Forty Acres Insider: February 18

Chris Del Conte head shot 2025

Longhorn Nation,

WHAT A SWEET VALENTINE'S WEEKEND IT WAS FOR OUR LONGHORNS! The Eyes of Texas were upon us, and we sure did have a blast with y'all. Your passion is absolutely amazing! Our Horns were up, and victories were oh so plentiful (8-0 on Saturday and Sunday is pretty, pretty good my friends!). Y'all packed the house and cheered your hearts out for our Men's and now-No. 2 Women's Basketball top-15 victory two-step. The Coach Schloss era got off to a rousing start in the Metroplex by securing the Shriner Children's College Showdown Championship. No. 1 Softball opened its home season with count 'em up, five more wins — including two against No. 8 Texas Tech. And No. 3 Men's Tennis took Big D by storm advancing all the way to the ITA Indoor National Championship semifinals. Folks, we're right back at it this week with plenty more to come and a pair of titles on the line with Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving already competing at the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga. It's wall-to-wall Longhorns with Baseball, Basketball, Golf, Rowing, Softball, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Track and Field and Beach Volleyball all in action on the fields, courts, course, water, track and sand this week. So, get those Horns Up and let's Hook 'Em some more!

shoutout Longhorn Nation 🫶🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/nZXJpzQFnm
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 16, 2025

Speaking of all Longhorns all the time, it's that time of year again and we want to be sure y'all mark those calendars and make plans to join us for the TEXAS ATHLETICS TOWN HALL next Wednesday (Feb. 26) starting at 6:30 p.m. right here inside the Touchdown Club at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. It's always a great event, a chance to gather, hear updates, plans and visions for the future and for us to hear from you, our stakeholders! Here are all the details so come on out for some good ol' Longhorn Family Fellowship. Can't wait to see y'all there!

mark your calendar 🗓️🤘

📰 https://t.co/MrOAypUX1W #HookEm pic.twitter.com/07zCSDn3eV
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 17, 2025

But as we look ahead to things to come, we've got to take time for a victory-lap for a week of excellence that was so awesome and we'll start it off by talking basketball! How about that weekend at Moody Center with both the men and women rallying to top-15 wins?! Y'all brought it big-time (to the tune of two sellouts and more than 21,000 of you in the building) and played such a vital role in those wins. And the icing on the cake was the nation seeing THE PRIDE AND WINNING TRADITION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS on full display with both victories broadcast nationally (women on ABC/men on ESPN)!

Coach Schaefer and our now No. 2-ranked WOMEN WERE TRULY TEXAS TOUGH in a hard-fought 65-58 comeback victory over No. 5 LSU. It was a critical one in the race for the SEC Championship and our 10th-straight win, fifth victory over a top-10 team and finished off a stretch of four straight games against top-25 opponents that all were Texas triumphs. And back to that game, trailing by 11 midway through the third quarter (45-34), we stampeded to a 31-13 advantage down the stretch for the win. And how about this for perfection and clutch shooting, we hit all 21 of our free throw attempts to boot! Ice water in our veins for sure!! Now our Horns will get a well-earned break and opportunity for some rest & recovery with no game this week and the next contest coming at Georgia on Monday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network). That will tipoff the homestretch with three games in seven days heading into the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C. (March 5-9). I'll leave you with this message from Coach Schaefer to the team, as we sure have put ourselves in a position to win a championship!

THREE TOP TEN WINS IN. A. ROW. 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/KaeGSG1Xrj
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 16, 2025

WE HAD TO TURN UP THAT TEXAS FIGHT In a back-and-forth affair as Coach Terry and Men's Basketball got a fantastic 82-78 win over No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday night at Moody Center. Tre Johnson was en fuego with a career-high 32 points and so was Longhorn Nation as y'all brought it BIG TIME my friends. I can't thank you enough for giving us that huge homecourt advantage that helped us put over one more win! Our Horns get some time off this week before heading to South Carolina to face the Gamecocks on Saturday (7:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network).

another top 15 dub ✅#HookEm pic.twitter.com/5x6GITHgFk
— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) February 16, 2025

ALL THEY DO IS WIN! Coach White and No. 1 Softball kept on keepin' on and remained perfect on the season, opening the 2025 campaign at home last weekend by winning all five games at McCombs Field. Capped off by an 11-0 run-rule victory over No. 8 Texas Tech on Sunday, our Horns improved their unblemished record to 11-0. Four of those victories have come via the run rule and Coach White's crew has been doing it at the plate and in the circle decisively, outscoring their opponents 86-20. We've got an encore home contest for you with Akron in town for a game on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+), so come on out and cheer them on. From there, our Horns hit the road for the Hillenbrand Invitational and a field that includes a pair of top-25 teams (Arizona and Stanford) in Tucson this weekend.

