Last week, Texas women’s basketball announced it would host a preseason exhibition game against DePaul that will raise funds for the rebuilding of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

All proceeds from the game, set for Sunday, Oct. 30 at the Moody Center, will be donated to the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation. In May, 19 children and two adults were killed in a school shooting at the elementary school. In response, the nation has donated over $16 million to help those recovering from the tragedy.

The exhibition game is set for 2 p.m. Oct. 30 and will be broadcast on Longhorn Network. Reserved seats are priced at $10 and general admission tickets will go for $6. The proceeds will help fund the rebuilding of Robb Elementary.

At a press conference on Thursday, head coach Vic Schaefer said he wants the University to be just as involved in the rebuilding efforts. He also hopes to pack the Moody Center for the exhibition game in order to give the Uvalde community as much support as possible.

“To me, it’s our obligation to help our family in Uvalde,” Schaefer said. “If we have an opportunity to impact that community with what they’ve had to go through, it’s our obligation as Texan(s).” 

Community is an important factor to Schaefer, who is set to begin his third year as Texas’ head coach. While the coronavirus pandemic prevented Schaefer from getting as involved as he would have liked, he said he wants his team, coaching staff and himself to continue making a difference and giving back to the community, and the Uvalde exhibition game is a way of doing so.

Recently, Schaefer personally went door-to-door to sorority and fraternity houses to rally student support for his team, and he said he would undoubtedly do that and more again to have the arena filled for the exhibition game against DePaul. 

“I’m hoping like heck we can fill up that arena and get 10,500 in there, and I have to go to (athletics director) Chris Del Conte and say, ‘Hey you need to roll up the garage doors, we want (16,000),’” Schaefer said. “He’ll tell me, ‘Okay, well I want 5,000 names of people that are coming, and then we’ll do it.’”

Schaefer also pledged to donate an extra $1,000 for every thousand fans that show up to the game, which will be the first public event for women’s basketball in the brand new arena.

“I’m so proud of the opportunity that we’re going to have when we play DePaul,” Schaefer said. “We are going to be able to assist that community and help them, probably in the smallest of ways, but if it is even just a little bit and we can help them cope and recover from those events, then we are going to get all in and try and do that.”