Texas women’s basketball nonconference schedule
Texas women’s basketball nonconference schedule
The preseason polls haven’t been released yet, but it is likely that much will be expected from the Texas women’s basketball team.
Texas has reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament in three of Vic Schaefer’s first four years at the school, but UT is still looking for its first Final Four appearance since 2003. After winning either a Big 12 regular season or tournament championship in each of the past three years, Texas will also attempt to make some noise in its Southeastern Conference debut this winter.
Last week, a media day was held with Texas players and head coach Vic Schaefer. Here is how some players responded when asked that the team’s goals were for the season:
Senior forward Aaliyah Moore
“The goals for this team, I think to take it game-by-game. Of course, I want to say we want to win SEC, we want to win a natty. But all those things will come if we take care of each game and take care of each practice and just work hard every day. I think we as a team just need to figure out how to play together and to make the right read, and the people that come off the bench, they just need to make sure that when they come in, they’re also being productive. If we do that, we’ll take care of all the rest of our goals that we have the rest of the season.”
Senior forward Taylor Jones
“National championship, that’s always a goal. Win the SEC, and I think just win as much as possible. We have an old team, but also a young team. We have a lot of seniors and also a lot of freshmen, and we’re just really learning right now how to play together. I think we’re just really trying every single day to get 1% better. The national championship is on our mind, but we also know that you have to take it one game at a time, and so just trying to get as healthy as possible and enjoy the process while we’re doing it.”
Senior guard Laila Phelia
“We all know the ultimate goal, but I feel like as of now, continuing to do what we need to do to create that chemistry right now and eventually take those next steps. Basically taking it a day at the time, but the ultimate goal is to win a national championship.”
Junior guard Sarah Graves
“I think really taking advantage of the talent that we have on our team with the returning veterans and the great freshman class we have. We want to make sure that we’re teaching the freshmen the standards here and make sure we make an impact in the SEC and the tournament this year.”
Junior guard Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda
The goals for this team for the season, I would say they’ve been the same in the previous years, but something that’s different is having to rebuild team connection. We have an experienced old group, but we also have a really young, fresh, lack-of-experience younger group, you know, freshmen and transfers. So building that connection and building that team chemistry. The other day, we talked about things that will help us win and things that won’t help us win. One of the big things that stood out is energy, which is very important if we want to win a SEC championship, win a national championship and so on. In order for that success, we all need to be on the same page, we all need to know our roles.”
Junior forward Kyla Oldacre
“Be a phenomenal team, and we’re a phenomenal Texas. That’s where we shall be.”
Junior guard Jordana Codio
“I feel like the goals for this season with our team are kind of the same as they’ve always been to get better, compete, obviously go far, however far that may be. I feel like just staying at the same standard we’ve always stayed at and obviously excelling and just continuing to get better, being focused and being prepared for any game.”
Sophomore forward Madison Booker
“Number one is to get past that (Elite Eight) hump right there. I’ll also say to win the SEC. But we know South Carolina, they’ve won that in the past a lot, but we feel as a team, we should be in (contention) too. Our biggest goal is to win a national championship, like always. With a healthy team this year, everybody coming back, if we stay healthy, I feel like we can do that.”
Sophomore center Abbie Boutilier
“Our goals are just to win as much as we can. I think really just coming out of the team early on, it’s find our goals and be as successful as possible.”
Freshman guard Jordan Lee
“I would definitely say nothing short of a national championship. I think they’ve had a lot of success in recent years, and just getting over that last hump is big.”
Freshman forward Justice Carlton
“Really just winning. I think that it’s kind of controversial about how Texas is going to do in the SEC, but I think everybody’s main goal is really just to win and to prove a lot of people wrong.”
