What did Coach Aston & Texas Players Say After Sweet 16 Loss?
Texas Women’s Basketball fell short of their Final Four goal during the NCAA Tournament.
After losing to Stanford in the Sweet 16 round on Friday night, head coach Karen Aston, Big 12 Freshman of the Year Joyner Holmes, and junior guard Ariel Atkins talked to the media about what prevented a trip to the Final Four. [ Press Conference Video via TexasSports.com ]
Coach Aston pointed to the start of the third quarter when Texas made critical mistakes that gave Stanford confidence and “rattled us.”
Instead of seeing a confident team that made the Elite 8 last year, Coach Aston saw an inexperienced team letting a few plays and Stanford’s gameplan shake them.
Texas was unable to execute on offense due to Stanford’s decision to shadow, harass, and chase Big 12 Player of the Year Brooke McCarty all over the court.
Asked why McCarty was only able to attempt one three-pointer the entire game, Coach Aston said there were too many instances of the passer, screener, or shooter not being on the same page. Aston was not disappointed by the effort, but there was a lack of execution.
Texas Basketball Lacked Veteran Execution
Joyner Holmes and Ariel Atkins also talked about a lack of execution. This was especially true in the paint, where Texas was outrebounded and gave up too many second-chance points.
The best example was the first possession of the third quarter. Coming out of halftime, Stanford missed a shot, grabbed the offensive board, hit a three, got fouled, missed the free throw, grabbed another offensive rebound, and made another three.
Texas’ lead went from 7 to 1 in the matter of one minute and one possession due to two offensive rebounds. As Karen Aston noted, that shook the team, leading to the Cardinal eventually taking a lead they would not relinquish.
The Longhorns had senior experience from Kelsey Lang and Big 12 Defensive Player of the year Brianna Taylor. But, the Horns also had youth in key spots. Coach Aston said she saw too much of the youth and not enough of the experience when Stanford wanted to seize momentum.
Notably, Karen Aston wanted to see someone else step up and “answer the bell” when it was clear that Stanford was going to force another player besides Brooke McCarty to run the offense.
Next year, that person will be Joyner Holmes in her sophomore year. But, against Stanford, the Longhorns could not find a secondary go-to scorer to take over the game when Brooke was double-teamed and shadowed.
Was This A Successful Texas Basketball Season?
In some ways, this was a successful basketball season. Texas hit their benchmark of 20 wins, they won 19 in a row at one point, Coach Aston finally beat Baylor, and the Horns reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
But, Coach Aston firmly stated that the goal was the Final Four in Dallas. And, Texas had the squad to reach the Final Four if they could beat Stanford and #1 seed Notre Dame.
Unfortunately, Texas’ lack of execution caught up to them. And, when things did not go right in the second half against Stanford, the Horns seemed to tense up and “get antsy,” as Coach Aston put it.
Texas will need to develop a tougher mentality in the summer to out-execute teams at the highest level.
Asked what will get Texas to the next level as a program, Ariel Atkins responded with determination in her voice that she’s going to spend the summer figuring it out.
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When they do figure it out, this team will be capable of returning to the Final Four for the first time in 15 years. Coach Aston will make sure it happens on her watch.