From ‘No Heart’ to ‘Texas Tough’: How the Longhorns Rolled to Women’s Final Four

After a biting comment from coach Vic Schaefer in February, the Longhorns have become a suffocating opponent and romped their way to the Final Four.

Vic Schaefer's Longhorns are eyeing the program's first national title since 1986. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The Texas women’s basketball team hit rock bottom on Feb. 12. Just two days before Valentine’s Day, the Longhorns heard the hard truth from their coach, Vic Schaefer, in the aftermath of a 16-point road loss to SEC rival Vanderbilt: You have no heart.

Disgusted with his team’s effort in a game in which it was trailing by as many as 26 points, Schaefer skewered the Longhorns at the postgame podium.

“We have no heart,” Schaefer said. “We’re not tough. It’s probably the softest team I’ve had in years.”

“It translates from practices … my fault,’ Schaefer added. “I’ll wear it. I’ll wear all of it. It’s my fault. It stops now.”

The Longhorns haven’t lost since. They’ve rattled off 12 straight wins, including a statement SEC tournament championship rout of South Carolina, and a demolition tour in the NCAA tournament in which Texas has defeated teams by an average of 35.5 points.

On Monday night, Schaefer’s Longhorns blitzed two-seed Michigan, holding the Wolverines to a season-low 41 points and 23% shooting from the field.

Just two months after he had called them soft, Schaefer was calling the Longhorns “Texas tough.” How did it happen?

The turning point, as Schaefer explained, came shortly after the Vanderbilt game.

“It turned when Rori Harmon stood up in film not long after the Vanderbilt game and I read to them in our last five games we've given up 67 points a game at that moment, whatever that moment was,” Schaefer said. “I said, ‘Hey,’ and Rori stood up and said, ‘Y’all, I’ve been here five years. The standard here is under 60 points. We’re not living up to the standard.’ That came from Rori.”

That it was Harmon, a member of the SEC’s All-Defense team and the heart and soul of the Longhorns, who stoked the embers of the Texas fire was fitting. For it’s been Harmon, averaging 3.5 steals per game and over three times as many assists to turnovers in NCAA tournament play, who has set the tone for the Longhorns on both ends in March Madness.

Senior guard Rori Harmon had 13 assists in Texas’s win over Michigan on Monday. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Texas has held all four tourney opponents to 58 points or fewer. In those games, Longhorns opponents are shooting just 32% from the field and have turned the ball over 73 times. But beyond the numbers, Texas, with its length and defensive intensity, have worn down opponents physically and made them wilt mentally under the on-ball pressure.

That was the case on Monday night as well. Halfway through the third quarter, Schaefer’s jacket came off, a telltale sign that he was beginning to sweat—and not because of the heat. Schaefer said he “got after” the Longhorns. Just like back in February, they responded. Two quick Texas steals and two quick Texas buckets and the lead was 40–23. Then, the Texas defense shut the water off, as it held the Wolverines scoreless for the first four and half minutes of the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“Yeah, the piranhas on the roast, they looked pretty good tonight too,” Schaefer said of his Longhorns defense. “They looked like they were still hungry.”

The dominant victory has Texas in the Final Four for the second consecutive year, the first time the program has reached such heights in back-to-back years since 1985 to ’87. And for the Longhorns, it all traces back to that Vanderbilt loss—and Schaefer’s biting words.

“Yeah, I think me and my teammates say the same thing, that we never want to hear our head coach say that about the team he recruited because we’re so much better than that,” said All-American Madison Booker on Monday. “You know, like we told him, we have a discussion with him too. We say we have heart, and I think after that game we kind of turned it around. I hope he sees we have heart now.”

Schaefer surely does. For now, he and the Longhorns will savor the Elite Eight victory. That means a team trip to Buc-ee’s, a country store chain. And for Schaefer, it means a hunt.

“I’m going to kill a turkey in the morning,” Schaefer said. “Turkey season opened Saturday. I’m going to kill a turkey in the morning.”

Then, Schaefer’s piranhas will turn their attention to the next hunt: the program’s first national championship in 40 years.

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