the Tournament co-favorite Washington Huskies for their first game. After falling behind by 13 points in the first half, Texas came back to win 59–55 behind 30 points from John Hargis and 15 from Buck Overall to advance to its first-ever Final Four , where it drew the other Tournament co-favorite, the Wyoming Cowboys . It was then
3875-648: The Navy in April 1942, four months after the United States had entered the Second World War. Gray's assistant Ed Price had also left for naval service. Longhorn football assistant coach Howard "Bully" Gilstrap was appointed to coach the team for the duration of the war. In addition to both coaches, three starters from the 1941–42 team had departed for service in the war. Accordingly, expectations for
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4000-547: The Oklahoma Sooners , the first of eight straight wins. Texas lost 65–56 to fifth-ranked, defending national champion Marquette before posting another nine straight victories, including a 75–69 upset of third-ranked and eventual Final Four participant Arkansas , with its famed "Triplets" (guards Sidney Moncrief , Ron Brewer , and Marvin Delph ). The win over Eddie Sutton 's Razorbacks vaulted Lemons' Longhorns to
4125-678: The St. Joseph's Hawks in Philadelphia , 61–57, before returning to Oklahoma City for the All-College Tournament. There the Longhorns defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by a score of 54–45 and the Alabama Crimson Tide , 40–31, to advance to the title game against Oklahoma A&M. For the second consecutive year, the Aggies defeated the Longhorns by a single point, 32–31, after Bob Harris again provided
4250-602: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette , branded "Louisiana" for intercollegiate athletics), but that game, plus all Ragin' Cajun tournament games in 1972 and 1973 , were scrubbed from NCAA records when USL was handed a two-year death penalty in August 1973 (Texas does not count the game as a forfeit win, but as a vacated loss). After posting a 13–12 overall record in 1972–73, Black's Longhorns recorded three consecutive losing seasons, each with fewer wins and more defeats than
4375-892: The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball competition. The Longhorns competed in the Big 12 Conference through the 2023–24 season and moved to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) on July 1, 2024. The University of Texas began varsity intercollegiate competition in men's basketball in 1906. The Longhorns rank 17th in total victories among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs and 27th in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 60 years in Division I, with an all-time win–loss record of 1828–1105 (.623). Among Big 12 Conference men's basketball programs, Texas
4500-568: The baseball head coach for the United States Naval Academy . Only two seasons removed from his senior year at Texas, in which he earned consensus first-team All-American honors, and with only one year as an assistant coach with the Texas freshman team, the immensely popular Jack Gray was hired as the fourteenth Texas men's basketball head coach in the summer of 1937 at the age of 25. After his first two teams combined for
4625-414: The 1942–43 Longhorns were low. Despite losses of coaches and players that were projected as insurmountable hardships, Texas defied expectations, winning 13 of its first 16 games. Gilstrap credited Gray and Price with encouragement and advice from afar and his players with a degree of cooperation he said he had not seen before. Gilstrap explained, "There were a lot of things I didn't know about the system, and
4750-601: The 1947–48 Longhorn team, among others, but this team was short on depth compared to the previous season's Final Four team, with only seven players in Gray's rotation. For the first time in six years, freshmen were barred from playing on the varsity team. Texas started the season 6–0—highlighted by a 51–42 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders and a 51–30 blowout of the LSU Tigers , who proved too slow to handle
4875-427: The 1955–56 season after his final two teams produced a combined record of 16–32—easily the worst two-year period in the history of Longhorn basketball to that point. Hull was the first Texas coach since W. E. Metzenthin , who coached the basketball team for three years during the program's first five seasons (1909–11), to finish with a Texas career win percentage below .600. Following Hull's dismissal, Marshall Hughes
5000-412: The 1966–67 season. He finished with an overall record of 123–75 (.631) and a conference record of 73–39 (.651) as Texas head coach. With the hiring of Leon Black prior to the 1967–68 season, Texas entered a period that saw the reversal of most of its progress since the lost decade of the 1950s. Black opened with three losing seasons and one non-winning season before his 1971–72 team finished 19–9, won
5125-712: The 32-team NCAA tournament dashed in a two-point loss to Houston in the SWC Tournament Final . Houston claimed the automatic bid to the Tournament, Arkansas received an at-large bid , and the Longhorns were left to accept a bid to the 1978 National Invitation Tournament . Texas would storm through the tournament to reach the NIT Championship Game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack , defeating Temple , Nebraska , and Rutgers by an average of over 17 points in
