Texas women’s basketball and Tennessee don’t just share color schemes and acronyms — they also entered Sunday’s match-up in similar situations, with both head coaches publicly questioning their teams’ effort.
Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell questioned her team’s will to win and discipline, and Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said his team played with no heart in the 16-point loss against Vanderbilt on Thursday.
This matchup was the opportunity for both teams to prove their respective coaches wrong, even more so for the Longhorns to bounce back after their loss.
Texas appeared in control early in the fourth quarter, building a 10-point lead within the first five minutes, but Tennessee answered quickly, drilling three three-pointers in a matter of minutes to cut the deficit and ignite a hostile crowd.
Suddenly, with only 30 seconds to go, Texas clung to a one-point lead.
After a series of fouls and free throws, Tennessee had the ball down two points with six seconds remaining. A three-pointer would win it, and a field goal would force overtime. Texas needed one final defensive stand.
When the ball was inbounded to junior Talaysia Cooper, fifth-year point guard Rori Harmon and sophomore point guard Bryanna Preston immediately trapped her. Harmon forced the ball loose, and Preston dove to the floor to secure it.
The clock expired and Texas escaped with a gritty win, its 24th of the season.
It felt fitting that the game was decided by a turnover, because that had been the story all afternoon. Both teams pressed full court and pushed the tempo in transition, turning the game into a physical, chaotic battle. Fast and physical can quickly become sloppy, which proved true on both ends.
Texas committed 17 turnovers, but forced Tennessee into 23. The teams were even in turnovers entering the fourth quarter. In the final 10 minutes, Texas forced seven, the difference in the game.
The defensive intensity improved since Thursday. It started, as it often does, with Harmon. If she plays hard, the rest will follow.
“We came out punching,” Harmon said. “I could see in everyone’s eyes in our intentionality and our urgency in our huddles that we were going to get it done tonight. One of the important things is finishing the game right, and to be able to force seven turnovers in that quarter is tremendous, and that just shows that we were able to lock back in even though we’re probably tired.”
Texas is not playing perfect basketball. Schaefer knows that, and he takes responsibility. However, he was proud of how his team practiced in the three days following the Vanderbilt loss, how his veterans stepped up to lead and how they responded after his pointed criticism.
He doesn’t take joy in delivering those messages to players he cares deeply about. Still, he believes he owes them honest, difficult conversations, and that’s not a method he plans to change.
“I love them to death. They are my world,” Schaefer said. “I don’t get any satisfaction out of having those real conversations. But so much of what I do comes with parental instincts … I’m too far down the road to change in holding kids accountable, myself accountable. I owe it to them to do that.”
The Longhorns finish their second brutal SEC stretch 9-3 and will most likely move back up into the No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. Texas also boasts 10 wins against ranked opponents heading into its last four games of the regular season.
