GEICO PLAYERS ERA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 27, 2025

Vic Schaefer

Madison Booker

Rori Harmon

Jordan Lee

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Texas Longhorns

Women's Postgame Press Conference

Texas - 66, South Carolina - 64

VIC SCHAEFER: Well, I can't say that I've ever seen this before in my career. We've played back-to-back No. 2 and No. 3 in two successive days. I've never seen that. Maybe in the NCAA Tournament in '17. But to do it on back-to-back days, these kids all went 40 minutes two days in a row. I think Jordan went 39 and change. Came out for a heartbeat. And then these three guards were our three guards for two straight days against the best of the best.

Look, we all know, UCLA is going to win a lot of games. They're a great team. South Carolina, they're going to win a lot of games. They're a great team. Both are well-coached, hall of fame coaches.

But these kids for these two days, I'm telling you, I've never seen it. To have to go back-to-back -- and these three guards, I thought tonight -- I thought with five minutes to go, they hit their stride. And that's when you know you've got something.

I thought we answered -- when we were down eight with a minute or something to go in the third, I told them, let's try to get this to four to start the quarter. When we got to the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Booker was in the huddle going, Coach, we've got this, we've got this.

I thought we had great poise. And I thought when I looked at my players, I thought, she's right. There was a lot of confidence in this group. And again, this team is really special. They showed the country today and you people in the audience an incredible amount of toughness, competitive spirit and resilience.

When they made their run -- and they're always going to make a run -- when they made their run, they answered. And that says a lot about my kids and their character, their heart, their toughness. And we always take pride. They don't like me to tell them they get punked. They don't like it.

Well, they didn't get punked today. They really played their guts out. To be in the position we were in when we came here and to answer the bell back-to-back days against two great teams, great players -- what an event.

I need to have my head examined for signing up for this for four straight years. But we do it for the kids, obviously, right?

But, man, what an incredible effort by these kids today. And, again, I thought they looked better today than they did yesterday in the second half. You know, they executed some really good stuff down the stretch.

For November, their offensive execution was really good tonight, really good, especially in the second half. And we shot 47 in the fourth and 50 in the third. That speaks volumes for their focus, not being tired, their toughness.

So I'm extremely proud of this group. I mean, it took everybody that played and everybody on the bench. And we get some kids healthy, we're going to be even better.

But, man, it's a pretty special two days, y'all. A lot of you, I know, have seen a lot of basketball in your day. Pretty special group you just watched for two straight days playing two great teams.

Q. Rori, for you, we heard from Coach yesterday how yesterday was the scoring for you. Today it was mainly distributing the ball and the assists in until that final moment you were the one to go ahead and make the go-ahead shot. For you being ready in those moments and knowing and dictating the way the game is going for you individually, whether it's to put the ball in the basket versus facilitating, how are you equating that over the course of the game? And how did you know in the last minute that it was your time to go?

RORI HARMON: One is just keeping my composure and that us five on the court are keeping our composure, which I feel we did a really good job doing that. And just giving each other confidence throughout that.

I felt when we got into timeouts, came out of timeouts, we were all really locked in. And understand we'll go on our runs. We might be down right now, but we'll be fine, like, we're good, just keep our composure.

I just read the vibe and flow of the game. I'll get to my spots when I need to. But I have really good other two guards, as you can tell. But just he called the play at the end of the game, and I've been in this moment before, so it felt good coming out of my hands.

Q. Coach, you've had Rori by your side helping you build this program over the past five years. A really special night tonight. What has she meant to you and Texas women's basketball over the last few years?

VIC SCHAEFER: You have to understand, she's the only player in the history of Texas women's basketball to score 1200 points and have 700 assists and counting. She sets the record tonight and takes the record from a player in Kamie Ethridge, who played for Jody Conradt on that national championship team and played for her for many years, but for all of us and for me especially, we have a great respect for the history of Texas and women's basketball, because it's really important there.

When I first got the job, I had spent -- I took the school playing from Starkville, Mississippi to Houston, Texas a bunch, trying to recruit her to Mississippi State. She was the first one, because if you are going to build a good program it starts with the point guard.

You can have all the size in the world, if you ain't got any guard play -- we proved that tonight -- you got no chance. And she's somebody I really wanted. And once I got the job at Texas, her and her mom had the conversation, and it was, like, I don't have to go all the way to Starkville, Mississippi; I can just go down the road to Austin, Texas.

She was really that first brick in building a program. And, again, I've been there, I've seen them all. I've seen her in her good times, her bad times. She continues to grow.