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5250-565: The 9th round after an entertaining bout. He rebounded to win Mayweather's vacated WBC title on a fight for the title against 43-1 world champion Sirimongkol Eaimthuam by a twelve round unanimous decision at the Austin Convention Center in his hometown Austin, Texas on August 15, 2003, but lost it on his first defense, to the then two-time champion Erik Morales . In another exciting fight, Chávez rocked Morales early in
5375-538: The 9th round of their lightweight bout, at the Toyota Center , in Houston, Texas . Chávez, of Austin , also floored Ledesma in the 7th round. On April 4, 2009, Chávez was defeated by Michael Katsidis via 8th round TKO. He is trained by Richard Lord. Chávez is the subject of the 2006 non-fiction book by Adam Pitluk titled Standing Eight . His struggle to attain legal U.S. residence and work his way up
5500-558: The Aggies (later known as the Cowboys) dominated the diminutive Longhorns from start to finish, winning 69–34 in the opening round of the eight-team All-College tournament in Oklahoma City . The Longhorns dropped the second game of the tournament to fellow SWC member Rice, 55–52. The Longhorns opened a new season of SWC play with a road win over TCU. Texas was not expected to fare significantly better in two consecutive games against
5625-418: The Aggies in College Station. The Longhorns instead managed 24–14 and 17–11 victories over the Aggies to finish as the last undefeated team in Texas and SWC history at 23–0. Senior guard Abb Curtis would later receive retroactive recognition for the 1924 season as UT's second-ever consensus first-team All-American in basketball. Some have speculated that Stewart's devotion to his varied non-athletic interests
5750-462: The Aggies, then coached by future Texas football head coach and Athletic Director Dana X. Bible , who claimed their third consecutive SWC championship. Bellmont returned to his administrative responsibilities for good following the 1922 season, finishing his basketball coaching career with a 58–9 overall record; his .866 winning percentage remains the highest of any coach in program history. Bellmont selected football assistant coach Milton Romney as
5875-658: The Dell Center's construction, with the completion of following phases to require the demolition of the Erwin Center. In 2018, the University of Texas and the Oak View Group announced that they had agreed to build a new arena for the Texas Longhorns basketball programs, at a cost of $ 338 million; the new facility would fill the role that had been played by the Frank Erwin Center. The new arena
6000-532: The Final Four on Wyoming's way to the NCAA championship. Texas trailed until the final minutes of the second matchup, and Martin's long shot with 35 seconds remaining provided the margin of victory, with the Longhorns winning 42–40 to advance to the Final Four for the second time, where they would face Oklahoma. Despite having defeated the Sooners earlier in the season by 12 points, the Longhorns trailed 53–49 in
6125-498: The Longhorns finished with losing records 14 times, recorded a winning percentage of .522, and participated in the expanded Tournament only five times. Texas achieved some measure of national recognition during the tenures of head coaches Abe Lemons (1976–82) and Tom Penders (1988–98), but the program rose to its highest level of prominence under the direction of former head coach Rick Barnes (1998–2015). Barnes guided Texas to 16 NCAA tournament appearances in his 17 seasons with
6250-491: The Longhorns who surrendered an early 13-point lead, as the bigger and stronger Cowboys regrouped to win 58–54, on their way to defeating the Georgetown Hoyas 46–34 for the NCAA championship. Texas finished the season with a 19–7 overall record. Following the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons, in which Gilstrap's Longhorn teams posted overall records of 14–11 and 10–10, respectively, Jack Gray returned as head coach with
6375-608: The Longhorns won the SWC outright to reach the 1960 NCAA tournament , where they fell to the Kansas Jayhawks by a score of 80–71 in the Sweet Sixteen contest. Texas subsequently lost the Midwest Regional third-place game to DePaul by a score of 67–61. Texas finished the season ranked No. 13 in the UPI Coaches Poll , marking the first time that the basketball team had finished the season ranked since
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#17327806145636500-454: The Longhorns' next contest, against Baylor, the Bears stood at 11–0 in conference play and had already secured the SWC championship. Although Texas could do no better than second place, more than 8,000 fans squeezed into 7,500-seat Gregory Gym to see the Longhorns hand the Bears their only defeat of the conference season, 32–29, after Al Madsen added a layup and a free throw in the final 20 seconds. The win over Baylor landed Texas an invitation to
6625-541: The Longhorns. Instead, Texas handed SMU its first defeat of the conference season, 33–27. The Longhorns defeated the TCU Horned Frogs and the Texas A&;M Aggies in their remaining two conference road games before winning all five SWC contests in Austin, concluding with a 66–32 rout of the Aggies. With a nine-game conference winning streak, Texas had finished at 10–2 in SWC play to claim sole possession of