It was a historic opening weekend for Baseball as THE COACH SCHLOSS ERA OFFICIALLY GOT UNDERWAY with an exclamation point at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Our Horns won two of three games (the lone loss being a 4-3 extra-inning nailbiter against Louisville on Friday), including what turned out to be the title game against top-25 ranked Oklahoma State in a 14-8 win on Sunday night (after a 10-0 run-rule victory over Ole Miss on Saturday), to raise the Shriner Children's College Showdown Championship trophy. We broke out the bats with six homers, outscoring our final two challengers 24-8 on the way to the title. What a way to start and now the stage is set for this week's home opener tonight at UFCU Disch-Falk Field against Houston (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). That will be followed by a weekend series with Dartmouth and then another home game against UIW next Tuesday (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). Folks, that's five-straight games at the Disch for you to come on out and get charged up for what promises to be a ton of fun!

🤘 @TexasBaseball 🤘

The 2025 #ShrinersShowdown Champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6zxrEVN11u
— Shriners Children's (@shrinershosp) February 17, 2025

Coach Berque and No. 3 Men's Tennis took Big D by storm at the ITA Indoor National Championships. First it was our rivals from Texas A&M going down in the round of 16 on Friday, then we took out No. 5 Virginia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Our guys followed that with a hard-fought 4-3 loss to No. 2 Wake Forest on Monday in the semifinals.

More hardware is up for grabs with SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS ON THE LINE THIS WEEK! Swimming and Diving will look to get things started in the SEC like we did in the Big 12 by hooking all challengers and raising those championship trophies. Coach Bowman's men's squad is No. 1 in the nation while Coach Capitani and the women are ranked No. 2 nationally as they got things underway on Monday (women) and today (men) in Athens, Ga. The meet runs through Saturday, so follow along for all the coverage on all our platforms and you can catch much of the action on SEC Network+ as well.

here come the Horns🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/0fFWxnUqnR
— Texas Men's Swimming & Diving (@TexasMSD) February 16, 2025

WHAT STARTS HERE FOLKS! It's so cool to see our Longhorns will be well represented at the NFL Combine again this year. Talk about Coach Sark, our staff and a tribute to player development, how about these numbers?! We set the program record with 11 players (fourth best of any program) at last year's Combine and improved that to 14 (second-most of any program) this year. The total of 25 NFL Combine invites over the past two years is tied with Georgia for the most of any school during that stretch. We are on pace for another historic NFL Draft this year when they tee that up in Green Bay on April 24-26. Here's to hoping there's a record-breaking number of Longhorn names called, and dreams achieved, once again!

A program record 1⃣4⃣ Longhorns have been invited to the 2025 NFL Combine 🤘 pic.twitter.com/8oXVjSifXJ
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) February 13, 2025

While I've got you and before we get to all the notes, let's give an emphatic Hook 'Em to our legendary coach Mack Brown. On Monday he was in Fort Worth receiving the Davey O'Brien Legends Award, an honor that recognizes a college or professional quarterback or coach who has made a significant contribution to the game of football. Welp, Coach Brown has done that in spades and is so deserving of this honor. Congrats to our Hall of Famer, you're the absolute best!

Monday was a great night in Fort Worth celebrating @daveyobrien Legends Award winner @CoachMackBrown🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/K5JsyTrFRf
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) February 18, 2025

Men's Basketball knocks off No. 15 Kentucky in The Mood!

