South Carolina women's basketball: All About the Texas Longhorns

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On July 1 Oklahoma and Texas officially joined the SEC. Get to know the Longhorns, South Carolina’s newest conference rivals.

Texas Longhorns

Head Coach: Vic Schaefer (5th season)

2023-24 Record: 30-4 (Big 12 Tournament Champions, NCAA Tournament Elite Eight)

Historic Accomplishments

Texas won the national championship in 1986, becoming the first team in NCAA history to go undefeated. That was one of three Final Four appearances for the Longhorns, who also made it in 1987 and 2003. … Under Jody Conradt, Texas was one of the most dominant programs of the 1980s, sweeping the Southwest Conference regular season and tournament championships for eight straight seasons. In all, Texas won 10 regular season titles and nine tournament titles. … Since joining the Big 12, success has been more sporadic, but the Longhorns have claimed the regular season and tournament title three times each.

Notable Players

Kamie Ethridge – currently the head coach at Washington State – was the national player of the Year in 1986 and in 2019 she became the first female athlete to have her number retired at Texas. … Clarissa Davis was named national player of the year in 1987, giving the Lnoghorns back-to-back winners of the award. … Edwin Brown became the third Longhorn to be named national player of the year when she was honored in 2000. … Olympian Ariel Atkins, top WNBA Draft pick Charli Collier, and Hall of Famers Andrea Lloyd and Anette Smith are also former Longhorns.

Recent History

Success has been sporadic since Texas’ 1980s heyday. The 2003 Final Four was an isolated deep run, and Conradt retired following the 2007 season. Texas lured Gail Goestenkors away from Duke, who she led to four Final Fours. She couldn’t recreate that at Texas and resigned after five seasons that saw the Longhorns finish the season ranked only once and get past the first round of the tournament one time. Karen Aston had more success, including an Elite Eight run in 2016, but she was let go after missing the tournament in 2020. Enter Vic Schafer, who has taken Texas to the Elite Eight in three of his four seasons and returned the Longhorns to national prominence.

Key Players

Rori Harmon is one of the best point guards in the nation. She averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.8 assist last season before tearing her ACL in December. In her absence, freshman forward Madison took over as the primary ball-handler and had an all-time great freshman campaign. She averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists and was named Big 12 Co-Player of the Year and Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year. Texas also signed the fifth-ranked recruiting class and welcomes guard Jordan Lee and forward Justice Carlton this season.

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Series with South Carolina

Tied 2-2. Last meeting: South Carolina 62, Texas 34; March 30, 2021 (NCAA Elite Eight, San Antonio)

Other ties to South Carolina

The last regular season meeting between the two programs came in 2016. A’ja Wilson had a sensational 31 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals to lead South Carolina to a 76-67 win. … If you want to go way back, the first player Conradt signed was Kim Basinger (not that one) from Easley, SC.

What to look forward to

You can never have too many nationally relevant games between highly-ranked opponents that could decide the conference championship. Harmon and Booker are two of the best players in the country. The SEC even did everyone a favor by giving South Carolina-Texas the home-and-home designation. How can you not be excited?

What to look forward to (Petty version)

The Longhorns immediately join LSU as South Carolina’s fiercest rival in the SEC. When Schaefer was at Mississippi State, the rivalry with South Carolina was not just one of the best in the SEC, but the entire country. They finished first and second in the SEC for five consecutive seasons, met in the tournament championship three straight seasons and four times in five year, and of course, the Gamecocks beat the Bulldogs for their first national championship. To Gamecock fans, when Schaefer left for Texas he was admitting he couldn’t beat Dawn Staley and South Carolina. That may not be true (there were quite a few dollar signs to sweeten the move), but beating Schaefer has always been a little extra fun for South Carolina. Also, Texas still hasn’t scored a point in the fourth quarter in the NCAA Tournament against South Carolina.