6750-562: The Midwest Regional third-place game against future Texas head coach Abe Lemons ' Oklahoma City Chiefs by a score of 90–81. The Longhorns finished the season ranked No. 12 in the Coaches Poll. The 1964–65 Longhorns tied SMU for the conference championship but lost the tiebreaker for the conference's NCAA tournament berth and thus did not participate in postseason play. In the following two seasons, Bradley's Texas teams posted overall records of 12–12 and 14–10. Bradley retired following
6875-431: The SWC championship thus relieved, the Longhorns easily dispatched the Razorbacks the following night, 66–46, to finish the regular season 24–1 overall and 12–0 in SWC play for their first undefeated conference season since Doc Stewart's 1923–24 team finished 23–0. Texas traveled to Kansas City to face Wyoming in the first game of the NCAA tournament . Four players from each team had been on the 1943 teams that faced off in
7000-596: The SWC championship. The Longhorns were one of eight teams to qualify for the inaugural postseason NCAA tournament , where they fell 56–41 to the "Tall Firs" of the Oregon Webfoots (later known as the Ducks), the eventual NCAA champion. Texas lost the West Regional third-place game to Utah State , 51–49. Hopes and expectations for the 1939–40 team were high, as all but one of the key players returned from
7125-423: The SWC play. The Longhorns boarded a train for New York the following morning to face the favored Violets of New York University , led by future fourth overall 1948 draft pick, 16-year NBA star, and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Dolph Schayes . Martin and Madsen led Texas to a 43–39 lead with under four minutes remaining—after Texas had trailed by seven points midway through the second half—but NYU tied
7250-506: The Special Events Center was completed in 1977 for a total cost of $ 34 million. The Texas men's basketball team opened the events center on November 29, 1977, with an 83–76 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners . UT undertook extensive renovations of the facility from 2001 to 2003 at a cost of $ 55 million, adding, among other things, new and renovated seating, new video and sound systems, new lighting, and 28 suites. The building
7375-532: The Texas track coach, assumed basketball head coaching responsibilities for the 1913 season. Taylor arranged for the rental of the theater of the Ben Hur Temple and its conversion into a miniature basketball court and arena so that his team would have an indoor venue for home games and practice, with UT paying the Shriners and Scottish Rite Freemasons a sum of $ 75 for the season. Taylor came to UT with
7500-506: The Year honors. With its four leading scorers returning, Texas entered the 1978–79 season with a No. 6 ranking in the AP poll and as the near-unanimous favorite to win the SWC championship. The Longhorns struggled early, beginning the season 7–4 and falling out of the AP rankings after a 21-point road defeat to Bill Cartwright and the San Francisco Dons . After another blowout road loss to Texas Tech , Texas regrouped to win three straight road games and 12 of its next 13 games, including
7625-406: The arena averaged around 20 rows deep, while the mezzanine is slightly deeper at around 24 rows. The size of the arena's inner ring was highly dependent on the event being hosted. In 2013, the Dell Medical Center , a $ 334 million teaching hospital for the university, identified the Erwin Center parking lot and the Waller Creek area directly across from the Center as being the site of Phase I of
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#17327806145637750-431: The arena. The Erwin Center hosted the semifinals and finals of the University Interscholastic League boys' and girls' basketball playoffs in all five classifications until 2015, when the playoffs moved to San Antonio. The arena also hosted both UT commencement ceremonies and various local high school graduations. Texas Longhorns men%27s basketball The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team represents
7875-479: The basketball team, and directed the Longhorns to 11–0 and 14–0 records in the 1914 and 1915 seasons, respectively, as well as the inaugural Southwest Conference championship during the latter season. Bellmont's teams contributed 25 victories to a winning streak that would ultimately grow to 44 games. After his teams extended the UT winning streak to 28 games, Bellmont stepped away from coaching to focus on his work as athletic director and appointed Roy Henderson to
8000-435: The benefit of the student body and faculty —one in which the basketball team would be able to play and practice as well—but fundraising for the $ 75,000 project had lagged, even more so with Gregory's departure from Austin to serve as the U.S. Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson in 1914. The project was shelved, but the need remained acute, and, following the 1916 season, the UT Athletic Council decided to allocate $ 8,500 for
8125-547: The better part of the next decade. Texas won only a single SWC Championship during the next nine seasons—in the exceptional 22–1 season of 1932–33, for which the Longhorns were also retroactively awarded the Premo-Porretta Power Poll national championship (presently unclaimed by UT). Fred Walker (1927–31) coached the Longhorns following E.J. Stewart's dismissal, producing a 51–30 combined record during his four-year stint as head coach. Walker led Texas to an 18–2 overall record and 10–2 conference record during his second season. He
