Texas seeks revenge in rematch with Stanford (Mar 22, 2017)
The season-opening loss for Texas at Stanford in November seems so long ago that the five newcomers for the Longhorns no longer seem like freshmen.
Joyner Holmes, a guard, is one of those top recruits who had more fouls (four) than points (three) in the 71-59 loss to the Cardinal in Palo Alto, Calif. She enters the rematch with the Cardinal on Friday night in the Sweet 16 averaging 12 points and 8.2 rebounds.
The game between the third-seeded Longhorns (25-8) and No. 2 seed Stanford (30-5) will take place at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
"I talked to my dad (Ron Holmes) the other day, and he told me it looked like I had butterflies in my stomach and my eyes got real big (in the season opener)," Holmes said.
Texas coach Karen Aston said valuable lessons will be taken from the early season defeat at Stanford.
"I knew we weren't ready for that game," Aston told reporters. "I've told you a million times I base everything on practice. At the time we played Stanford, we weren't practicing at a level that would allow us to go on someone's homecourt and beat a team of that quality."
Stanford junior guard Brittney McPhee scored a game-high 28 points, which remains her season-high.
"We played them early," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "We played them at home. Our team is playing with confidence, but you know, I'm sure they'll remember -- that probably wasn't a fun trip back to Austin."
Leading the Longhorns in that matchup were junior guards Brooke McCarty and Ariel Atkins. McCarty scored 20 points and Atkins contributed 14 points and four steals.
"We were in a rebuilding stage," McCarty said. "We're a totally different team now. We were trying to find ourselves early in the season. We didn't know that our identity would be on defense."
Aston said her youngest players, including Holmes, freshman Alecia Sutton and sophomore Lashann Higgs, have improved their practice habits. That has allowed them to play better after grasping Aston's system.
The Cardinal rely on balanced scoring led by senior forward Erica McCall (14.3 points per game), McPhee (13.1) and senior guard Karlie Samuelson (12.6). Samuelson ranks second in the nation in 3-point shooting, hitting 48.3 percent of her shots from behind the arc.
"I thought experience was the difference for us when we last won at Stanford (in 2014)," Aston said. "They had some young players and they were coming off a big win (against Connecticut) and probably didn't know how to handle that big win. ... If you flip it now, they're the ones with the experience. They're seasoned and they don't get rattled."
