On Thursday night, Texas women’s basketball played South Carolina for the sixth time in a 369-day span. That was not lost on UT forward Madison Booker.
“I’m tired of seeing them,” Booker said with a laugh after a 68-65 loss in Columbia.
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The Texas Longhorns gather on the court after the win over Auburn at the Moody Center on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 in Austin.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
Since the Longhorns joined the SEC ahead of the 2024-25 season, Texas and South Carolina have started to form a riveting rivalry. The Longhorns and Gamecocks have met at the Final Four and in the championship games of the 2025 SEC Tournament and 2025 Players Era event. South Carolina and Texas have both been ranked among the top-five teams in the AP poll during each of their six meetings, and three of their games have been decided by four points or less. South Carolina is 4-2 in these showdowns.Â
NO. 4 TEXAS VS. TEXAS A&M
When/where:Â 3 p.m. Sunday at Moody Center
TV/radio: SEC Network; 1300 AM.
More: Why Texas’ ‘disruptive’ defense wasn’t enough to take down mighty South Carolina
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South Carolina isn’t the only team that UT has a basketball-based beef with. LSU-Texas games have become must-watch TV. Oklahoma has also kept pace with its Red River rival since Vic Schaefer took over the Longhorns in 2020 and Jennie Baranczyk was hired by the Sooners one year later.
So where does that leave Texas A&M?
Yes, Texas and Texas A&M have a storied history that dates back to UT’s inaugural season in 1975. Yes, Texas and Texas A&M have played enough times over the years that UT can only say that it has seen Texas Tech and Baylor more often on a basketball court. And yes, these two campuses are separated by roughly 100 miles. But in women’s basketball, is Texas-Texas A&M just a rivalry in name only?
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Remember how Texas and South Carolina have played six times in the past 12 months? Sunday’s showdown at Moody Center between Texas (18-2, 3-2) and Texas A&M (8-5, 1-3) will be just the sixth meeting between the Aggies and Longhorns in the past 13 seasons. After Texas A&M left the Big 12 in 2012, the two teams ran into each other in the Virgin Islands once and were pitted together by the Big 12/SEC Challenge matchmakers on three occasions before resuming their conferences clashes last year. Texas and Texas A&M last played a meaningful conference game in 2010.
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On Saturday, sixth-year Texas head coach Vic Schaefer had a tempered response when asked about the state of this in-state rivalry. Schaefer is a Texas A&M graduate who also won a national championship at his alma mater in 2011 while working on legendary Aggie coach Gary Blair’s staff.
“I know the history of Texas and Texas A&M, absolutely,” Schaefer said. “It goes back hundreds of years, obviously. I think there’s obviously still some people that remember the old Southwest Conference days and then the Big 12 days, and I’m one of them. I know it’s an important game. It wouldn’t matter if we’re playing jacks on the sidewalk, you want to win, right?
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“But I think for our kids in today’s world, they probably don’t know or understand the history of it. For us, it’s another game in the SEC and you’ve got to defend your home court against a great team, really good players, (Texas A&M coach Joni Taylor is) doing a great job coaching them.”
Texas is currently ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press and listed fourth in the coaches poll. The Longhorns, though, enter this weekend with a two-game losing streak and will try to return to their winning ways against a Texas A&M program that has struggled since Blair retired following the 2021-22 season. Dating back to last season, Texas A&M has lost 11 of its last 13 games against ranked opponents.Â
Texas A&M guard Sydney Carter (4) defends against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second round of the 2012 NCAA basketball tournament at Reed Arena in College Station on Mar 19, 2012.
Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
Texas, Texas A&M have history and current ties
Milestone moments have occurred while Texas and Texas A&M have shared the court. In 1984, Texas point guard Kamie Ethridge set a school record that still stands when she distributed 17 assists in a 108-77 win in College Station. Toccara Williams’ nine-steal game against the Longhorns in 2004 and Jaynetta Saunders’ seven blocks of UT shots in 2000 are both top-three marks in the Texas A&M history books.
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The most points scored by a Longhorn in a game against Texas A&M? Danielle Viglione put 36 points up against Texas A&M at the Erwin Center in 1996. The most points scored by an Aggie in a game against Texas? Lisa Branch and Danielle Adams respectively posted 34-point performances in 1994 and 2011.
More:What makes Rori Harmon a great point guard? We asked her Texas teammates.
Texas has won 64 of the 88 games it has played against Texas A&M, but there are two Longhorns who are tied to the Aggies’ longest stretch of success in this series. While Schaefer was at Texas A&M for nine seasons, the Aggies went 13-7 against Texas and even put together an 11-game winning streak at one point.Â
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Texas assistant coach Sydney Carter was a guard on the Texas A&M basketball team from 2008-12, and her Aggies won eight of the 10 games that they played against UT. Carter’s career-high mark of 25 points was scored in a 2012 home game against Texas.
“The A&M and Texas rivalry is deeply rooted in me,” said Carter, a DeSoto native. “It was always a game that meant so much more than sports. It was about competition, pride and passion for what it meant to have the opportunity to be the best. This rivalry has withstood the test of time and will forever mean more than just a game to me. Whatever side I’m on…I want to win!”