The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I men's basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference

Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

.

The team has achieved national prominence under head coach Rick Barnes

Rick Barnes

Richard Dale Barnes is the current head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns men's basketball team. He has coached Texas for the last twelve seasons, taking the team to the NCAA Tournament each year, including a Final Four appearance led by T. J. Ford in 2003...

 in recent years. Barnes has guided Texas to a school-record twelve consecutive NCAA Tournament

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

 appearances and a school-best twelve consecutive 20-win seasons as of February 6, 2011.

Since 1977, the team has played its home games in the Frank Erwin Special Events Center

Frank Erwin Center

Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Special Events Center, commonly known as Frank Erwin Center or UT Erwin Center, is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin...

, where it has compiled a record of 407-95 (.811) as of March 1, 2011.
The University of Texas

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

 began varsity

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 intercollegiate competition in men's basketball in 1906.