Forty Acres Insider: Nov. 24

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Longhorn Nation,

I've got to start things off in this Thanksgiving week by sharing a huge thank you to all of our fans, supporters and everyone in our wonderful Longhorn family. Y'all bring it every week, you are the very best, and we are forever grateful for every one of you! Together, we've come a long way, but we know there is a lot of work yet to be done. I'm honored to serve you, so fortunate to be part of the Longhorn Family and am extremely thankful for that. With that said, there is plenty of Texas Sports action to be thankful for this week too, and we know you'll be cheering right alongside us, so here's to Longhorn victories and a holiday week filled with loved ones, friends, food, festivities and many opportunities to give thanks!

Looking back at last week, it was a difficult day in Morgantown for our Football team, but tough times don't last, tough people do! I appreciate how hard our guys compete to the very end each and every week, and am truly thankful for the never-ending support of Longhorn Nation. You are the best fans in the land and we are so lucky to have you by our side. Together, we see the seeds being planted for a bright future as we prepare to support our Horns in the final game of the season. We will grow from these struggles, are building a foundation, recruiting is going well, and I see the team's trust in the process steadily growing. I know they are determined to get back on the winning track. After the hard-fought 31-23 loss at West Virginia, I watched as several of our student-athletes, some younger ones and other veterans, spoke to the media along with Coach Sark after the game. I continue to be so impressed by how they handle themselves and represent our program. And I do know we have the right man leading it in Coach Sark with how he answered a question about handling the adversity and outside noise during Monday's press conference.

I echo his sentiments: "I'm built for it. That's how I feel; I'm built for this. You know, there's a lot that comes at you, and I think my level of perseverance, my level of compartmentalizing some of the issues that we've been faced with is a direct reflection of how our team deals with some of the things that we've been faced with. And ultimately, a lot of the things that we've been through this year are actually going to be really good for us (and will) have hardened us for potential things that are going to come down the road."

We are Texas Tough and will bounce back. The pride and winning tradition of the Texas Longhorns will not be entrusted to the weak or the timid. We are built to handle any and every challenge sent our way, and our team got right back to work again this week.

With that said, our seniors have one game left in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium and deserve to have a memorable Senior Day. We are preparing to celebrate them and all they've meant to Texas. I know for me, it's a highlight of every season seeing all of these tremendous student-athletes taking the field one last time, the warm and loving embraces with their families and the celebration that ensues before their final home game. We look forward to seeing all of you on Friday out on Bevo Blvd., Smokey's Midway and Longhorn City Limits as we welcome the team and these seniors for one last Stadium Stampede. Let's make it a really special day as we cheer them to victory against K-State (11 a.m. CT)!

Big news on the Forty
Today we shared some terrific news regarding the additional financial support we will be able to provide our student-athletes through the Academic Enhancement Benefits program. This is exciting, as beginning in the spring of 2022, we'll be able to provide our student-athletes with additional support, but as importantly, be in a position to continue to initiate programs that focus on their academic commitment and success. Our student‐athletes have a wonderful opportunity to engage in a world‐class academic experience while pursuing athletic excellence at the highest level, and this program will help them further build on that. I can't thank President Hartzell and our campus leadership enough for helping us make this happen.

Women's Basketball drops a hard-fought overtime game at Tennessee
Coach Schaefer and our No. 14 Longhorns opened last week with another solid home victory, taking down Southeast Missouri, 88-47. That set the stage for a trip to Knoxville on Sunday and another early season Top-25 primer with No. 12 Tennessee. The game certainly lived up to the hype, and the ESPN audience got quite a show as both teams traded blows throughout the contest. Our Horns led by 12 points midway through the third quarter, but a late Tennessee surge pushed it to overtime and gave them a 74-70 victory. How about Aliyah Matharu, though? She's definitely turning heads in her first season on the Forty Acres with some impressive offense. She dropped in a career-high 27 points and is now fifth in the Big 12 in scoring at over 18 points per game! After short break, we'll be back at the friendly confines of the Erwin Center on Saturday, welcoming in CSUN (1 p.m. CT/LHN) for another non-conference tilt. Hey, and while I've got you, be sure you mark your calendars and plan to join Coach Schaefer for the Longhorns Women's Basketball Luncheon Series beginning on Nov. 30 (11:30 a.m./Erwin Center).

Men's Basketball notches a pair of home wins last week
Coach Beard and the No. 8 Men's Basketball team grabbed two home wins this past week and continue their five-game homestand with more action this week. They started with a 62-49 win over Northern Colorado on Wednesday and returned to the court on Saturday for a 79-45 victory against San Jose State. Those two games and tonight's upcoming home contest against California Baptist (7:30 p.m. CT, LHN) are part of the Abe Lemons Classic, a multi-team event honoring the legacy of one of the best to ever coach the game. How cool was it to see so many of Coach Lemons' former players and staff return to the Erwin Center on Saturday? And a special shout-out goes to Jan Lemons, one of Abe's daughters, who made the trip down from Oklahoma City. That was awesome and really shows how Coach Beard is truly working to Unite the Texas Basketball Family! After tonight's game and break for Thanksgiving, we've got a special one on Monday, Nov. 29, against Sam Houston at Gregory Gym. This one is for the UT students! Stay tuned to our social platforms, as we give you updates on the Party at the Tower on Monday and all the festivities surrounding this cool event. Students, we need you to pack Gregory Gym and make it an electric atmosphere!

