Texas Longhorns Coach Vic Schaefer Gets Candid About Oregon Ducks Matchup

The No. 8 Oregon Ducks hope to pull off a major upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They’ll have to face the No. 1 Texas Longhorns and their coach, Vic Schaefer.

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Schaefer and Oregon coach Kelly Graves have a history in the postseason. The Ducks have upset Schaefer’s teams before, which both coaches spoke about ahead of the 2026 matchup.

What Coach Vic Schaefer Said About Oregon

oregon ducks kelly graves texas longhorns vic schaefer mississippi state march madness katie fiso sabrina ionescu basketball — Mar 8, 2026; Greenville, SC, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer cuts the net after his team wins the SEC Championship over South Carolina at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Schaefer coached the Mississippi Bulldogs before he was with the Longhorns. In 2019, the No. 1 Bulldogs played the No. 2 Ducks in the Elite Eight. Oregon ended up winning that intense battle 88-84 to book a trip to the Final Four.

“You can count on one finger how many games I've lost when my teams have scored 84 points. And it was that night,” Schaefer said ahead of the 2026 meeting. “(Sabrina) Ionescu was so special, but he had a whole team full of special players.”

Ionescu powered Oregon to victory with 31 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. The legendary Duck had a clutch final five minutes of the game, scoring nine points and assisting once in the span.

“But again, we’ve played in other games too, and we’ve had some really well-played games by both of our teams,” Schaefer continued to say about Graves. “I always know that they really got a lot of good players and a lot of good players that can make shots. We’re going to have to play really well tomorrow.”

Ducks Coach Kelly Graves Opens Up About Upcoming Battle

Oregon and Mississippi played four times when Schaefer was with the Bulldogs, and since Graves took the job with the Ducks. Oregon fans will be relieved to hear that Graves won three of the four meetings, although every game was decided by 12 points or less.

“Great coach. Somebody I look up to, I admire,” Graves said about Schaefer. “What he’s done here has been incredible, really. So, what we have to do is go out with really nothing to lose and try to do the best we can.”

The Ducks enter as the big underdog. This matchup is a bit different from when the two met in the Elite Eight. Even though Mississippi State was a consistent Final Four team at the time, the two sides were the top two seeds in the region. Texas is still No. 1, but Oregon is the No. 8 seed.

How the Ducks Can Pull Off Another Upset

It was Ionescu who stepped up with an impressive performance in 2019, and it’ll have to be another Duck who has a career performance on Sunday if they want to advance. Oregon sophomore guard Katie Fiso has starred for the team all season in a breakout year. She scored 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting in the first round against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

It’ll likely need to be Fiso who goes off against the Longhorns. As Schaefer said, however, Graves has always had teams with a lot of talent. It’s never just one player who helps the team to victory. Forward Ehis Etute is a double-double machine, and forward Mia Jacobs has supplemented consistent scoring throughout the season. Those players and more will need everything to go right to keep dancing in March.