Kyla Oldacre stands out.
At 6 feet, 6 inches, the junior forward towers over most players on the court. And over the past few weeks, she’s stood out to the referees as well.
Head coach Vic Schaefer believes she is being unfairly officiated, getting personal fouls called on her for doing common defensive moves while players on the other team don’t get penalized for their physical coverage of Oldacre.
“If I told you how many times Kyla Oldacre came over to the side and said, ‘Would you please tell them they are hitting me in the face? Would you please tell them to tell them to stop letting them hit me in the face?’ That’s unacceptable,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said he was so disappointed in the behavior toward Oldacre, that he was very close to taking a public stand against Oldacre’s treatment from the officials, just like head coach Kim Mulkey did for Brittney Griner while at Baylor, or how Dale Brown stood up for Shaquille O’Neal at LSU.
This is not the first time that Oldacre has experienced this kind of treatment. When she started playing in the Amateur Athletic Union, she immediately noticed the difference in treatment she received from referees. She also said she had been bitten on the court several times.
Oldacre has to let her opponents know, every game, she is not someone to mess around with, and that she will fight back.
“I was always looked at as the big, friendly giant,” Oldacre said. “(They) take my kindness for weakness, until they realize they poked the bear. And that was that.”
After transferring from Miami last year, Oldacre has become an important piece of this season’s Texas team. She averages almost 10 points and just under seven rebounds per game. Oldacre is a physical player who also draws fouls and makes a majority of her free throws, at a 69% average.
Fellow post player, senior Taylor Jones, does not receive the same kind of double teaming and defense that Oldacre does, according to Schaefer.
“Kyla is down there like a clothesline on a breezy day in the summer,” Schaefer said. “She’s just got people hanging all over, and Taylor doesn’t seem to garner that.”
The pair make up what Schaefer has dubbed a “two-headed monster,” and have found great success this season. Despite the questionable officiating, Oldacre’s role impact on the court is undeniable, and her teammates realize this.
“Her offensive game has come so far from whenever she first came here, and I know we’re all super proud of her,” Jones said after the Jan. 9 Alabama game. “She’s doing a great job on offense and defense, and so I bet for other teams, it’s probably pretty hard to scout both of us.”