8250-400: The boys realized that. They came to the rescue. They've been assistant coaches as well as players. We've just been trying to work it out together." After stumbling on a swing through North Texas late in the season with losses to TCU and SMU, the Longhorns concluded the regular season with victories over the Baylor Bears and Texas A&M to win a share of the SWC championship and qualify for
8375-519: The cancellation of basketball at UT, assumed head coaching duties for three seasons following the re-establishment of the program. The Longhorns played just 10 of their 27 games under Metzenthin (and only four of their final 18) on their home court, outdoor Clark Field—with its stubbornly uneven surface and total vulnerability to weather conditions —being particularly ill-suited as a basketball venue. Metzenthin finished with an overall record of 13–14; not until 1959 would another UT basketball coach leave with
8500-412: The championship game, 33–25. Texas began conference play with an upset loss to the Rice Owls before hosting the Arkansas Razorbacks for two games in Austin. The Longhorns won a close first contest, 41–37, before being thoroughly outclassed in the second, falling 65–41. With Texas reeling—having started 1–2 in SWC play, and hosting no conference games in Austin for the next month—the team's goal of ending
8625-418: The conference championship drought was in peril. The Longhorns began a four-game stretch of conference road games with a win over Baylor in Waco before continuing to Dallas to face the SMU Mustangs , who stood at 5–0 in conference play. Gray praised the Mustangs as "probably the most powerful team in the history of the school," and SMU coach Whitey Baccus confidently announced that his team would dispatch
8750-439: The conference championship in both—to join the military following the United States' entry into the First World War in April 1917. Following Van Gent's single year as head coach, Roy Henderson returned to coach Texas for two additional seasons. With several players from the 1917 team having left for military service, the 1918 Longhorn basketball team had only one returning player in sophomore Al DeViney. Henderson scouted talent in
8875-430: The conference had existed. From 1910 through 1919, Texas recorded an overall winning percentage of .789. Only three NCAA schools— California , Navy , and Wisconsin —achieved higher winning percentages for that decade. Eugene Van Gent was set to return as head coach for the 1920 season but resigned before the beginning of the season to pursue a business opportunity in California. Berry M. Whitaker —who had come to
9000-480: The construction of the temporary and rudimentary all-wood Men's Gym, which was finished for the second game of the next season. Theo Bellmont hired Eugene Van Gent from Missouri in 1916 to lead the Texas football, basketball, and track programs. Van Gent's single basketball team at Texas recorded a 13–3 overall mark and won the Southwest Conference championship for the third consecutive year, with
9125-404: The demolition process began during the following November. The Erwin Center was dismantled in phases, to preserve nearby structures and to facilitate the recycling of materials. The last remaining building supports came down on May 19, 2024, officially marking the end of the Erwin Center with the land to be cleared out completely by September. Located adjacent to downtown Austin , The Erwin Center
9250-516: The early part of the season for the conference slate ahead, and to both ends he sought to involve the Longhorns in intersectional competition against prominent teams in high-profile venues across the country. Ned Irish , director of Madison Square Garden and a pioneer in the promotion of college basketball in the 1930s, had invited Gray's Longhorns to play Manhattan College as part of a doubleheader that included Southern California and Long Island University . The UT Athletic Council agreed to fund
9375-471: The eight games scheduled in the basketball program's inaugural season. Due to inadequate funding, the UT Athletic Council canceled the fledgling program after two seasons, leaving Texas without a basketball team for the 1908 season. The Athletics Council revived the program in 1909, owing in large part to the efforts of Longhorn player Morgan Vining, who campaigned to raise student interest in
9500-746: The end of the Pacific War in August 1945. Gray took charge of a 1945–46 Texas team that returned only five lettermen—none of whom had ever played under him—and which had very little size, as both forward John Hargis and Robert Summers would be out for the entire season. Little was expected of the Longhorns that season, but Texas managed to win its first seven games. The team's grave liabilities in defense and rebounding against bigger teams were never more evident that year than against defending—and soon-to-be-repeating—national champion Oklahoma A&M (later renamed Oklahoma State University ) and its 7'0" All-American center, Bob "Foothills" Kurland . Kurland and
9625-440: The end of the 2023–24 season, Texas ranks tied for fourth among all Division I men's basketball programs for total NCAA Tournament games won without having won the national championship (40), tied with Kansas State and Notre Dame (40 each), and trailing Oklahoma (43), Illinois (45), and Purdue (49). The Texas basketball program experienced substantial success during the early decades of its existence, but its success in
