The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Illinois
No. 5/5 Women’s Basketball preview: vs. Illinois (NCAA Tournament Second Round)
03.23.2025 | Women's Basketball
#1 seed Texas (32-3, 15-1 SEC) vs #8 seed Illinois (22-9, 11-7 Big Ten)
Game 36
Monday, March 24 | 1:00 p.m. CT | ESPN
Moody Center | Austin, Texas
GameDay Quick Facts
TELEVISION: The game will be nationally televised on ESPN. Tiffany Greene (pxp) and Steffi Sorensen (analyst) will call the game.
RADIO: All women's basketball games will air in Austin on 103.1 FM, along with the web streams on TexasLonghorns.com. Craig Way (pxp) and Kathy Harston (analyst) will call the action.
Complete game notes:
https://texaslonghorns.com/documents/2025/3/23/TexasWBBGameNotes.pdf
Notables
• FIRST ROUND WIN: Texas beat No. 16 seed William & Mary 105-61 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Madison Booker scored 20 points and added a career-high 14 rebounds. Kyla Oldacre posted a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds and Taylor Jones added 19 points. Booker and Jones combined for 39 points on 15-of-21 shooting from the field.
• CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: In their first year in the SEC the Longhorns captured the regular season championship. Texas beat every team in the conference on the way to a 15-1 regular season record. It marks the fourth straight season Texas has won a regular season or conference tournament championship.
• 3 ALL-AMERICANS: Madison Booker earned Associated Press All-America honors, while Rori Harmon and Taylor Jones each earned All-America honorable mention honors.
• 30 WINS: For the 13th time in program history Texas women's basketball has reached 30 wins for a season. It's the first time since 1986-87 and 1987-88 that Texas has recorded 30+ wins in back-to-back seasons.
• IN THE MOOD: Texas is 16-0 at Moody Center this season and 48-5 all-time at their home arena.
• BOOKER PLAYER OF THE YEAR, SCHAEFER COACH OF THE YEAR: In the awards voted on by the SEC head coaches Madison Booker was selected the SEC Player of the Year and Vic Schaefer was selected the SEC Coach of the Year. For Booker it is her second straight conference player of the year honor, as she was named the 2024 Big 12 Player of the Year. For Schaefer it was his sixth conference coach of the year award in his career. Schaefer, the 2018 Naismith National Coach of the Year is a semifinalist for the 2025 Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year.
• RANKED WINS: The Longhorns won their 10th game of the season against an AP-top 25 team and sixth win over an AP-top 10 team with their win over No. 9 LSU. Texas became the first program in 20 years to win three straight games over top-10 teams.
• HONORS FOR HARMON: Rori Harmon was recently named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year as well as a top-5 finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award. Harmon became the first player in Texas women's basketball history to reach 1,200 points and 600 assists.
