Austin, TX
March Madness: What did TCU say about Texas women’s basketball on Sunday?
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — On Monday night, the Texas women’s basketball team and TCU will meet at Legacy Arena during the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas and TCU didn’t play this season, but the two teams are quite familiar with each other. Texas was TCU’s conference rival in the Big 12 from 2012-24, and TCU center Sedona Prince is a Liberty Hill native who played at UT during the 2018-19 season.
The game will tip off just after 6 p.m. at Legacy Arena in Birmingham on ESPN. Those in the Austin area can listen on the radio, via 103.1 FM.
The winner moves on to play either South Carolina or Duke in the Final Four.
Here is everything that TCU said Sunday about Texas during pregame news conferences for Prince, head coach Mark Campbell and senior guards Madison Conner and Hailey Van Lith:
TCU vs Texas: Frogs’ first impressions about the Longhorns
Campbell: “There’s not many holes. They’re incredible. They have size and great post play. They have depth, really athletic, have one of the best point guards in college basketball. And they’re a 1 seed for a reason. So we’re going to have to play a heck of a game and Coach Vic and his staff obviously do a tremendous job with their system, style of play.”
Elite Eight matchups: TCU thoughts on Texas post players Taylor Jones and Kyla Oldacre
Campbell: “Oh, incredible. Taylor Jones is an athletic, strong, versatile post player and the depth they have at the post position, they got a lot of big bodies that they can throw at you. They’re a load. They’re a load down there. They wear on you.”
TCU vs Texas: Horned Frogs’ familiarity with Longhorns
Campbell: “Yeah, Coach Schaefer, his system and what they do, he doesn’t really change it. He’s really good at it. It helps to be familiar with his system but we have a whole new team and obviously they have new players. So you can look at some film a little bit from last year, but really you’re just scrubbing this year’s team and trying to figure out what we gotta do to have a chance to beat these guys.”
Texas vs TCU: Sedona Prince’s much-publicized departure from Texas
Prince: “I don’t think it I really realized how much it affected me until probably this year, to be honest. But, yeah, I mean, I’m from Austin, raised in Austin, committed in eighth grade. Texas was my dream school, 40 minutes from where I grew up, and my family. I won’t go into details, because it’s a long time ago, and there are things if you want to go research it but — yeah, I mean, it was a very, very difficult year for me as a young woman, as a young player to be thinking I was a part of a family and to be treated in the way that I was.
“So I held a lot in my heart and my soul that I didn’t know I was carrying around for a long time, and you don’t really realize how much trauma can affect you until all of the sudden you’re hit with a wall and then it’s like, oh man, this has been, you know — this has been weighing me down for a very long time.
“So the staff isn’t there, but I have so much respect for Vic and what he’s done with the program. I think he’s an amazing coach. I have no hard feelings. I’ve healed from it. It’s shaped me into a better person. I’m grateful for that and where it led me to go to Oregon, to leave college and come here. There is nothing else that could have led me here and taught me so many valuable lessons and shaped me into the person I am today without going through those atrocities that I went through.”
NCAA Tournament: TCU’s Hailey Van Lith beating Texas in 2023 while playing at Louisville
Van Lith: “What I remember — mostly we didn’t get to host that year, we had to go into Texas. They were supposed to beat us by a lot. And, you know, it was kind of like Louisville DNA came out there where we scrapped out on defense, and I think we ended up winning by double digits at least.
“But it was a great game. We played really well. I think, you know, Rori (Harmon) might have got hurt at some point in that game, she didn’t play the whole game. But I mean, all I remember — it was a great win for us. We pulled off an upset on their home court, which was huge.”
TCU vs Texas: What about the Longhorns’ current backcourt?
Van Lith: “I think, again, they’re elite defensively, their backcourt, they have a lot of athletic, strong guards who can do different things. They’re versatile, they have a lot of different personnel. So scout — like personnel and knowing the scout will be huge, and at the end of the day the theme of the NCAA Tournament is toughness. So they’re going to be tough. We know they’re going to be tough. They have that DNA in them, so we’re going to have to match that.”
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