Texas
Texas basketball vs. Oklahoma State: Prediction, scouting report for conference clash
For perhaps the last time, Texas and Oklahoma State will engage in an orange-clad battle Saturday in Stillwater (2 p.m., ESPN+, 103.1). Like No. 11 Texas (17-2, 4-2), Oklahoma State (11-6) has won four of its six conference contests.
Here’s what you need to know about the matchup:
Is Texas still a championship contender?
Following a 91-56 loss to UT on Tuesday, Kansas coach Brandon Schneider told reporters that “I thought Texas was Final Four, national championship good with Rori (Harmon). I think they can probably still be that good given the amount of time that they have to make adjustments (after Harmon’s season-ending injury).” When told later about his contemporary’s comments, UT coach Vic Schaefer wasn’t ready to replicate that optimistic outlook.
“I’m not quite there yet,” Schaefer said. “I think we’ve got some work to do. As good as we played tonight, I’m wanting that consistency. That’s what any coach wants. What do we want? We want that every night, right? And it’s not going to happen, we know that. But I do think this team is special. As I told them tonight when we huddled up on the floor, when they are locked in like they were tonight on both ends, they’re a tough out. I told them, they’ve got a chance to be really, really good.”
Will DeYona Gaston play against Oklahoma State?
Schaefer said senior forward DeYona Gaston isn’t expected to play against the Cowgirls. She missed the Kansas game after suffering her second ankle injury of the season near the end of last weekend’s trip to Kansas State.
An all-conference honoree last season, Gaston is averaging 7.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
Schaefer said Gaston recently saw a specialist and is walking around without the assistance of crutches. On Tuesday night, she was spotted with just a boot on her left foot. “I think the doctor’s cautiously optimistic, but being a good doctor, he’s very careful with her,” Schaefer said.
Without Gaston, Texas should still be fine in the paint. Post players Aaliyah Moore and Khadija Faye combined for 31 points in the Kansas game. Last January against Oklahoma State, forward Taylor Jones shot 9-of-10 from the floor.
Texas fans, meet Quincy Noble
A 5-foot-10 guard, Noble is averaging 12.6 points per game in her first season at Oklahoma State. On Wednesday, she scored 30 points in a beatdown of BYU. That was Oklahoma State’s first 30-point game by an individual in three seasons.
This is Noble’s sixth year of college basketball. The McKinney native spent her first year at New Mexico before transferring to North Texas ahead of the 2019-20 season. While playing for former UT assistant coach Jalie Mitchell in Denton, Noble was a three-time all-conference pick. Her 1,316 career points rank eighth in UNT history.
Texas vs. Oklahoma State prediction
Texas. Making predictions based off of the theory of transitive properties is dangerous. But in the past week, Texas has beaten Kansas by 35 points and Oklahoma State has lost to that same Kansas team. Even without Gaston, Texas should win this one comfortably.
Watch CBS News
A Texas state trooper was killed in a crash in the Panhandle, becoming the 244th Texas Department of Public Safety officer to die in the line of duty since 1823, according to the agency.
Sergio Romero, 27, died Wednesday after a semi-truck pulled in front of him as he attempted a traffic stop around 4 p.m. on U.S. 287 in Childress County, DPS said.
In a statement, Col. Freeman F. Martin praised Romero’s courage, integrity, and service.
“Today, we grieve the loss of one of our own,” Martin said. “… Our hearts break alongside his family, friends, fellow troopers, and all who loved him. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice he made in service of his fellow Texans.”
Romero previously served with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office before joining DPS as part of Class B-2025 in Childress, the agency said.
He is survived by his wife, Francisca, and their two young sons.
Funeral arrangements are pending. The crash remains under investigation.
Flash flood warning in Texas as streets fill with water
Flash flood warnings are active as heavy rain swamps roads across central Texas and rising waters pose danger to drivers.
Texas is keeping more than half of its counties under a state of emergency.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott renewed three statewide disaster declarations on Tuesday, June 16 — covering flooding, drought and border security — which together place 164 of the state’s 254 counties under emergency authority.
Each of the orders, signed by Abbott and filed with Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, authorizes the use of “all available resources of state government and of political subdivisions that are reasonably necessary to cope with this disaster.”
Here’s a look at what the proclamations are for and which counties are under them.
Flood disaster from deadly 2025 Hill Country storms holds across 30 counties
On July 4, 2025, Abbott issued a disaster declaration following heavy rainfall and flooding that caused widespread and severe property damage, injury and loss of life in several counties.
The Camp Mystic flooding, which killed 27 campers and counselors, also occurred during this time frame. The original declaration included 21 counties located in the Texas Hill Country and the Concho Valley in the central part of the state.The disaster order has been renewed over the past year, expanding to include 30 counties in the June 2026 renewal and does the following:
- Suspends all laws that prevent the transfer of bodies to families as soon as possible.
- Suspends all laws regarding state agencies’ contracting or procurement rules that would impede its emergency response necessary to protect life or property threatened by the declared disaster.
- Temporarily suspended — with written approval from the governor’s office — laws that would prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action to respond to the disaster.
Drought disaster covers 111 Texas counties as wildfire risk persists
Abbott amended and renewed a drought disaster order originally issued on July 8, 2022, and it has been renewed several times over the past four years.
When it was originally signed, the order impacted 158 counties across the entire state, from the Texas Panhandle to the Permian Basin to the Texas Hill Country.
The original order states that the persistent drought conditions in the state have increased the wildfire threat in the region. The June 2026 renewal order states that the Texas Division of Emergency Management has confirmed that those same drought conditions persist; however, only 111 counties are listed in the renewed order.
The order does the following:
- Suspends all laws regarding state agencies’ contracting or procurement rules that would impede its emergency response necessary to protect life or property threatened by the declared disaster.
- Temporarily suspends — with written approval from the governor’s office — laws that would prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action to respond to the disaster.
Border security disaster spans 70 counties in fifth-year renewal
The original order was issued in May 2021 in response to a “surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border posed an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster for a number of Texas counties.”
The original 2021 order affected 34 counties along the Texas border from El Paso to Brownsville, with Abbott saying it was in response to former President Joe Biden’s open-border policy.
“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” Abbott said in a June 2021 statement. “Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them.
The order has been renewed and amended several times over the past five years, with the June 2026 order impacting 70 counties from El Paso through the Hill Country and the lower Rio Grande Valley.
The renewed order declares a state of disaster for those counties and for all state agencies impacted by the prescribed disaster.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
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