9750-427: The end of the season and recommended that freshman team and assistant varsity coach Marty Karow take his place. Karow (1934–36) would direct Texas to a combined 31–16 record over his two years as head coach. His relationship with Texas Athletic Director and Longhorn football head coach Jack Chevigny marked by increasing friction, Karow resigned as head coach in the summer of 1936 and was hired shortly thereafter as
9875-553: The final minute of their second contest. Texas scored five points to take a 54–53 lead with seconds remaining, but OU scored on a 40-foot shot as time expired to defeat the Longhorns, 55–54. Texas returned to Madison Square Garden to play the City College of New York in the national third-place game prior to the NCAA championship game between OU and Holy Cross (won by the Crusaders, 58–47). Texas defeated CCNY 54–50 to finish
10000-400: The first National Invitation Tournament two years prior. Having lost one of two road contests against Arkansas and a road game against SMU in overtime, Texas entered the penultimate game of the season at 18–3 and tied at 8–2 in conference play with the preseason conference favorite Rice Owls—a team that the Longhorns had defeated on Rice's home court earlier in the season, 50–46. In front of
10125-418: The first 10 SWC contests by an average of 16.6 points). The Longhorns entered the final weekend of the conference season needing only one win in two games against the second-place Razorbacks. In front of more than 8,000 fans at Gregory Gym, Arkansas led for most of the first game before Slater Martin led a late surge to secure the win and the outright conference championship for Texas, 49–44. The pressure to win
10250-475: The first decade of the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns would finish with losing records ten times from 1951 to 1976. Thurman "Slue" Hull was hired as men's basketball head coach prior to the 1951–52 season. In his five seasons as the Texas head coach, Hull led the Longhorns to one Southwest Conference championship (1953–54) and finished with an overall record of 60–58 (.508). He was dismissed following
10375-598: The first round of a boxing show headlined by a fight between Mexican Jesus Chavez and American Tom Johnson , contest won by Chavez by an eighth-round knockout on February 23, 2001. Music artists such as Taylor Swift , David Bowie , Tina Turner , Lana Del Rey , Ariana Grande , KISS , U2 , Bon Jovi , Pearl Jam , Paul McCartney , Def Leppard , George Strait , Garth Brooks , Van Halen , Rush , AC/DC , Pink Floyd , Prince , Guns N' Roses , Rod Stewart , Madonna , Whitney Houston , Radiohead , Kanye West , Lady Gaga , Miley Cyrus and many others have performed at
10500-445: The first round. Morales recovered and knocked Chávez down twice in the 2nd round, but Chávez came back and fought hard for the rest of the fight, despite having a torn rotator cuff and torn ACL. Morales won a close decision, but Chávez gained further respect for his effort. In his next fight, he took on former IBF Champion Carlos Hernández, who in turn had also lost his own title to Morales. In an exciting 12-round war, Chávez pulled out
10625-712: The first three rounds. The Longhorns posted an easy 101–93 victory over the Wolfpack to win the NIT Championship behind 22, 26, and 33 points, respectively, from point guard Johnny Moore and 1978 NIT Co-MVPs Ron Baxter and Jim Krivacs. After the end of the 1977–78 season, Abe Lemons was named National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches . Lemons remains the only men's basketball coach in UT history to earn National Coach of
10750-483: The following season, members of the UT Development Board met with several dozen prominent alumni to discuss plans for the construction of a 20,000-seat coliseum, at a cost of roughly $ 2 million, to be located south of Memorial Stadium . UT architects had already begun to draw up designs for such an arena, but the effort did not progress beyond the planning stages. Slater Martin and Al Madsen returned to
10875-405: The football team to an undefeated season, Stewart turned to implementing an entirely new style of basketball at Texas—one that emphasized ball movement and man-to-man defense and that essentially dispensed with the dribble altogether. Texas entered the season expected to finish third or fourth in conference play behind TCU , Oklahoma A&M, and possibly Texas A&M. Texas opened the season with
11000-455: The game in the final minute and scored the final basket on a long shot with six seconds remaining to win the quarterfinals game, 45–43. The Longhorns finished the season 20–5, marking the first time in program history that Texas had won 20 or more games in consecutive seasons. After two losing seasons during the program's first five years, Texas suffered only one losing season from 1912 to 1950, reaching two Final Fours and one Elite Eight during
11125-414: The game. Vining was supported in his efforts by the UT student newspaper, The Daily Texan , which consistently advocated for the reinstatement of basketball—in part because the game was viewed as good physical training for football players in the latter sport's offseason. Language professor, German native, and Longhorn football head coach W. E. Metzenthin (1909–11), who had argued strongly against
11250-459: The head coach of the UT track team from 1925 to 1960 (winning 25 conference championships), and found the Texas Relays —would later receive retroactive recognition as Texas' first consensus All-American in basketball for his play in the 1916 season. UT alumnus and former regent Thomas Watt Gregory had begun campaigning a decade earlier for the construction of a permanent gymnasium for
