Texas coach Vic Schaefer reacts after Longhorns’ loss to USC Gamecocks
Texas women’s basketball got a win over South Carolina earlier this season. On Thursday, Texas lost to the Gamecocks, 68-65, at Colonial Life Arena
Texas coach Vic Schaefer, guard Rori Harmon and forward Madison Booker talked to the media after the Longhorns’ second-straight Southeastern Conference loss.
Schaefer’s opening statement
“Two teams really just compete and play their hearts out. I’m very proud of my kids,” the Texas coach said. “I think we’re in a tough spot, and I’m just proud of how hard they played and their focus tonight. You know, we’ve had a couple of games where we turned it over a little bit more than normal. We were averaging 9-something going into the LSU game. We’ve had back-to-back games where we’ve had, I think 17, and tonight we had 22. But, I can’t fault my kids tonight. They played their heart out. As always, a great environment here.
“When I walk off that floor tonight, I know I’ve got a hell of a team. And we’d stay overnight, play tomorrow if they want to. We just came up a little short tonight.”
On another matchup with South Carolina
Thursday’s matchup was Texas’ second of the season and sixth in almost 370 days against the Gamecocks. Booker joked she has had enough of South Carolina.
“I’m tired of seeing them,” Booker said while laughing. “But no, it’s always a dogfight. You see them, they’re a great team, they’re great. They’re coached by a great person too. They’re always prepared, they always know every play that we have when we play against each other. It’s ’s always gonna be about the details.”
What Texas takes from two matchups with South Carolina
Schaefer said he had no regrets from his team’s performance and knew it was going to be a close game just like first meeting between the two teams.
“Two really, good teams, Two really competitive teams full of competitive kids. Probably got two competitive coaches too, and I can look on the sheet and point to a number of things that are glaring, but it’s one possession,” Schaefer said. “And we all know, myself included, whether it’s an out-of-bounds play I called, and we didn’t get it in, my turnover, right?
“And so, we can all be accountable for the one possession that the game hits. But when you get two teams like this together, that know each other so well, you’re gonna have these knockdown, drag-outs. To be in that environment tonight to see these kids compete the way they did ... We’ve been on the road for the last six days, so it is what it is.”
Raven Johnson performance
Schaefer was asked about the impact USC guard Raven Johnson had in the game. Johnson scored or assisted on 12 of the Gamecocks’ 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“She reminds me a lot of Rory (Harmon, Texas guard),” he said. “How she’s playing both ends and really tries to make things difficult on opponents like Rory’s done her entire career. I think that she’s really trying to impose her will on her teammates to play hard, when she’s playing hard on the ball like Rory.
“... Raven, I think she’s really trying to claim and own the team and how they play and their toughness, and that permeates through their team.”
The new transfer portal rule
This week, it was announced that the new transfer portal window wouldn’t begin for men’s and women’s basketball until after the Final Four, a change from last season.
“Fired up,” Schaefer said when asked about it. “Last year, we’re in the Elite Eight I think when it opened, and like my conscience won’t allow me to go start recruiting kids when my juice and energy and focus needs to be on these kids, right? And I think we had a team in our league, they had already recruited their entire what is now their four, their starting five, before we ever got done playing. I think that it’s a great decision, and it’s just fair.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Texas coach Vic Schaefer reacts after Longhorns’ loss to USC Gamecocks."
