Two games into its Southeastern Conference campaign, Texas women’s basketball has quickly realized what league play has in store.
Starting 2026 on the road in Columbia, Missouri, the Longhorns were thrust into adversity through a double-digit deficit in the opening minutes. Three days later, hosting Ole Miss at Moody Center, Texas found itself in the driver’s seat late, just for the Rebels to storm back and enforce a late-game, stress-inducing pressure in the final minutes.
These experiences serve as valuable learning opportunities for a group that has now improved to the program’s first 17–0 record since 1985-86, the famed season in which Jody Conradt’s team finished undefeated and claimed Texas’ sole national championship.
Historic company, yes. Comfortable, no.
“I tell (my players) all the time, I don’t need to lose to get my attention,” head coach Vic Schaefer said after facing Ole Miss. “And that’s what I’m battling a little bit right now, to be honest with you.”
Including prospective SEC Tournament games, the Longhorns have just reached the halfway point of their pre-NCAA Tournament campaign. Schaefer knows all too well that the first half of the season by no means results in success during the back half.
In Sunday afternoon’s press conference, Schaefer mentioned he received a message of good luck from one of his former assistants at Mississippi State ahead of his opportunity to reach 17–0 again. Schaefer did so with the Bulldogs in 2014-15. What went unmentioned, though, is that his Bulldogs then went on to lose five SEC regular-season games, fall in the conference tournament quarterfinal and end their season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
However, his team in Austin, coming off a Final Four appearance, has been battle-tested at a different level from the one he had that season in Starkville.
As the preseason No. 4 team in the AP Poll, the Longhorns moved up to No. 2 in Week 5 after wins over then-No. 3 UCLA and No. 2 South Carolina, still strongly holding that spot in Week 10. Schaefer’s squad has six ranked wins to its name and sits as one of only four AP Top 25 teams to remain undefeated, with the new year initiating challenging conference matchups across the nation.
The past week’s games exposed Texas in ways not seen previously. Yet, moving forward, that reality may ultimately be the best-case scenario for the Longhorns, giving them what Schaefer would describe as lessons in victory.
“I do think that there’s some kids on my team that (this Ole Miss game is) going to get their attention, and it should. I want it to,” Schaefer said. “I know we had a lot of success early. Played some really good teams early. But, I see (my players) every day, and we got a lot of growth. … We can get so much better and improve in so many areas. And I think that’s what’s exciting, but it’s also scary.”
Schaefer emphasized that in a month from now, he will be able to judge whether his team had learned from the lessons of early January. Soon to enter the heart of their SEC schedule, the Longhorns will need to earn the progression he wants to see.
