{"id":130272,"date":"2026-01-20T12:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130272\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T12:07:09","slug":"why-texas-womens-basketball-coach-vic-schaefers-unsatisfied-at-19-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/130272\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Texas women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer’s unsatisfied at 19-2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vic Schaefer <\/a>gave accolades to center Kyla Oldacre <\/a>and returning guard Aaliyah Crump<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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The Texas women’s basketball coach railed against his team\u2019s inability to corral 50-50 balls. He questioned its toughness after allowing Texas A&M to snag 16 offensive rebounds. He scratched his scalp in frustration while wondering why his guards can\u2019t make a 3-pointer. And he couldn\u2019t understand how the Horns could play so poorly for a half in front of a Moody Center crowd of 10,331.<\/p>\n

Texas boat-raced the Aggies 80-35<\/a>, by the way.<\/p>\n

You can go ahead and file Schaefer\u2019s concerns under \u201cFirst World Problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer greets Texas A&M players after his win in the Lone Star Showdown at the Moody Center on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

So the world didn\u2019t end after losses to\u00a0South Carolina and LSU<\/a> after all. No. 4 Texas delayed Armageddon, at least for one day. The sun rose on Sunday, Jan. 18 and the Longhorns showed they can still win basketball games. Not that we doubted it before they tipped off against a prohibitive underdog.<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer walks the sideline during the game against Ole Miss at the Moody Center on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer gives instructions to guard Sarah Graves (6) during the Lone Star Showdown against Texas A&M at the Moody Center on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

MORE CED: Why Texas QB Arch Manning is on a collision course with superstardom<\/a><\/p>\n

The Longhorns (19-2, 4-2 SEC) are right where they need to be. They understand that Schaefer will keep pushing and prodding them to do more because this thing is bigger than beating Texas A&M. It\u2019s about championships. It\u2019s about legacy. He knows what they\u2019re doing right now won\u2019t be good enough to win a national title. There are levels to this and the Horns aren\u2019t optimum just yet.<\/p>\n

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One night after the Texas men let one get away in a home loss <\/a>to the men from College Station, the ladies turned the tables and got things back on track before a spirited Moody crowd. They held the Aggies to three points in the third quarter and enjoyed their first stress-free fourth quarter in awhile.<\/p>\n

And yet Vic wasn\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns guard Rori Harmon (3) and forward Madison Booker (35) hold the Lone Star Showdwon trophy after the win over Texas A&M at the Moody Center on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

To know Schaefer is to appreciate his unwavering passion, not just for winning, but for winning the right way. He couldn\u2019t concern himself with the fact that the Aggies were missing their 6-foot-5 post Lauren Ware or that they had lost three of their previous four, including a 91-51 home beatdown at the hands of No. 7 Vanderbilt. He has much bigger goals than keeping the Lone Star Showdown trophy in Austin. His team finally got a taste of the Final Four last year and now he\u2019s after a full-course meal in Phoenix come April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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NO. 4 TEXAS AT ARKANSAS<\/p>\n

When\/where:\u00a03 p.m. Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0SEC Network; 1300 AM.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ced’s Corner\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sign up for Cedric Golden\u2019s newsletter <\/a>for hot takes and expert analysis each Tuesday on Texas Longhorns football and beyond. \u00a0It’s called Ced\u2019s Corner, from the mind of the American-Statesman\u2019s resident sports columnist, the 2025 NSMA Texas Sportswriter of the Year.<\/p>\n

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For Schaefer, Texas\u2019 approach shouldn’t change depending on the opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think we’re playing to a standard,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t think we’re executing to the standard, and it all falls on me. I’ve got to get them to do and play better. And it all falls on me, and I’ve got to be better as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening in the Texas backcourt?<\/p>\n

Schaefer has said more times than we can count that basketball is a guard\u2019s game. And he isn\u2019t pleased. All-America floor general Rori Harmon is still his extension on the court \u2014 she\u2019s essentially a coach in her final season of eligibility \u2014 but the flow isn\u2019t to his liking. Harmon is finally back to full strength two seasons after blowing out her knee, but the offense has lagged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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MORE CED: Portal, NIL was needed but college football has lost its way<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas committed 39 turnovers in the losses to LSU and South Carolina and while Harmon only had two miscues in Baton Rouge, Schaefer, visibly unhappy with how the offense was running,\u00a0benched her for the last two minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth<\/a> in favor of Bryanna Preston.<\/p>\n

Harmon has been much better over these last two games, but Schaefer remains concerned about the lack of perimeter shooting. The Horns are a national power, but one with an Achilles heel when it comes to 3-pointers. They went 0-for-17 from distance Sunday before Ashton Judd buried one with 36 seconds left.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE HORNS: Texas transfer portal update<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Horns are 2-for-27 from the money line over the last two games. Their 84 makes are the fewest in the SEC, but it should be noted that their 268 attempts are the second-fewest in the league. Texas is built on mid-range jumpers from sweet-shooting Madison Booker, transition buckets off turnovers and putbacks from the big girls inside.<\/p>\n

For older hoops fan like me, their style is actually a throwback to how the game was played back in the 1980s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Harmon has capably knocked down her midrange jumper lately, shooting guard Jordan Lee is in the midst of slump. She\u2019s making only 37% of her attempts over the last four games and has missed 17 of her last 20 3-point tries.<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t miss during practice Saturday. \u201cSave some for tomorrow,\u201d Schaefer told her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The rims weren\u2019t kind once the Moody lights came on.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns guard Aaliyah Crump (23) pushes past Texas A&M guard Ny’Ceara Pryor (1) during the Lone Star Showdown at the Moody Center on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Aaliyah Crump can be a difference-maker<\/p>\n

Crump is capable of giving the team a lift from behind the arc. And Lee will eventually find her stroke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Crump will also bring some needed flexibility to the attack. After playing the first five games, she missed the next 15 with a foot injury. She looked healthy in her return Sunday and went hard on both ends. She led the Horns with 12 points and added six rebounds, four assists, two steals and, most important, no turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played free,\u201d Crump said. \u201cI played like myself and I put in the work leading up to this moment. So I knew that I was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Crump back in the mix, Schaefer will employ \u2014 depending on the matchup \u2014 a \u00a0four-guard lineup of Harmon, Booker, Crump and Lee with either Oldacre, who pulled down 18 rebounds off the bench, or Breya Cunningham underneath.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to guard all those people now,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cThey can all score out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the Schaefer dichotomy: terribly frustrated one minute, then more excited than a second grader in the school cafeteria on Pizza Day the next.<\/p>\n

He envisions how great Texas can be, but knows the journey will be filled with potholes and booby traps.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the beauty of competition.<\/p>\n

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And he loves every second of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vic Schaefer gave accolades to center Kyla Oldacre and returning guard Aaliyah Crump on Sunday. Article continues below…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11511,9602,5278,34522,48614,27,14539,29298,29,537,5276,28,5279,13548],"class_list":["post-130272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-cedric-golden","tag-columnists-opinions","tag-madison-booker","tag-rori-harmon","tag-sec-women-s-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-a-m-aggies","tag-texas-a-m-aggies-volleyball","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-women-s-basketball","tag-texas-news","tag-vic-schaefer","tag-women-s-college-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}