Arch Manning, Two Other Texas Longhorns Meet With Mack Brown

AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns men's basketball team is hosting the Texas A&M Aggies in Austin on Saturday for the second-ever meeting between the two rivals as SEC opponents.

With the college football season now over, all eyes are on head coach Rodney Terry's team. And with the rivalry now renewed, some Longhorn celebrities were in attendance at the Moody Center.

Lindsey Plotkin of Texas Longhorns on SI captured an interaction between some of the most notable stars in the crowd, as Texas football's Arch Manning, Michael Taaffe and CJ Baxter were all seen talking with former Texas head coach Mack Brown.

Brown was fired by North Carolina on Nov. 26 after six seasons in his second stint as head coach with the team. He has since been replaced by Bill Belichick.

Take a look:

Arch Manning | Lindsey Plotkin - Texas Longhorns on SI

During a timeout in the first half, Taaffe, Manning and Baxter joined in and threw out t-shirts to the fans.

Manning is set to enter his first season as the full-time starter in 2025 with Quinn Ewers heading to the NFL Draft. Taaffe has already announced he's returning for his final season while Baxter is expected to be the starting running back after suffering a season-ending injury in training camp last summer.

Taaffe was emotinal after the loss to Ohio State but made it clear that he has unfinished business.

"This team so special to me, and just for this book of the chapter to close, for this team, as far as we can't play another game together, that hurt, emotionally, that hurt, just to not be able to play with those guys ever again, wearing the burnt orange," Taaffe said. " ... [I've] just got so much love for these guys, and [I] came in here as a walk-on and and now I'm an All-American, but I don't care about that. I care about the love of my teammates. That's truly all I care about. Those are cool accolades, but hearing that a teammate loves me is so much cooler, and it's so fulfilling in your heart as a teammate, as a leader, as a guy on a team."

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