Golden: Texas is hurting, but also battle-tested entering NCAA women's tournament opener
Texas will have to lean on its core to get through this first weekend.
Rori Harmon. DeYona Gaston. Shay Holle. Shaylee Gonzales.
And hopefully Sonya Morris.
Those are the heavy lifters on the roster. All but Morris — who is working her way back from a leg issue — have been accustomed to working overtime to keep the wins coming, and in the world of college basketball, they don’t get paid time-and-a-half for their efforts.
At this time of the year, their reward is an opportunity to survive and advance. They can rest in the offseason. All that matters now is beating East Carolina late Saturday night and doing the same against the Drake-Louisville winner Monday with a third straight Elite Eight appearance in the making.
As Marvin’s Gaye’s R&B classic "Got to Give it Up" blared through the Moody Center speakers Friday afternoon, the first-round hosts went through their daily three-man weave fast break drill. One notable participant, unbeknownst to the weavers, stepped in front of a pass and picked it off, kind of like what happens in a game.
The Longhorns hope to avoid those types of turnovers when they take the court Saturday, but even if miscues happen, this crew is battle-tested, resilient and resolute.
Golden: Rori Harmon is electric, but Texas needs even more from her in the NCAAs
It starts at the top with the person who intercepted the outlet pass — Vic Schaefer, their head coach who just went though arguably the most challenging season of his illustrious career.
Schaefer’s crew has given it up for the cause. They know the expectations around these points and they know excuses are like a March Madness bracket two weekends in: they all stink.
Schaefer has made sure time and time again to express pride in the work his team has put in despite the challenges that have sprung up during his third season. I asked him during Friday’s press conference if he has ever gone through a season like this in his decade plus as a head coach.
Schaefer shook his head.
“I don’t think,” he said before pausing. “When you have been around as long as I have, you have to learn to adjust so that you aren just ad-libbing and flying by the seat of your pants, so to speak.”
Then later, “That’s why I surround myself with the staff that I surround myself with. People that are winners, that are highly motivated. They are like-minded. And former players. People that have been there that understand.”
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From the outside, it would appear Texas turned in a banner season without incident. The 25-9 overall record and 14-4 mark in the Big 12 are quality marks and the first regular-season conference title since 2004 was a huge step in this program’s arc. What casual observers might not know is Schaefer is coaching a M*A*S*H unit disguised as a basketball team. This group, tough as it is, is being held together by good duct tape, great chemistry and a lot of guts.
They have survived the loss of power forward Aaliyah Moore, who tore her ACL in the ninth game, a huge blow because she was giving the team that important inside presence — 11.2 points and just under five rebounds — and appeared to be headed to a breakout season after a great postseason in her sophomore year.
Guard Kyndall Hunter left the team for personal reasons at the beginning of the season and won’t be back, a key loss in the perimeter department. The biggest backcourt loss came when DePaul transfer Sonya Morris injured her leg late in conference play and missed 10 games, which really put the pressure on Harmon and backcourt mates Holle and Gonzales to take on more minutes.
The minutes are way up in the backcourt. Harmon logged 38.2 minutes during Big 12 play while Gonzales clocked in at 33.3. Holle is only averaging 25.2, but she and Harmon both went the wire-to-wire 40 minutes in the Big 12 title game loss to Iowa State.
To a player, they understand the concept of stepping up and meeting the challenge when things aren’t aligned perfectly for success.
One key addition, and perhaps two
Holle was inserted into the starting lineup for senior Audrey Warren last season and became a source of instant energy, particularly on the defensive end. She came into her junior year knowing that expectations would be higher. And when Morris went down, she was physically and mentally prepared because she had put in the work beforehand.
“I talked with coach Schaefer a lot about this,” Holle said. “Just being ready when your number is called because you never know what it’s going to be. That means bringing it everyday in practice, no matter if you’re on the scout team or in the starting lineup. You never know what’s going to happen.”
We know the Horns have the resolve to win short-handed because the mental toughness has been a source of strength at several points of the season.
“I know we’ve had to switch up a lot of lineups,” said Harmon, who missed five games early with a toe injury. “We had a lot of people go down like (Moore) who is out for the season. Stuff that you don’t expect like that. You just rely on what you have and uplift the other ones that are not playing because it is very difficult to not play the game that you love.”
The good news is Morris was moving around pretty well at practice Friday and could give the Horns 10 or 15 minutes. She was cutting well and in good spirits, and why should she be? The Horns are in the Big Dance and motivated to right the errors that led to their last loss.
Schaefer isn’t one of those coaches who will throw away game tape from a bad loss because it’s always throwing away a chance to learn. He’s learned plenty about this group along the way. They’re tough, resilient and capable.
This time of the season isn’t about excuses. Texas won’t use them because good teams know better.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women's basketball hopes to get Morris back for NCAA openeer