Talk about an electric atmosphere for college basketball! Longhorn Nation and our students (The Corral) brought it in a huge way when our guys needed it the most, as you helped our Men's Basketball team rally in the final four minutes to post an exciting 82-78 victory over No. 15/18 Kentucky on Saturday night in Moody Center. The kid Tre Johnson showed the nation why he is not just one of the top freshmen in the SEC but also one of the top players in the country with a career-high 32 points to go along with a career-high nine rebounds. Tramon Mark got it going with a season-high 26 points, and Kadin Shedrick turned it up in crunch-time with some huge plays on both ends of the court in the final two minutes to lead our team to the win. Now RT and the guys get a much-needed mid-week bye and hope to get some guys healthier for the stretch run before we head to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

TEXAS TAKES DOWN NO. 15 KENTUCKY 🤘

Statement win for the Longhorns! @TexasMBB pic.twitter.com/at3Lt0g7bA
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 16, 2025

Women's Basketball up to No. 2 in the national polls with 10 straight wins!

Wow! I'm running out of things to say about Coach Schaefer's squad! They showed the definition of Texas Fight in our 65-58 victory over LSU on Sunday. The Longhorns came back from down 12 points in the third quarter to beat the Tigers and improve to 26-2 on the season. With the victory, we became the first women's basketball team in 20 years to win three straight games over top-10 opponents. Texas has now won nine games against AP top-25 teams, including five victories over AP-top 10 teams this season. In Sunday's win, All-American Madison Booker had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Taylor Jones became the 50th member of the 1,000-point club at Texas. Our three freshmen all played key roles in the victory, and Rori Harmon hit some big shots at the end. We owe a huge THANK YOU to Longhorn Nation for packing The Mood and creating an unbelievable home court advantage the last two Sundays to see our ladies take down No. 2 South Carolina and No. 5 LSU. The team gets some well-deserved rest this week before returning to action next Monday (Feb. 24) at Georgia (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network). Make sure to mark Sunday, March 2 (1 p.m. CT) on your calendar as we'll host Florida in our final regular season home game and celebrate Senior Day. We need another 10,000 fans in Moody Center for that one!

HOW WE FEELIN' 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/AdGjOKOzAv
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 16, 2025

Baseball crowned Shriners Children's College Showdown champions in season-opening weekend

What a start to the Coach Schloss era! The Longhorns opened the season by traveling up I-35 to Arlington's Globe Life Field and came home with a 2-1 record and the Shriners Children's College Showdown title. After a hard-fought 4-3 loss to Louisville in extra innings on Friday night, Texas bounced back to run-rule fellow SEC foe Ole Miss, 10-0, on Saturday before defeating former Big 12 rival and then-No. 17 Oklahoma State, 14-8, on Sunday. We were one of four teams with a pair of victories over the weekend, but the Longhorns posted a tournament-best plus-15 run differential to earn the championship. Max Belyeu led the Longhorns at the plate, as the 2024 Big 12 Player of the Year slashed .571/.600/1.143 with two home runs and five RBI. Texas claimed two of the three weekly league honors, as Luke Harrison garnered SEC Pitcher of the Week distinction and infielder Adrian Rodriguez was tabbed SEC Co-Freshman of the Week. Harrison retired 16 of the first 19 batters he faced and allowed just two hits and one walk while posting a career-best six strikeouts in a career-long 6.1 innings. Rodriguez helped the Longhorns explode for 27 runs during the weekend and notched a .429/.467/1.071 slash line with two homers and three RBI. Rodriguez closed out the weekend with a four-hit effort against Oklahoma State, highlighted by a pair of doubles and a home run. Coach Schloss and the guys open the home slate later today (5:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) against Houston at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns then host Dartmouth in a three-game series on Friday (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+), Saturday (2 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) and Sunday (12 p.m. CT/SEC Network+).

bringing the show back to Austin 🤘 #HookEm pic.twitter.com/LBIAgfXtAp
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) February 18, 2025

No. 1 Softball moves to 11-0 after five wins in the Bevo Classic!