11375-403: The intramural ranks and nonetheless assembled a team that finished 14–5 overall and missed winning Texas' fourth consecutive SWC championship by a single game. Henderson guided the Longhorns to a 17–3 overall record in his final season (1919), splitting the four-game series with the second-place Aggies to win the SWC championship—Texas' fourth basketball conference championship during the five years
11500-686: The introduction of the AP poll and the Coaches Poll for the 1948–49 and 1950–51 seasons, respectively. Bradley's 1962–63 team again won the SWC outright and reached 20 wins for the first time since Jack Gray 's 1947–48 Longhorns. Texas advanced to the NCAA tournament and defeated the Texas Western Miners by a score of 65–47 in its opening game to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where the Longhorns fell 73–68 to Ed Jucker 's defending two-time national champion and fifth-consecutive Final Four participant Cincinnati Bearcats . Texas would go on to win
11625-525: The modern era is of relatively recent vintage. After two losing seasons during the program's first five years, Texas suffered only one losing season from 1912 to 1950, achieving a winning percentage of .703 during that span, reaching two Final Fours and one Elite Eight during the first decade of the NCAA Tournament, and receiving retroactive recognition as the 1933 national champion from the Premo-Porretta Power Poll . From 1951 to 1988,
11750-425: The next head basketball coach—then still an unpaid position. Romney's tenure took an early inauspicious turn when the Longhorns lost at home to Oklahoma A&M , 28–27, after Romney called his top players to the bench with a 14-point lead and nine minutes remaining. The Longhorns again suffered a disproportionate number of injuries, including the loss of two starters to a broken leg and a fractured skull resulting from
11875-436: The next three years. Returning all but one all but one top player and adding some military veterans and players from the freshman team, Gray's 1946–47 Texas team was thought to have a legitimate chance of winning the SWC championship, along with Arkansas, SMU, and defending SWC champion Baylor. Future Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member and five-time NBA champion guard Slater Martin and forward John Hargis returned to
12000-497: The one before. Black's 1973–74 team managed to win the SWC championship outright, even with an overall record of 12–15, and advanced to the NCAA tournament , where the Longhorns fell to the Creighton Bluejays in the first round, 77–61. Following 10–15 and 9–17 seasons in 1974–75 and 1975–76, respectively, Black resigned from his position as Texas head coach. Black finished with an overall record of 106–121 (.467) and
12125-640: The open position. Lemons and fellow Oklahoman Royal agreed to a five-year contract worth roughly $ 30,000 per year, and Lemons was subsequently introduced as the twentieth Longhorn head basketball coach in the program's 72 seasons. Thanks to his exuberant personality, quick and acerbic wit, and rare quote-making skill, the cigar -smoking Abe Lemons' growing status as a fan favorite anticipated any of his notable accomplishments in basketball at Texas. Though he and his staff inherited two players that would play central roles on his most successful Texas teams in freshman forward and Los Angeles high school player of
12250-399: The previous season's SWC champion and NCAA Tournament squad. Texas opened the season with seven wins by an average of 18 points (and by no fewer than 11), including two wins over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a home series that marked the first meetings between the two schools in basketball. Gray was intent both upon raising national recognition of the program and upon toughening his team in
12375-464: The program, including a school-record 14 consecutive appearances (1999–2012), as well as fifteen 20-win seasons overall and a school-best 13 consecutive 20-win seasons (2000–12). The team now plays in their new home arena, the Moody Center . The team is coached by Rodney Terry , who took over from Chris Beard in December 2022 after the latter was suspended and later fired after being arrested on
12500-669: The season ahead, and the Longhorns next embarked upon a 10-day, 4,000-mile train trip to face Canisius in Buffalo , Long Island in New York City, and DePaul in Chicago . Texas defeated Canisius 52–46 before traveling to New York for the most-anticipated contest of the trip, the game in Madison Square Garden against Clair Bee 's LIU Blackbirds, who were averaging 90 points per game and had recently defeated defending national champion Oklahoma A&M. In front of
12625-400: The season due to injury and illness. After winning their first five games, the Longhorns lost six of eleven to finish at 10–6 overall—Texas' worst season in nine years. Theo Bellmont designated Whitaker as the Longhorn football head coach after the departure of Bill Juneau , and Bellmont himself would assume basketball head coaching duties for two more seasons (1921 and 1922), finishing with
12750-420: The season highlighted by the first-ever basketball games between Texas and the Texas A&M Aggies , following the resumption of athletic relations between the two schools. The Longhorns began the basketball rivalry with wins in both home games and in one of two games in College Station . Van Gent's 1917 Texas team also added the final four wins to the Texas winning streak that had begun in 1913 before suffering
