{"id":223534,"date":"2026-03-27T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/223534\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:45:09","slug":"texas-longhorns-path-to-womens-final-four-runs-through-sec-starting-with-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/223534\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Longhorns\u2019 path to women\u2019s Final Four runs through SEC, starting with Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament may have been a breeze for the Texas Longhorns<\/a> \u2014 winning by 42 points in each of their games against 16-seed Missouri State and 8-seed Oregon.<\/p>\n

But head coach Vic Schaefer<\/a> knew the competition would ramp up quickly.<\/p>\n

For the second consecutive year, the 1-seed Longhorns will face an SEC opponent in the Sweet 16, taking on 5-seed Kentucky at 2 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. If it was up to Schaefer, he wouldn\u2019t have it this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to beat my head in against somebody else than against somebody in my own league,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that speaks to our league and how good our league is, and you\u2019re going to have this happen.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SEC may have trailed the Big Ten in terms of teams that punched their ticket to March Madness, but Texas\u2019 conference certainly has more contenders. Of the 10 SEC teams that made it, two were 1-seeds (Texas and South Carolina), two were 2-seeds (LSU and Vanderbilt) and six are still alive in the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

The ACC has five teams still competing. The Big Ten\u2019s 12 has dwindled to just three. The Big 12 and Big East have just one team each remaining.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer hugs gaurd Rori Harmon (3) as she exits the second round NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball game against Oregon at the Moody Center on Sunday, March 22, 2026 in Austin.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think for two months of the year \u2014 in January and February \u2014 we\u2019re going against the best of the best,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re just playing five or six teams in nonconference. We played five or six in nonconference and played 19 in the SEC.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition gets immensely tougher as Texas takes on a Kentucky team with five players averaging in double figures, led by center Clara Strack, who averages a double-double (16.9 points and 10.3 rebounds), in addition to 2.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a tremendous player,\u201d Texas forward Madison Booker<\/a> said. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t need to score to impact the game for her team. She\u2019s a great rebounder. I think also she has great chemistry with [Kentucky forward] Teonni Key. I think we need to do a better job than last time with trying to deny her the ball, limit her touches a little bit, kind of make her work a little extra for it and block her out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Texas also has a game-changing player of its own in Booker, who averages 19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game, and is coming off a 40-point performance against Oregon in the second round<\/a>. In Texas\u2019 64-53 win over Kentucky during the regular season on Feb. 9, the Wildcats held Booker to just eight points \u2014 her lowest point total of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Madison didn\u2019t get too many shots,\u201d Texas guard Jordan Lee said. \u201cIt was that type of game where she just didn\u2019t get enough shots up. I think we need to work a little bit harder as a team for that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Longhorns can draw somewhat from their February win in SEC play to help them Saturday, but they\u2019re also trying to be cautious in doing so.<\/p>\n

They know Saturday\u2019s game will be their toughest yet of the tournament \u2014 and certainly don\u2019t expect another 40-point victory like they\u2019ve grown accustomed to in the last two rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a laundry list of issues for me,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cIt\u2019s seven weeks ago when we played them, so I think they\u2019re a way different team. They\u2019re playing way better. I think we\u2019re different. We\u2019re playing pretty well, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @lassimak<\/a><\/p>\n

Longhorns legend Colt McCoy to deliver 2026 Texas commencement address<\/a>Texas\u2019 Jordan Pope says he played in Sweet 16 game vs. Purdue on broken foot<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament may have been a breeze for the Texas Longhorns \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3688,154,27,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-223534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-colleges","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-texas-headlines","12":"tag-texas-longhorns","13":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223534","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=223534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}