But, again, she is where she is because she invests in her craft. She doesn't show up five minutes before practice starts and doesn't leave when the horn sounds. She's there an hour before getting shots up, just like Book, just like Jordan, just like most of my team. That's why she is who she is.

And bless her heart last year, she's just trying to play after having a pretty traumatic injury, doesn't really get to -- she's trying to get her body ready instead of her skill set ready.

Well, then this past summer, now she can work on her skill set. And she'll be the first to tell you, she's surrounded by some really good players. We have a lot of weapons. And it makes her job that much easier.

She's had a game this year where she had 12 assists, I think, and no turnovers, or maybe one. But she makes all the right decisions. How many turnovers did you have today? Two. She's nine to two today, so four and a half to one.

And so she knows, running our offense, getting us into what we need to get into, that now she's getting back to where she's getting her shot back. And I think that's where she struggled maybe a little bit a year ago. But she's got it back because she's in the gym.

She's meant everything to us. She's been a big part of our building this program. And it's allowed us to go get players like Jordan and Madison and the rest of this team. And I told them, we had nine players available. And if I go down and look at your rating of each of you, you're pretty good players.

So we weren't going to have an excuse coming out of here, well, we only had nine available and seven that really play a lot. That was not going to be our excuse. If we stubbed our toe, we stubbed our toe, we were going to own it.

But when you look at Rori and Book and Jordan and the rest of our team, there's some really good players in that group. And right now they have great chemistry, and they are tough.

Q. Coach, I notice every press conference you review those stats. Are there some that you go to specifically? And point of protocol, do you always bring players win, lose or draw, to the podium?

VIC SCHAEFER: No question. We're going to own it whether we played well or didn't. That's the maturity of our players, that's the character of them. And that's what we try to teach and instill in them.

We're fortunate we don't have to come in here after an L, but every now and again it happens. And we'll own it.

On here I have circles for good things, boxes for bad things. So somebody's got a lot of turnovers, they've got a box around that number. If they don't have any turnovers, they got a circle around it. If they shot a good percentage they got a circle. If they got a bunch of rebounds they got a circle.

I'm always attentive of this. I got it from Coach Blair who I worked for for many years. And it's just a way for us to identify -- and they're always looking, how many circles do I have, how many boxes do I have. They're wanting to. The first place they're going is the turnover box. They want to know because they know it's -- yesterday we played so well the first half, only had one turnover. And we were really on point.

Again, I thought tonight we were really on point down the stretch executing. I think we did have a couple of turnovers late, but, boy, making that run, we were getting great -- our looks, the ones we were wanting out of each of those sets, and we executed some really good stuff.

Q. Madison, talk about, you're known for scoring, but also talk about your defense tonight. I feel like you really disrupted their guard play.

MADISON BOOKER: (Chuckling) that is a big, big compliment from you. Thank so much for noticing. Oh, my gosh. But, no, I think my match today was Tessa. Tessa is a great player. Her shot is amazing. Every time it's going up, I know it's going in.

I mean, the scout on her was don't let her touch it, don't let her get easy shots. The first half we let her get easy shots. Came out the second half, tried to deny her, keep her from touching the ball, stuff like that.

But, no, I think it's all credit to Coach Schaefer and my teammates. I think my freshman year it was not so good on that end of the court. I remember telling Coach Schaefer that I'm going to get better on defense my sophomore year.

I'm keep trying to work on it. Every day in practice I'm trying to guard the best player. Whether it's a bad day, good day, whatever, I'm trying to guard them.

Also, I'm seeing with Rori out there, she steps up guarding the best player four quarters. That makes me want to go harder. Jordan Lee, too. Seeing her she makes me want to deny and actually play defense. I credit it to my teammates more.

Q. Madison and Rori, you guys shared a moment after the game. You guys hugged for a while. I'm curious what you guys said to each other, and also what's your relationship off the court?

MADISON BOOKER: What I said to Rori was I was proud of her. For one, I came to Texas to play with a good point guard. That was Rori Harmon. From our first year of being there, just working out every day in the summer, getting to exercise together, working out together, or on the same side together, just us growing our chemistry on the court together.

I remember our first year, we beat UConn at home. That was kind of a big momentum for us. And then later, she went down. But she was still in my ear every day, still coaching me every day, still pushing me, still being positive.

That's just the kind of relationship we've kind of grown over that year. Then into my sophomore year, when she was coming back -- she had her ups and downs throughout the season.

As a teammate, it breaks my heart, because I know how good she is. I know she knows how good she is. And just to see her keep pushing, keep putting in the work.

