March Madness: Texas beats TCU to finally get over Elite Eight hump, advance to Final Four

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When asked back in October about her goals for the upcoming basketball season, Texas sophomore Madison Booker was direct to the point.

"No. 1 is to get past that (Elite Eight) hump right there," Booker said.

Texas had reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in three of Vic Schaefer's first four years with the team, but South Carolina, Stanford and North Carolina State ended the Longhorns' seasons there. That left the Longhorns still looking for the Final Four berth that had eluded the program since 2003.

But five months after Booker shared her goal, the Longhorns finally got over that hump. Led by Booker's 18 points and a 13-point showing from senior Rori Harmon, Texas recorded a 58-47 win over old Big 12 rival TCU at Legacy Arena on Monday night. With the 11-point triumph, Texas secured its spot in next week's Final Four in Tampa.

When reminded of her preseason ambitions during UT's postgame press conference, Booker delivered an ode to Schaefer. A Mississippi native who was first recruited by Schaefer while he was coaching at Mississippi State, Booker said she was "happy doing it for him."

"I was trying to tell somebody it means a lot to us but I think it means a lot more to Coach Schaefer," Booker said. "If you had a camera to follow him around, a day in the life of Vic Schaefer, you will be in the gym all day, you will be watching film all day.

"Just the dedication that this coach has and the want he wants for us to be a great basketball player, especially a great team. I think he deserves it. He puts in the work. He's not playing a minute, we are. I just think, you know, for us to kinda come out today especially and play this great TCU team, great offense and play defense, that's the name of the game for him is defense. Defense wins games. Just to be focused, locked in, first five minutes, I just think that means a lot to him. I'm happy to be part of that and to help him get to the Final Four."

Texas pulls away from TCU with "little things" in third quarter

Texas never trailed on Monday and even opened up a nine-point lead in the second quarter. The Longhorns, however, slumped offensively throughout the first half and a 7-0 run by TCU trimmed that advantage to 23-21 at halftime.

Texas and TCU continued to battle in the second half. And with Texas up by one point with 3:34 left in the third quarter, the Longhorns made four plays that defined their season.

At the clock neared the three-minute mark, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda recorded a three-point play to give the Longhorns a 35-31 advantage. Two minutes later, the tongue-wagging Mwenentanda tracked down an offensive rebound that would lead to a Jordan Lee 3-pointer. Booker then added a 3-point play of her own with five seconds remaining in the session.

To seal the deal, Texas senior guard Shay Holle blocked a 3-point attempt by TCU’s Donovyn Hunter on the other end at the third quarter's buzzer.

Texas 42, TCU 33. The Horned Frogs never got closer than six points the rest of the game.

"It's all the little things. It's all the details," Holle said. "We've talked all the time about how it takes everyone. Even if you don't have the most points, the most rebounds, you are contributing in some way, even if it's just in practice. And we talk about that all the time and those plays are just examples of that. (They were) just energy plays, honestly."

Added Mwenentanda: "For us to make those big plays to just basically close out the win was really important. But also for me, that was fun."

Bench player steps up for Texas. Again.

Texas still had to hold off the Horned Frogs in the final frame. But the Longhorns got a spark off the bench from reserve center Kyla Oldacre, who beat the shot clock's buzzer for a basket and later stole the basketball before dribbling the length of the court for the first part of a 3-point play. The Longhorns then closed out the game with points from Booker, Harmon and Taylor Jones.

After playing just nine minutes against Tennessee on Saturday, Oldacre finished with nine points in the TCU triumph. Her effort came two days after Lee and fellow freshman Bryanna Preston gave Texas a boost off the bench in a 67-59 win. Mwenentanda usually starts but scored a career-high 19 points in a backup role during the second round against Illinois.

"I expect all my teammates to step up," Booker said. "I think the thing is throughout this tournament, everybody stepped up. Everybody. It's been like this throughout the season."

Defensively, Texas forced 21 turnovers against a TCU team that shot 26.7% from the field and 4-of-20 on its 3-pointers. Texas has now held LSU, Maryland, Alabama and TCU to their season-low scores. Nationally, all four of those schools boast top-25 scoring offenses.

"The defense never wavered. It was never, ever a problem," Schaefer said.

Texas (35-3) advances to meet South Carolina (34-3) in a Final Four matchup that will take place at Tampa's Amalie Arena on Friday evening. Texas and South Carolina have already played three times this year with the Gamecocks holding a 2-1 lead in the season series.

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