Talk about an impressive way to open the home schedule for Coach White and our Softball team! In five games over three days last weekend, including two against No. 11/8 Texas Tech, Longhorn Nation saw our top-ranked squad outscore their opponents, 40-8, including MAMMOTH home runs off the bats of Katie Stewart and Reese Atwood. That slugging duo is the best in the country, I tell ya! In a 13-4 win over Maryland to begin the weekend's action, the Longhorns ran out to a 13-0 lead in just FOUR innings thanks in large part to four home runs. In Friday's nightcap, Teagan Kavan showed the country why she's one of the best pitchers in the game, as Kavan became the first Texas pitcher since Cat Osterman in 2006 to strikeout 18 – EIGHTEEN – batters in a single game when she reached the mark in the 2-1 nine-inning win over No. 11/8 Texas Tech. On Saturday, Texas returned to post a 6-0 win over UMass followed by an 8-3 victory against Maryland to run its season-opening winning streak to double digits. Then on Sunday, the Longhorns played a near-perfect game against those Red Raiders and earned an 11-0 run-rule victory in just five innings. Coach White and the ladies are back on the diamond this week with a home game on the Forty Acres against Akron on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+). Then the Longhorns hit the road to Tucson, Arizona to take part in the Hillenbrand Invitational. On Friday, Texas will face No. 20/22 Stanford (1 p.m. CT/FloSoftball) and Colorado State (3:30 p.m. CT/FloSoftball). The Longhorns will take on UC Davis (11 a.m. CT/FloSoftball) and No. 15/15 Arizona (4 p.m. CT/ESPN+) on Saturday, and then conclude the weekend on Sunday against Colorado State (10 a.m. CT/FloSoftball).

EIGHTEEN K'S FOR KAVAN 🤘#HookEm | @teagan_kavan pic.twitter.com/SqIopfU2FM
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) February 15, 2025

Tennis completes ITA Indoors and gets set for SEC play

While the Women's team had this week off, Coach Berque and the Men's Team were in Dallas at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Although they came up short in an absolute heartbreaker in the semifinals against No. 2 Wake Forest, they also scored a couple of significant wins in the two rounds prior to that. First off, they opened with a resounding 4-1 Lone Star rivalry victory over Texas A&M, and then they matched that score in a top-five tilt against No. 5 Virginia to avenge a road loss to them a couple of weeks ago. That got them to the semifinals for the second time in the last four years, and it came down to the final set of the final singles match against the Demon Deacons where just one break ended up being the difference. Not to mention the match before went deep into a tiebreaker in the third set before Wake Forest came out on top. But the Texas Fight was certainly there, and we've got lots of season ahead of us as we head into conference play starting this week. Our Women's squad gets back on the court on Thursday in Fort Worth at TCU for their final non-conference match, but then both teams will play their first-ever SEC matches, and the best part is, they will all being happening at the friendly confines of the Texas Tennis Center! The Men will get things going on Saturday (1 p.m. CT) against Vanderbilt and follow that up with a match against Ole Miss on Monday (1 p.m. CT.). Meanwhile the Women will have a MAJOR rivalry week, starting out with the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown against No. 2 Texas A&M on Sunday (11 a.m. CT), and then moving to the Red River Rivalry against No. 3 Oklahoma next Friday, February 28 (2 p.m. CT)! So not only are they rivalry matches, they're TOP-THREE rivalry matches, whoa! You're gonna wanna be a the TTC for that! So bring out your Burnt Orange best and come cheer them on!

Indoor Track and Field continues to prep for postseason

Our Indoor Track and Field teams split for another weekend of action and we saw eight events crack the school's all-time performance list. The highlight of the weekend came in Boston where Eva Jess broke a 12-year program record in the 5,000 meters as she took 30 seconds off her personal best to finish in a time of 15:44.48. Can you imagine running three miles that fast? Way to go Eva! The women's distance team also saw Sydni Wilkins move into the No. 9 spot on the all-time performer list in the 5K, while Elizabeth Stockman moved to No. 4 on the mile list (4:40.58) and Elizabeth Pickett moved to No. 8 in the 3K. Back in Clemson, Nina Ndubuisi chucked the shot put over 18 meters for the second weekend in a row. She's getting closer to Michelle Carter's program record after she won the event at 18.35m. That's over 60 feet, ladies and gentlemen! Aaliyah Foster also recorded a new PB in the women's long jump after she posted the top-collegiate mark of the meet at 6.54m (21-5.50), which is the 11th-best mark in the NCAA this season. Our men's 4x400 relay showed some true grit and climbed to No. 16 on the school's all-time list with their time of 3:06.75, while freshman Brandon Schirck moved to No. 6 on the weight throw list. Stay tuned for the Arkansas Qualifier this weekend when our men's distance medley relay team attempts to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships!