And to come here now and she's fully healthy. She's been putting in work every day. She's in the gym before everybody every day, getting extra work, reps with Sid. And just seeing how she's humble. She's steady. She's grounded in her work.

And for her to come out here and do what she's been doing this whole summer, what she's been working for, is great to see. Like, I'm proud of her. I told her I was just very proud of her and it's only up from here.

RORI HARMON: Thanks, Madison. I had a moment with her because I feel like, when we are like that together, like, our team is, like, unstoppable. Like, our chemistry is unbelievable.

I know we spent the freshman year where we weren't on the court together, but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to be there for her. Obviously she did such a great job. And I think she says she looks up to me a lot, but I truly do look up to her a lot, too.

The type of person and player that she's grown into over the years, and to see her step into that leadership role this year, it's pretty incredible, because I can't do it on my own. And she's been there and had my back ever since the beginning. So I think it's pretty amazing to have her by my side.

When we have those tougher games like that, when it means a lot to us, honestly, that's the first person I'm going to go to.

Q. Madison, for you, I'm interested, obviously you've been such a focal point for this offense since you arrived on campus. Having a player like Jordan next to you that can go and score, help space the floor, and everything, I'm interested, how does that make your life easier, open it up? And Jordan, through the early stages of this season, obviously a lot more responsibility this season, how have you seen yourself grow over the course of this first month?

MADISON BOOKER: For one, I'm proud of Jordan. I think she came in this summer and put the work in. I think last year she wasn't really a driver, but this year she's creating her own shots off our motion offense.

That opens a lot for us, for me and Rori, for Aaliyah, Bre, for our posts, too. But she's a big part of this offense and she's doing amazing at it.

JORDAN LEE: They make it super easy. On the scouting report, obviously they're going to be the top two and draw a lot of attention on that end. So my job is to make it easier for them in that same way and open things up. And we have a great presence inside with both Kyla and Breya.

So the opportunity to stretch the floor -- even though I didn't shoot to well tonight -- but the opportunity to stretch the floor, make things easier for them so we're able to run our stuff, get downhill and space the floor.

Q. Jordan, Madison just said, like, you weren't as much of a driver last year but tonight it literally looked like your bread and butter was just doing those little middies. Tell me how that skill set has developed over the offseason to now.

JORDAN LEE: You get a lot of confidence in your reps, and credit to Coach Sid. She's worked with me a lot, just getting downhill this year, and being able to square up, and we have an amazing, amazing practice squad as well, going against those guys and the physicality.

And also the height as well, teaches you to get your shot out quick. And so getting downhill today, it was a lot easier because I had confidence in the reps and the work that I had put in.

Q. Coach, I'm leaving these two games my first time getting to see you guys in person this year. Obviously some familiar faces down there in the paint, but I'm leaving incredibly impressed with your bigs going against, especially, these two teams in particular. Wondering from your perspective what you are taking away from those bigs down low and obviously your guards leading the way in a lot of ways way, but those bigs down in the paint were battling both games.

VIC SCHAEFER: Those are my two-headed monster. I like to have two of them. And those two really play off of each other very well. And Breya has been -- I finished second on Breya coming out of high school. I thought I was going to get her. Didn't get her. But, you know, you wish kids well and you never know what's going to happen.

I was pretty fired up when we had a chance to get her back. And she and Kyla, you're talking about two amazing young ladies. They're just incredible.

They've got some stuff to them. And you better have some stuff to you down there in this league, and they've got it. But again, they'll be the first to tell you, our guards really help play post defense by the pressure they put on the ball.

And that's just a focal point for us. And I hate to say that in public because I don't want to give away the secret sauce. But it is what it is. You can have all the size in the world, but if you don't have guard play, you ain't winning. You can win games with guard play and no size, but you can't win a championship without both. So we always try to have both. And those two kids are tough.

They've got some stuff to them. And, yet, we'll go out tonight, and they'll be two of the jokingest around, laughingest kids we've got. But when the lights come on, I'm glad I've got those two because they can do what we need to have done.

And in the league that we live in and that neighborhood, we just went against one of them, and they've got a lot of them, too. So, it's really important that you have kids like that.

But it's more than just size. Those kids are cerebral. They're smart. But they are tough. And they ain't backing down from anybody. And that's really important.

I really appreciate y'all's coverage. I see a lot of familiar faces in the room. I appreciate you being here. Charlie, thanks for hanging out for a couple of days. And appreciate you being here as well. You've got your dad with you today. He's here.

So, again, all of y'all for your coverage, appreciate that. And stay with this group. They're going to be fun to watch. But appreciate y'all's time, and y'all have a great Thanksgiving. Praise the Lord and Hook 'em Horns.