{"id":126555,"date":"2026-01-17T01:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T01:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126555\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T01:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T01:21:09","slug":"how-guard-play-defined-the-longhorns-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126555\/","title":{"rendered":"How guard play defined the Longhorns’ loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA, S.C. \u2014 Vic Schaefer was almost seeing double Thursday night when No. 4 Texas women’s basketball<\/a> lost 68-65 to No. 2 South Carolina<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Longhorns\u00a0guard Rori Harmon battled Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson in\u00a0a game fueled by what the\u00a0backcourt could do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas guard Rori Harmon, right, drives to the basket against South Carolina guard Maddy McDaniel (1) during the second half Jan. 15, 2026 in Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n

Nell Redmond\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

“(Raven) reminds me a lot of Rori sometimes and how she’s playing both ends, really tries to make things difficult on opponents, like Rori has done her entire career,”\u00a0Schaefer said after the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harmon needed a good game to brush off an abysmal performance Sunday against LSU<\/a> when she was benched in the fourth quarter and she got hot quick Thursday. At halftime, the 5-foot-6\u00a0All-American had 12 points and was shooting 5-for-6 from the field on her way to a 16 point-five assist- three steal night for Texas (18-2, 3-2).\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: Why Texas’ ‘disruptive’ defense wasn’t enough to take down mighty South Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n

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“My mid-range is my spot, so I’m not going to just turn that down,” Harmon said. “I have teammates behind me that will scream and fuss at me if I do that.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her shadow, the 5-foot-9 Johnson had 10 points and six assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though both players fed their\u00a0frontcourt, the efforts of Texas’\u00a0Breya Cunningham and Kyla Oldacre<\/a>, and South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards and Madina Okot, were was secondary to\u00a0what the guards did on the floor. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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“We both have size, but it is a guards game, and you win with guard play,” Schaefer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bigs take the backseat<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

South Carolina guard Raven Johnson (25) moves the ball against Texas guard Rori Harmon during the second half Jan. 15, 2026\u00a0in Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n

Nell Redmond\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

South Carolina (18-1, 5-0) has a legacy of developing top forwards\/centers: A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso to name a few.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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While South Carolina has size with\u00a0Okot and Edwards, who combined for 24 points, Gamecock guards fueled the come-from-behind win against Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Down 20-13 to start the second quarter, Johnson and Ta’Niya Latson went to work. The former was efficient with short jumpers while the latter put her head down and\u00a0drove to the basket putting Texas guard Jordan Lee<\/a> into early foul trouble.<\/p>\n

“Size doesn’t matter if your guards can’t do anything, and they can’t handle themselves,” Schaefer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas head coach Vic Schaefer reacts during the first half Jan. 15, 2026\u00a0against South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.<\/p>\n

Nell Redmond\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

Texas’ forwards had a quiet night with\u00a0Cunningham’s six points and Oldacre, who had a double-double in two of the last three games,\u00a0finished with three points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Harmon, along with Madison Booker<\/a>‘s 24 points, gave the Longhorns chances to pull away. But 22 turnovers, only three of which came from Harmon, kept Texas down and provided South Carolina 23 points, including\u00a015 fast break points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lee eventually fouled out for Texas but not before she had 10 points and shot 50% from the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas’ bigs won the rebounding battle 34-29 against South Carolina. And the Gamecocks’ starting bigs combined for nine turnovers, but the home team’s\u00a0shooting made up for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas coach Vic Schaefer rants about SEC schedule after LSU loss<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tessa Johnson shot 3-for-4 behind the arc and Okot made a 3-pointer when she was left wide open on the wing. Booker drained Texas’ only 3-pointer on nine attempts throughout the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Booker, who is fourth in the SEC in scoring averaging 19.4 points<\/a>,\u00a0had six points in the final minutes. Just like against LSU, Booker tried to put her team ahead, but her solid turnaround jumper was off-target twice in the final period. The star wing\u00a0finished the game with 11-for-25 on field goal shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With arguably the hardest\u00a0section of its schedule over, Texas can focus on rival Texas A&M who has a point guard in Ny’ceara Pryor who leads<\/a> the Aggies in points (209), made field goals (73) and free throws made (60). Pryor is 5-foot-3 and whomever guards her should prepared for big bursts of speed in another game that could be defined by guard\u00a0play Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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