12875-483: The season with 26 wins and two last-second, one-point defeats. With demand for tickets outstripping the seating capacity of Gregory Gym, calls began to grow louder for the construction of a new arena. At the same time, a group of Austin businessmen announced plans for the construction of a 10,000-seat arena adjacent to soon-to-be-built Interregional Highway, the precursor to Interstate 35 , and 23rd Street and East Avenue—plans which ultimately did not bear fruit. During
13000-492: The season with a win over Bible's Aggies. A medical school graduate, a piano enthusiast, a former sportswriter , a one-time automobile dealership owner, and a veteran football and basketball coach, Doc Stewart quickly became a popular figure across diverse segments of the university population. His oratory eloquence landed him an open job offer from the head of the UT English Department. After having coached
13125-581: The season with four blowout wins, the last and closest coming by a score of 46–34 against the Continental Air Liners of Denver . The game against the Air Liners was the last game Texas would play against a semi-professional team, once a routine component of the nonconference schedule, until the 1955–56 season. Not content to play only overmatched local teams for the remainder of the nonconference slate, Gray wanted to harden his team for
13250-797: The second half for a 36–34 victory. The second game the following night proceeded more in line with expectations, with Kansas winning handily, 49–35. Following the series against KU, Texas traveled to Oklahoma City to compete for the first time in the All-College tournament , which had begun in 1937. The 1939 edition of the holiday tournament featured 32 teams from the Southwest and Midwest. The Longhorns easily advanced through their tournament bracket, defeating Southeastern State College ( Oklahoma ), Westminster College ( Missouri ), Kansas State Teachers College , and tournament favorite Baylor before falling to Central Missouri State Teachers College in
13375-649: The speed of another fast and quick Longhorn team—before embarking on another road trip to the Northeast, stopping in New York for the third time in two seasons. In a rematch of the previous season's national third-place game, Texas faced the CCNY Beavers in Madison Square Garden. Texas surrendered an 18-point first-half lead but withstood a late CCNY rally, holding on to win, 61–59. Texas defeated
13500-400: The still-unpaid Texas basketball head coaching position. Henderson's team recorded Texas' third consecutive undefeated season in 1916 to extend the total to 40 consecutive victories. Senior center Clyde Littlefield , the linchpin of the three consecutive undefeated teams —and a towering figure in UT athletics history who would later coach the football team for seven seasons (1927–33), serve as
13625-401: The team to join guards Roy Cox and Al Madsen, who had returned the previous season. All four men, along with three other of that year's letterwinners, had served in the war. Martin, Cox, and Madsen were dubbed the "Mighty Mice." Though the return of Hargis helped, the Longhorns were again a team not possessed of great size, but they did possess great speed and scoring ability. The Longhorns began
13750-458: The team's trip to New York for the contest, followed by a stop in Philadelphia to play Temple . In front of 18,425 fans, the Longhorns overwhelmed Manhattan by a score of 54–32, earning the praise of the New York sports media and basketball fans for their speed and the accuracy of their one-handed shooting, which Gray had popularized as a player and continued teaching as a coach. Continuing on to Philadelphia, Texas fell 47–37 to Temple, winners of
13875-557: The three competing college basketball teams in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis , the first Olympic Games featuring the young sport (although only as a demonstration sport ). Mainland was able to persuade the University Athletic Council to set aside $ 125 for the preparation of an outdoor basketball court on the southwest corner of Clark Field —the stadium then hosting the Texas football, baseball , and track teams—and to let him organize, coach, and play on
14000-514: The tournament to finish the season with a 21–8 overall record and a No. 15 final ranking in the UPI Coaches' Poll . The Longhorns drew an average of 15,886 fans per home game in 1978–79, a school and Erwin Center record that to this point has not been challenged. Jesus Chavez Jesús Gabriel Sandoval Chávez ( / ˈ tʃ æ v ɛ z / ; born November 12, 1972) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2010. He
14125-401: The towering Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville than it had against Oklahoma A&M. The Longhorns acquitted themselves well in a close loss in the first game, 55–47, but the pre-game prognostications came to fruition the following night, as Arkansas routed Texas 90–63 in the second contest. After having lost four of five games, Texas posted an 8–3 record in its final 11 contests to finish with
