Following No. 4 Texas’ 86-70 loss at No. 5 Vanderbilt on Thursday night, Longhorns’ women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer said his team “has no heart” and called it “the softest team I’ve ever had.”
“We whine. We complain. Just have no heart,” Schaefer said. “And, at the end of the day, that’s what is evident to me is we have no heart. We’re not tough.
“My staff and I, we’re just really frustrated that we’re coaching that. Effort, energy, focus – that’s a given. And that used to come with a scholarship. Right now, it comes with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, man, I’m fixing to go call my AD and tell him, ‘Man, I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry, because that’s not the way you represent the University of Texas.'”
After Texas fell behind by 26 in the third quarter, Schaefer sat down four starters – Rori Harmon, Jordan Lee, Justice Carlton and Brea Cunningham – for the rest of the game.
With a lineup of junior All-American Madison Booker, who led Texas with 20 points, Bryanna Preston, Aaliyah Crump, Kyla Oldacre and Teya Sidberry, Texas was able to cut Vandy’s lead to 11 with 3:53 to play.
But the Longhorns couldn’t get any closer down the stretch as Vanderbilt sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes, the nation’s leading scorer, who led all scorers with 34 points in her fourth-straight game with 30 or more, scored nine straight to finish off the Horns.
“I will change the starting lineup to find some heart in our team,” Schaefer said.
Texas (23-3, 8-3 SEC) next plays at No. 22 Tennessee (16-6, 8-2 SEC) on Sunday at 2 pm CT (on ABC).
Here’s everything Vic Schaefer said following his team’s 86-70 loss at No. 5 Vanderbilt (24-2, 10-2 SEC) in Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn.:
“Vanderbilt played extremely hard, way harder than us. I’ve had my butt beat before. When you’ve done it as long as I have, it’s not the first time. It’s the first time at Texas I feel like where my team was out-toughed. The other team played harder, and just quite frankly, we had no heart.
“You want to ask me, What does it take to win at this level? What’s it going to take for my team? You got to have heart. We got no heart. And I just thought they were tougher and more physical, more aggressive. We whine. We complain. Just have no heart. And at the end of the day, that’s what is evident to me, is we have no heart. We’re not tough.
“My staff and I, we’re just really frustrated that we’re coaching that. Effort, energy, focus – that’s a given. And that used to come with a scholarship. Right now, it comes with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, man, I’m fixing to go call my AD and tell him, ‘Man, I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry, because that’s not the way you represent the University of Texas.’
“And I wear it. I’m accountable. That’s my team. That’s so disappointing. It’s probably the softest team I’ve had in years. And I think that’s what’s hard. When you come to a place like Texas, and you come to a program like Texas, and you want to be a part of that, you have to be an active participant in that. You can’t come ride the coattails.
“We lost some critical seniors, critical seniors that were tough, that were competitive, that played with heart every night. You know, everybody wants to judge and criticize and critique, but those kids brought it. I could count on them every night. So when you come, you have to be an active participant. I didn’t have too many active participants [against Vanderbilt] till I put that group in the second half.
“Those kids played well. They played hard. They came in down 26, and we cut it really, to 10. We fouled them for their last six points, if I’m not mistaken. So it just takes heart y’all, and again, not taking anything from Vanderbilt. Man, I thought they were special. I thought those kids played hard.
“We just had a coach spend two weeks on a scout, and we go out there and absolutely kick it on executing it. We can’t get the simplest thing done in a scout, but yet we walk around, we whine, we complain. It’s just embarrassing. I can’t remember when I’ve been this embarrassed over the lack of heart. And again, I’m responsible. I am – absolutely. You’re either coaching it or allowing it. You’re either coaching it or allowing it, and I’m responsible for it. So my job is to get it fixed. We got two days to get it fixed. Then, we go to Tennessee, but it’s a lonely feeling, especially in [Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium], when you’re down there by yourself on the sideline. There’s no bench down there with you to at least turn around and have a conversation with.
“It’s a lonely feeling down there with a team that’s not playing well, and, in your mind, not playing hard. But you know, I certainly wasn’t gonna quit. And I thought that group that played in the second half – after I made the first round of substitutions – those kids played hard, and those kids are gonna play on Sunday.
“So we’ll get back [to Austin]. We’ll practice tomorrow. We’ll practice Saturday, and we’ll go there [to Tennessee] Sunday and see if we can find a way to play a little better. But we’re going to bring our hearts with us. Some of us left our heart back in Austin, Texas.”