And we can't talk about Men's Basketball without a huge congrats to former coach Tom Penders on his induction Sunday night into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach Penders, you are indeed College Basketball royalty. Such a well-deserved honor, and all of Texas Basketball is so proud of you!

Senior Day Sweeps for Texas Volleyball, off to Lubbock for season finale
Coach Elliott and our No. 2 Volleyball squad celebrated their seniors with a pair of sweeps of Kansas State last week. Seniors Brionne Butler and Sydney Petersen went out in style in their final regular season home match at Gregory Gym, winning big over the Wildcats. Butler was a dominant force, finishing with 15 kills and seven total blocks in the two matches. Now there's just one week of the regular season left as the ladies head to Lubbock to try to lock down their fifth straight Big 12 Championship! Then on Sunday, we'll find out if we're hosting NCAA Tournament matches at The Greg on the NCAA Selection Show at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. All-session tickets for NCAA First and Second Round matches and NCAA Regionals are available now, so don't wait to get yours!

Men's Cross Country finishes strong NCAA Championships
Fresh off defending their 2019 NCAA Regional Championship victory a week ago, Men's Cross Country turned in a strong performance in Tallahassee on Saturday at the NCAA Championships. Sparked by a personal-best finish of 29:28.1 in the 10K race, Yaseen Abdalla led the team to a 14th-place finish, which matches its best since 2013. Yaseen became the 19th Cross Country All-American in UT history, so a huge Hook 'Em to him for that historic honor! Haftu Knight, the NCAA South Central Regional Champion, was our next best finisher with a time of 29:47.8. For the women, Beth Ramos finished with her best time of the season of 20:48.4 in the 6K and was the top performer for our Horns in all six of their meets. Way to go Beth!

Longhorns shine at UT Diving Invitational
Coach Scoggin is the best diving coach in America and it showed once again as our divers turned in big-time performances last weekend as we hosted the UT Diving Invitational at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. Jordan Windle led the Men with victories in two of the three events. The Olympian shared the title on the 3-meter board with a six-dive total score of 463.05 points. He returned to win the platform crown outright with a score of 402.35. Our Women also claimed two of the three events. Bridget O'Neil earned the win on the 1-meter board with a score of 327.50, edging Arizona's diver by .75 points, while Paola Pineda closed it out by defending her platform title for the third-straight season with 315.25 points.

Longhorns earn fall Academic All-Big 12 honors
Once again, we're so proud to celebrate our student-athletes' outstanding achievements in the classroom. We had 76 individuals earn Academic All-Big 12 honors during the fall semester, 71 of which made the first-team! Football led the way with 37 total honorees with a fantastic 33 of those on the first team, the most in the conference and the most in program history! Not to be outdone, Soccer had 13 selections, all first-teamers, while nine of the 10 Volleyball selections made the first team, and Cross Country added 16 (10 Women/6 Men) more, again, all on the first team! In addition, Football's Cade Brewer and Justin Mader, and Volleyball's Logan Eggleston were just selected CoSIDA first-team Academic All-District and advance to the Academic All-America ballot! All of that amazing success in the classroom definitely deserves a big Hook 'Em!

Spend Thanksgiving week with the Longhorns! Join us during the holidays for an action-packed week on the Forty Acres! Bring your family and friends out for great deals to Men's Basketball tonight ($10 general admission lower level), Football on Friday ($25 general admission), and Women's Basketball this Saturday ($5 arena reserved). Visit TexasSports.com/Tickets today to join the fun!

You can still get your tickets to help us celebrate Senior Day with our Football team vs. Kansas State
We'll be celebrating all of our Football senior student-athletes when we host Kansas State on Friday! Tickets are still available for that game and you can purchase them online at online at TexasSports.com or by calling 512-471-3333.

Honoring our College Football Hall of Famer Kenneth Sims
At this week's game, we'll also be paying tribute to Kenneth Sims, a Longhorn Legend and one of the all-time great defensive players to don the Burnt Orange and White! Y'all remember — or surely have heard the stories — of college football's most dominant defensive lineman of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Well, at halftime of Friday's game we'll be celebrating Kenneth with an on-campus salute of his impending College Football Hall of Fame enshrinement! Be ready to put your hands together and get those Hook 'Ems up for an awesome Longhorn for Life. Let's give him the huge round of applause he deserves!!

Texas and Dell Technologies expand partnership
We all know the amazing story of Michael Dell starting the company in his UT dorm room and have long had a great partnership with Dell Technologies. We're thrilled to announce that we have new multi-year relationship that establishes them as our Official Technology Sponsor. Thank you Michael and Dell Technologies for helping us further enhance our student-athlete and fan experience. You are the best!

Look forward to seeing everyone this holiday week, and we are so grateful for all of your Longhorn passion, spirit and support. It means the world to us, and we want to wish you and yours the best Thanksgiving ever!

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

Chris Del Conte signature
Chris Del Conte