14250-421: The two-time defending national champion, in the semifinal by a single point, 40–39. The Longhorns defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the third-place game the following night by a score of 62–50. Texas was only occasionally challenged during the remainder of the regular season, winning its three remaining nonconference games by 29, 24, and 12 points and seven of its first 10 conference games by 12 or more points (and
14375-415: The university to develop and direct one of the nation's first intramural programs, and who would also coach the Texas football team for the next three seasons—agreed to serve as head coach for the season. Texas, with seven returning lettermen and war veterans who had played in 1916 and 1917, was once again expected to contend for the conference championship in 1920, but seven players missed significant parts of
14500-416: The university was growing rapidly, and if Texas basketball continued to achieve success, a looming capacity problem was clearly foreseeable. Football and basketball were growing in popularity nationwide, and a spending and building boom was expected to take place in athletics departments around the country. No specific plans for basketball took shape at UT, but discussions of a larger gym or arena continued over
14625-461: The university's first varsity basketball team. The Longhorns took the court for the first time on March 10, 1906, defeating the Baylor Bears 27–17 on their new outdoor home court at Clark Field. Texas traveled to Waco two weeks later for a three-game series with the Bears (also in their first year) and won all three games behind the play of Mainland. The Longhorns ultimately won seven of
14750-403: The winning margin in the final five seconds. Texas opened conference play 5–0, pushing its overall record to 16–1, before suffering three consecutive losses to Baylor, Rice, and Arkansas to see its prospects for defending its SWC crown dashed. The Longhorns recovered to win the second game against the Razorbacks in their weekend trip to Fayetteville, 54–43, to halt the losing streak. By the time of
14875-437: The year Ron Baxter and sophomore Auburn transfer Jim Krivacs , Lemons was nevertheless assuming control of a moribund program coming off of three consecutive losing seasons, the last of which featured the then-third-most defeats in the history of the program. Lemons was less than sanguine about the Longhorns' prospects for the 1976–77 season. Asked in a preseason media session if he felt his first Texas team to be worthy of
15000-532: Was generally accepted to be Austin's current premier venue for large public and private events. The center held many events such as concerts, professional wrestling events, bull riding and private banquets. The arena has hosted three UFC mixed martial events: UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares in 2010, UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Swanson in 2014, and UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros in 2018. Legendary professional boxer Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico had his debut fight there, knocking out Jason Doucet in
15125-432: Was hired as the next men's basketball head coach prior to the 1956–57 season. Under Hughes, the Texas basketball program reached the nadir of its existence. Hughes was fired after only three seasons—each with a losing record, and each worse than the one preceding it—with an overall record of 25–46 (.352) after his final team posted a mark of just 4–20, tying the 1954–55 season as the then-worst in program history and concluding
15250-631: Was named for former UT Board of Regents member Frank Erwin, who as a regent was very controversial due to his hostility towards the burgeoning on-campus, political counterculture movement of the late 1960s and was directly involved in the arrest of protesting students and the purging of what he deemed as "unpatriotic" faculty. Originally known as the Special Events Center, the facility was renamed in 1980 to honor Erwin, who died that same year. A two-level layout (the lower arena and upper mezzanine ) accommodated up to 16,540 spectators for basketball games and up to 17,900 spectators for concerts. The inner ring of
15375-440: Was terminated following the Longhorns' disappointing 9–15 season in his fourth year. Ed Olle (1931–34), who had played for Texas under Stewart, coached Texas for three seasons after Walker's dismissal, leading the Longhorns to a 22–1 overall mark, a conference championship, and a retroactively awarded Premo-Porretta Power Poll national championship during his second year. During his third year, Olle signaled that he would resign at
15500-448: Was the lone blemish during the 13-game stretch, a game that featured a shouting and shoving episode, famous in SWC lore, between Lemons and Eddie Sutton after Sutton had admonished Texas player Johnny Moore on the court. Police and assistant coaches intervened, but Lemons told the media following the game that if Sutton dared to address his players again, he would "tear his Sunday clothes" and "liquidate his a**." Struggling SMU dealt Texas
15625-498: Was the root cause of his football and basketball teams' decline in performance over his tenure. Following the perfect 1924 season, Stewart's next three teams finished 17–8, 12–10, and 13–9. This slide—coupled with his football teams' similar decline in performance—resulted in the popular Stewart's controversial dismissal following the 1926–27 season. Excepting two strong seasons—one particularly noteworthy—Texas maintained this level of relatively unremarkable performance in basketball for
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