“Well, you know, I’ve coached in that gym when you had to stay on the baseline. They didn’t give us the freedom to get down there where you can stand in normal gyms, right? So to me, at least they made that adjustment and got that approved. But you know, it had no effect on the game, whatsoever. And again, if your team’s playing good, no big deal. But there’s times down there when you’re standing up there like the Statue of Liberty, and it’s all you. And when your team’s not playing well, it’s a lonely feeling. But again, I’m big boy.”
“Well, first of all, y’all got to stop saying benching. This is a game, and it’s basketball. You make substitutions. So, it’s not benching. I’ve had this brought up before when I subbed in Bry [Preston] for Rori [in a loss earlier this season] at LSU. It’s not benching. If she [Harmon] doesn’t play on Sunday, you can come at me with benching. And I’m not going at you [to a reporter]. I’ve had this before, and I don’t understand, as a sports person, sports writers, it’s not benching. It’s giving another kid an opportunity.
“And by the way, [Preston] had seven assists, two turnovers, and played her guts out. So once you put somebody in, and they’re playing well, you don’t take them out. And it happened at LSU. It happened again tonight. And, again, I will do it from here. I will change the starting lineup to find some heart in our team. And I’m not talking specifically about that particular substitution. I’m just talking about my team. I will find five people that will play like this [making a fist], not like this [with his five fingers spread apart]. That’s what it takes in this league. So stop with the benching. Preston played her guts out, played really hard, ran my team, seven assists, two turnovers in 22 minutes. Rori played 18 minutes, had two assists, two turnovers, so I played Preston.”
“I love those kids. I enjoy being around them. But the proof is in the pudding, and I need to remind myself of that. I get to listening to too many people who think they know, instead of just doing it my way. If they’re not going to get in the cold tub and get rehabbed, okay, then you’re going to be tired the next day. If you’re not going to get in and do cryotherapy, then you’re going to be tired.
“But me taking it easy, me not practicing hard because somebody else does that, or everybody else does that. I’ve never done that, never. And my teams are always better in February and March – always. But we’re not tough. We have no toughness. This team is as soft as – it’s the softest team I’ve ever had. They have no toughness. Again, that translates from practices. My fault. My fault. So again, probably a little bit of both. And I’ll wear it. No problem, my fault. I’ll wear all of it, but it’s going to stop now.
“I told my staff, I don’t want to hear about anybody being tired, sore, whatever. It’s time to go to work. That’s it. That’s how you fix that. You just go to work. But to sit around and think that it’s this fault or this fault, we all need to be accountable. And when I say that, again, I’ve had teams that all they got was a scholarship, and they laid it on the line every time. I never had to coach their heart. Never! I’m out there coaching heart tonight y’all. That ain’t it. Not at Texas.”
“We probably had the same problem everybody else has had. Maybe it’d be different if this was the first night [Mikayla Blakes] has had 30. But I’m pretty sure that’s four [games] in a row for her [with 30]. So, again, disappointed in that we couldn’t figure out with a veteran group what the things are she likes to do, and couldn’t take it away.
“That’s what I’m disappointed about. It ain’t that hard. I told my staff, with about five minutes to go in the game, we play them again, our focus needs to be this, this and this. We obviously didn’t have the focus tonight. I had a coach that spent two weeks on this scout. You’d never know it. Never know it.
“Y’all can tell I am pissed. I’m disappointed. I’m hurt. And taking nothing from Vanderbilt, nothing from Mikayla Blakes, nothing from that point guard [freshman Aubrey Galvan, who had 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists], who is freaking good. Nothing from them.
“Their fives were better than us, tougher than us. We can’t make a drop-step layup tonight [Texas missed 14 layups]. It’s just disappointing. But that’s all toughness, y’all. They were tougher. They were just flat tougher. And we’ve had this issue before this year. But it’s going to stop. Or you know what? The butt whippings will continue. We’ll continue to lose if we don’t fix it. That’s my job. I bet you, after 41 years, I bet you I fix it. Thank you all. Have a great day. Thanks for your coverage.
“And, listen, Vanderbilt is special. That dang team over there is really good. [Vanderbilt coach] Shea Ralph, what she’s done, and I told her this when we shook hands – there’s nothing harder – and I did it at Mississippi State. There is nothing harder to do than bring a team from the bottom in this league to the top. Nothing harder. She’s done it. That’s a hell of a team. She’s got really good players, and she’s coaching the hell out them. She is doing a great job. Take nothing from that team. Tonight, they outplayed the University of Texas. So I want to make sure we get that clear. Give them all the credit. They deserve it. Those kids deserve it. They played their hearts out. That team’s got heart. Praise the Lord, and hook’em horns. Thank y’all.”
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