Watch Arch Manning enjoying his celebrity status during Longhorns’ basketball comeback win over Aggies
Manning threw T-shirts into the crowd, met Mack Brown and got Longhorns fans riled up during 70-69 win
A sold-out crowd of 11,313 came to Moody Center on Saturday expecting to see Texas knock off rival No. 13 Texas A&M. They had no idea who would be the Longhorns’ biggest cheerleader.
Arch Manning and several of his Longhorns’ football teammates sat courtside Saturday and loved every minute of Texas’ 22-point comeback and buzzer-beating victory.
Manning, running back CJ Baxter, receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., safety Michael Taaffe and others were dialed in throughout the game and on their feet shouting when Tramon Mark hit the game-winner with three seconds left.
This is how it goes when you’re the new face of the football program. Manning played 2 1/2 games in spot duty last September when starter Quinn Ewers was injured.
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The redshirt freshman will become the full-time starter in 2025, and most inside the building believe — or at least hope — that Manning will stay two more years. He is draft eligible after the 2025 season.
Manning and his teammates were brought onto the floor during a timeout to throw out T-shirts. It took fans a few seconds the first time Manning was shown on the Moody Center video board, but a large cheer soon followed.
Then during another stoppage, cameras caught Texas icon Mack Brown making his way over to the players’ seats so he could shake their hands and, presumably, introduce himself.
Brown and his wife Sally have moved back to Austin since he parted ways with North Carolina. Brown has attended multiple UT basketball games in recent weeks with close friend and UT donor Bill Duval.
The Aggies had a 22-point lead with about 17 minutes left in the game. But the Longhorns kept chipping away. Tre Johnson had a sensational second half, scoring 24 of his season-high 30 points after the break and hitting some wide-open 3-pointers.
Manning showed off his shooting skills at one point as the crowd was going wild.
Manning is known to be a sharpshooter himself. Football coaches were known to attend his high school basketball games in New Orleans, and he loves to bury 3-pointers on the blacktop courts around campus.
After the game was over, Manning and his teammates were seen walking through the tunnel inside Moody Center on their way out.
With the crowd at full throttle singing “The Eyes of Texas,” Taaffe had his Horns up and was singing right along with everyone else. He looked at a reporter, said hello and sang “’till Gabriel blows his horn.”