EVA JESS 🤘‼️

Eva takes down a 12-year school record after a 30-second PB in the 5K in Boston 😤 pic.twitter.com/GvTMJjHsoV
— Texas T&F/XC (@TexasTFXC) February 16, 2025

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — WINNING!

Our Longhorns were PERFECT again! After a 5-0 Saturday, it was 3-0 Sunday (all top-25 wins)🤘🏻

⚾️@TexasBaseball Shriner Children's College Showdown Champions🏆

🏀@TexasWBB defeats No. 5 LSU, it's 10th-straight win

🥎@TexasSoftball run-rules No. 8 Texas Tech, is 11-0 on season pic.twitter.com/GJhvTI2pxB
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) February 17, 2025

P.S. — Our students are incredible, thanks for always bringing the heat my friends!

Thank you Longhorn Nation & @TheCorralUT for being THE difference maker in the final 4 minutes in yesterday's win! Let's keep it going. #HookEm 🤘🏾 pic.twitter.com/4qzxqTwynz
— Rodney Terry (@RodneyTerry) February 16, 2025

P.S. — 25! That's the most of any program in the nation!

Developed for the NFL 🤘@CoachSark x #TexasMade pic.twitter.com/kfYIHILHiV
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) February 14, 2025

P.S. — WELL PLAYED! Men's and Women's Hoops tame the Wildcats!!

burnt orange over blue 🤘@TexasWBB and @TexasMBB both secured top 15 wins over Kentucky this week#HookEm pic.twitter.com/Gye1NSpv8Z
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 16, 2025

P.S. — What starts here! Congrats KD!!

one of the greatest 👏🤘#HookEm | @KDTrey5 pic.twitter.com/q6fGwg5f8g
— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) February 12, 2025

P.S. —Gotta love this!

growing the game 🥹🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/MySRBGzLPm
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 12, 2025

P.S. — Congrats to our Longhorn Legend Justin Leonard!

Congrats to our guy @JLeonardgolf on his first @ChampionsTour victory 🤘🏆#TakeDeadAim | @ChubbClassic https://t.co/fBgARHCWlA
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) February 16, 2025

P.S. — We see ya ladies!

in midseason form 🤘#HookEm | @NaismithTrophy pic.twitter.com/Pj6rK2xF4m
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 12, 2025

P.S. — Well said Coach PK, and congrats on being a Broyles Award finalist, so well-deserved!

Coach Pete Kwiatkowski shares the importance of who you surround yourself with. @CoachK_FBCoach @TexasFootball pic.twitter.com/auqaagaoC0
— The Broyles Award (@BroylesAward) February 14, 2025

P.S. — Longhorns supporting Longhorns! LOVE IT!!

good to see ya @CoachSark 🤘#HookEm | @TexasFootball pic.twitter.com/4TC3wVxWG2
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 16, 2025

P.S. — Breaking Records!

EVA JESS 🤘‼️

Eva takes down a 12-year school record after a 30-second PB in the 5K in Boston 😤 pic.twitter.com/GvTMJjHsoV
— Texas T&F/XC (@TexasTFXC) February 16, 2025

HEADLINES:

No. 1 Men's Swim and Dive to open SEC Championships on Tuesday

Kavan earns No. 1/1 Softball's first SEC weekly honor

Johnson named SEC Men's Basketball Freshman of the Week

No. 16 Baseball's Harrison, Rodriguez garner SEC weekly honors

No. 2 Women's Swim and Dive travels to Georgia for 2025 SEC Championships

Justin Leonard claims first PGA TOUR Champions victory

Video: Bob Bowman and Carol Capitani media availability (Feb. 14)

Men's Basketball's Johnson named to Naismith Trophy Men's Player of the Year Midseason Team

Video: 94 feet with Vic Schaefer – Episode 2

Video: Longhorn Weekly with Rodney Terry (Feb. 13)

Volleyball adds Ben Josephson to staff