Texas fans only had a moment of elation after the Longhorn women's basketball team defeated the Florida Gators and secured its first-ever SEC title. Why was that moment cut short? Well, because despite Texas winning the regular-season conference title, the Horns will be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
None other than the South Carolina Gamecocks, led by legendary head coach Dawn Staley, will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The seeding for the top two spots was determined by a coin toss since the Gamecocks and the Longhorns split their two matchups during the regular season, South Carolina securing the first win and Texas securing the second.
So, with a split head-to-head record, it came down to a flip of a coin and, somewhat tragically, South Carolina won the toss.
Texas watches as a coin toss determines that South Carolina will be the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament. Texas will be the No. 2 seed in Greenville and will play on Friday evening. #HookEm pic.twitter.com/84P1wYFCg0
— Danny Davis (@_dannydavis) March 2, 2025
The team had a mixed bag of reactions, from downtrodden to optimistic to simply confused. Senior forward Aaliyah Moore simply asked, "What was that?!" as fellow senior Taylor Jones tried to bring some positive energy by holding up her Horns and reminding her team that seeding only mattered to an extent.
Both the Longhorns and the Gamecocks will receive byes in the first two rounds, alongside the three-seed LSU Tigers and the four-seed Kentucky Wildcats, both of which Texas defeated in the regular season.
In the first matchup between Texas and South Carolina, the Gamecocks secured a dominant 67-50 victory at home. When South Carolina came to Austin, the Horns eked out a 66-62 win over the Gamecocks.
The first game of the SEC Tournament, between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Tennessee Volunteers, is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT on Wednesday, March 5. The Horns will take the floor for the first time on Friday, March 7, at 5 p.m.