Texas
Texas Longhorns Star Ends Hailey Van Lith’s Career in Shut-Down Fashion
Rori Harmon wants to be known for her defense. The senior point guard for the No. 1 Texas Longhorns prides herself on her ability to lock down some of the best point guards in the sport night in and night out. And in Texas’ Elite Eight win over TCU, she locked down Hailey Van Lith, one of the nation’s most electric scorers.
Two years after Van Lith ended Harmon and Texas’s season in the second round, Harmon got her revenge. In the Elite Eight, Harmon locked down Van Lith, limiting her to just 3-15 from the field and forcing her into seven turnovers. Before the Elite Eight matchup, Harmon shared her excitement to guard a player like Van Lith, and while she talked a big game, she backed it up with her play.
“I don’t really have to prove much, I’ve been doing this for a while, ever since I was a freshman, or even before college, I’ve been playing defense the way I do, I’m just more fundamentally sound at it now,” Harmon said. “I’m excited for that matchup, I’m excited for the competition, I’m always gonna take on whoever their best player is, I love that, I take that with responsibility. Like what my teammates and my coaches say, how I come out and attack and punch on defense, that’s basically how the team is going to play.”
Harmon set the tone early on defense for the Longhorns and Texas would go on to force 21 turnovers and allow just 12 made field goals.
While Harmon is not one of the four finalists for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, she’s going to keep locking down the teams she comes across.
“I would say team defense always is the number one thing, trying to limit her touches as much as possible,” Harmon said after beating TCU. “She’s a three level scorer and a great basketball player, and she played very, really well for them, but yeah, just kind of standing firm, I think, with a good basketball player and ball hander like she is, like me personally, I can’t, like gamble and on dribbles and heads these like I have, to just stay disciplined stay in front, cut her off and stuff like that. Just get her to like go the ball because a lot of her off a lot of their offense runs through her, and she makes great play so just kind of getting the ball out of her hands is definitely is one of the keys.”
Harmon and the Longhorns will take the court next for their fourth game against South Carolina, this time in the Final Four.
The staff shake-up continues amid CFP preparation, as Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is reportedly adding another to his staff.
Soon after the news that the Aggies were expecting to hire former Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams, Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported that former Rutgers co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Zach Sparber would be added to the staff in some capacity. Sparber is very familiar with new Texas A&M DC Lyle Hemphill, having worked with him at JMU and Duke.
It is an interesting hire, as similar to Travis Williams, Sparber is also coming off a defensive staff that was let go after bottom-of-the-conference defensive performances. However, before joining the staff at Rutgers, he helped James Madison’s team rank 21st nationally in scoring defense as the linebackers coach. While his official role has not yet been announced, his experience with Hemphill should help with continuity heading into next season.
No. 7-seed Texas A&M hosts the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes (10-2) in a CFP first-round game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Kyle Field. The game can be viewed on ABC/ESPN.
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The 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes hit the road for College Station for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The game is scheduled for noon ET (11 a.m. CT) with tickets still available to watch live.
How to get Texas A&M vs. Miami tickets for the best prices: Tickets for the Texas A&M vs. Miami playoff game are available on secondary markets Vivid Seats, StubHub, SeatGeek and Viagogo.
The lowest prices are as follows (as of Dec. 15):
- Vivid Seats starting at $375
- StubHub starting at $388
- SeatGeek starting at $315
- Viagogo starting at $345
The Aggies own the homefield advantage and are listed as 3.5-point betting favorites to play their way into the second round. Texas A&M won its first 11 straight games of the 2025 season before falling to rival No. 16 Texas (27-17) in its regular-season finale. The Aggies were battle-tested in going 7-1 in a Southeastern Conference that put five teams into the College Football Playoff field. They also join Miami as teams to beat Notre Dame this season, winning a 41-40 shootout back in Week 3.
#10 Miami (10-2) at #7 Texas A&M (11-1)
College Football Playoff 1st round
- When: Saturday, Dec. 20 at noon ET (11 a.m. CT)
- Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
- Tickets: Vivid Seats | StubHub | SeatGeek | Viagogo
- TV channel: ABC/ESPN
- Streaming on: FuboTV (free trial) | DirecTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate)
The Hurricanes’ 27-24 win over then-No. 6 Notre Dame was the best line entry on the team’s résumé as the third-place finisher in the messy Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami rattled off four straight wins to close the season and showed the kind of explosive scoring offense required to stack up with Texas A&M, scoring 34-plus points in each of those four wins. The Canes closed the season with a 38-7 blowout win over then-No. 23 Pitt to strengthen their CFP case.
The 14-year-old wanted in the deadly shooting of a man in Collin County over the weekend is in custody, police said.
Lavon police said Monday night that the teenage boy was taken into custody in Dallas without incident.
Police say the shooting happened Saturday night, just before 9 p.m. on Wellington Drive in Lavon, when an argument broke out between the 14-year-old suspect and a 24-year-old acquaintance.
Police say that the altercation turned deadly. The teen shot and killed the 24-year-old before fleeing the scene.
“A murder is a very rare thing in our city, so it’s shocking,” said J. Michael Jones, the Lavon Chief of Police. “And it’s even more shocking that this suspect is a 14-year-old.”
Community ISD confirmed the suspect is a student at Community Trails Middle School, where district leaders took extra precautions in case he is still in town.
Earlier Monday, Jones urged the suspect and anyone helping him to turn him in, saying, “I will find you. I will investigate you, and I will put you in jail.”
Lavon police thanked the community and several law enforcement agencies for their help with the investigation, including the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Louisiana State Police, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, the Community Independent School District Police Department, the Lavon Fire Department, and many others.
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