It wasn't a perfect game but it was a big win. The Texas women's basketball team opened its NCAA Tournament campaign with a 105-61 victory over the William & Mary Tribe to move on to the Round of 32 where the Longhorns would face the Illinois Fighting Illini.
Despite a few defensive mistakes and the dominant offensive performance, there was something else that Texas head coach Vic Schaefer repeatedly brought up during the postgame press conference: The tip-off time for the Horns' second-round game.
Despite playing until the late hours of Saturday night, after not tipping off until after 8:45 p.m. CT, the Longhorns were scheduled to play at 1 p.m. CT on Monday, just two days later. The late game followed by an afternoon time slot left the Texas head coach speechless and, quite simply, confused.
"I was just told are we playing at 1:00 on Monday?" Schaefer asked the crowd. "Make it make sense, please."
The earlier start time on Monday, which follows a day of practices and press conferences on Sunday, gives the Horns a pretty narrow window for any real rest and recovery between games which is something that Schaefer was visibly unhappy about.
"When I say make it make sense, what time is it? It's 11:20 and my kids are going to be back in here tomorrow in the afternoon," Schaefer said. "Got to get them back up... if we're going to have a shoot around, got to be in here at 7:00 in the morning for a 1:00 tip."
At one point during the presser, when he started thinking about the tip-off time for his next matchup, the Texas head coach literally started hitting his head against the microphone in front of him.
"It's problematic just from a recovery standpoint. I mean, I think my kids are in pretty good shape and pretty tough," Schaefer said. "So anyway, it is what it is. We'll have to be ready."
On the other side of the court will be the Fighting Illini, who finished their Round of 64 game nearly half an hour before the Longhorns' matchup against William & Mary even began. However, Texas will have the higher seeding, the home crowd, and almost all of the momentum in the world in its back pocket.
Despite Schaefer's complaints, Texas and Illinois are scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. CT on Monday, March 24. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.