Longhorn Nation,
As we close in on this year's finish line and prepare to ring in the New Year in a few short weeks, we'll take a break for the holiday season and this will be our final Forty Acres Insider of 2021. Personally, I do plan to take a step back from social media during the holidays to spend time with family and friends, as well. I will be back, but in the meantime, we have plenty to talk about, celebrate and cheer for with Men's and Women's Basketball in action and Football's National Signing Day kicking off tomorrow. It's a great time to be a Longhorn, and let's celebrate that, enjoy time with family and friends and have a festive and fruitful holiday season!
Speaking of special seasons, before we move ahead to this week, we must reflect on last week and another strong NCAA Tournament run for our Volleyball program. The way it ended certainly wasn't what any of us wanted or expected, but I couldn't be prouder of the Texas Fight our team displayed all season and throughout the NCAA Tourney. Thursday's comeback from two sets down was epic and earned our Horns a spot in the Elite 8 for the 15th time in the last 16 years. On Saturday night, The Greg was absolutely electric, and y'all brought the heat from the opening serve to the bitter end. I'm so grateful for every one of you, your energy and the support you provided Coach Elliott and our team. There is no better Volleyball environment in America than Gregory Gym, and that's because of you! So, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!! I'd also be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank our athletics staff that tirelessly and selflessly worked long and challenging hours to make sure everything at Gregory went off without a hitch. We're so grateful for all of you, the yeoman's job you did all last week, and your "we" not "me" attitudes and efforts. You are what makes our Texas Athletics team so great!
This is a truly special week as the efforts of Coach Sark and our Football staff in their first full cycle of recruiting will come to fruition on Wednesday with the start of the December National Signing Days. They have been pounding the pavement and jetting across the state and coast to coast for months, and well gosh dang, I'm sure y'all saw it really coming together this past weekend. Holy cow was there a lot of great news rolling in during a huge few days of prospect visits on the Forty! We have a rapidly rising, highly-ranked class that will be officially in the fold very soon. It's the payoff for the tireless efforts, impactful relationships and steadfast determination that Coach Sark and his staff have to build a championship program for Longhorn Nation. And along with the talent we have returning, Wednesday is another big step with a group of talented prospects heading our way. The future for Texas Football is extremely bright! Please join us and follow all of the signees and their stories on our various platforms, as well as through the in-depth coverage from our friends at Longhorn Network. It promises to be an exciting day on the Forty Acres as we welcome our newest Longhorns to the UT Family.
On the hoops front, No. 7 Men's Basketball hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff tonight (8 p.m. CT/LHN) before they join No. 11 Women's Basketball for a doubleheader in the Pac-12 US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge in viva Las Vegas baby! Coach Beard and the Men take on Stanford at 2 p.m. CT (ABC) followed by Coach Schaefer and our Women tipping off against last year's NCAA Tourney runner-up Arizona at 4:30 p.m. CT (ESPN2).
Volleyball came up short of their ultimate goal, but a lot to be proud of in 2021
I'm so proud of the fight our Texas Volleyball program showed, battling for the last 18 months and playing what amounts to three seasons in that timespan. We didn't get the outcome we'd all hoped for this year, missing out on a return to the Final Four, but Coach Elliott and our program continue to be among the best in the nation each and every year. Playing in their 16th-straight Sweet 16 last Thursday — the longest active streak in the NCAA — our Longhorns gave us a match none of us will ever forget. Trailing No. 15 Washington, 2-0, and down 15-10 in the third set, our ladies put together a comeback for the ages and outscored the Huskies 55-25 the rest of the way to advance to the Elite 8. And how about this for another string of success? It was our 15th trip to the Elite 8 in the last 16 years! With a spot in the Final Four on the line on Saturday, we took to the court against one of our big rivals in No. 10 Nebraska. It was a difficult night where we never quite got on our patented rolls, but our squad never stopped battling, coming up just short in a hard-fought, edge-of-your-seat close match. Brionne Butler, Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields were named to the NCAA Austin Regional All-Tournament team. In the end, we had a lot to celebrate in 2021 – Big 12 Champions, the NCAA Regional Final appearance secured a Top 5 finish, and I'm sure when the All-America teams come out later this week, several of our Longhorns will be among those honored. It was an outstanding year and so many of the key pieces of this team will be back in 2022, so the future continues to be bright for Texas Volleyball. Congrats to Coach Elliott, the staff and the entire team and we look forward to cheering them on again next year!
No. 11 Women's Basketball improves to 7-1, big weekend ahead
Coach Schaefer and the No. 11-ranked Longhorns continue to cruise along as they picked up their fourth-straight victory Saturday with a commanding 83-43 victory over Idaho at the Erwin Center. A complete team effort resulted in plenty of impressive individual performances including a team-high 19-point outing from DeYona Gaston, a double-double (12 points/10 rebounds) from freshman Latasha Lattimore, and yet another solid showing from our point guard, Rori Harmon, who tallied 13 points and a season-best nine rebounds. The Longhorns will now gear up for another marquee matchup as they travel with our men to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Coast-To-Coast Challenge at T-Mobile Arena. UT is set to square off with defending national runner-up and No. 6 Arizona on Sunday (4:30 p.m. CT, ESPN). Texas will then head to the east coast for a matchup with perennial Ivy League power Princeton next Wednesday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN+) before closing out the 2021 portion of the schedule on Dec. 29 (7 p.m. CT, LHN) as they play host to Alcorn State at the Erwin Center.
Teddy Bear Toss at Women's Hoops game a resounding success
Count 'em, there were two resounding victories at last week's Women's Hoops game at the Erwin Center. The inaugural Teddy Bear Toss at Saturday's game was amazing to watch and such a special treat for a great cause. With a mission of spreading the giving spirit and bringing joy to children in need this holiday season, the teddy bear toss was a promotion where fans were encouraged to bring teddy bears (or other plush toys) to our game for the team to collect for a local Austin children's charity during the holidays. So, at halftime, fans flooded the Erwin Center floor with a variety of sizes, colors and types of teddy bears and the team excitedly collected them for donation.
Men's Basketball continues non-conference schedule
Coach Beard and our No. 7 Men's Basketball team was obviously disappointed with their hard-fought 64-60 loss at then-No. 23 Seton Hall last Thursday, but it was certainly another learning opportunity for our team. At 6-2 with both of our losses coming in true road games against AP Top 25 opponents, it's encouraging to see how our team competes every game. Our Longhorns don't have time to look back when they're moving forward and are right back on the court later tonight with a home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8 p.m. CT/ESPNU). It marks the first of five home games that will be a part of our Holiday Hoops ticket promotion, where you can purchase $10 general admission tickets to sit in the lower-level student section (behind either basket). We then head out to Las Vegas to face Stanford in the Pac-12 US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge on Sunday (2 p.m. CT/ABC) before hosting Rice next Wednesday. Please note the tip time against Rice on Dec. 22 is set for 1 p.m. CT, so take a break from last-minute Christmas shopping and help us Pack The Drum!
Celebrate the holidays with some Winter Break Hoops ticket specials
Fans in the Austin-area, please note we have several important Men's and Women's Basketball home games at the Erwin Center during the busy holiday season. We all know that's a hectic time and also realize that during that time UT students are on winter break until mid-January. To help fill the student section for men's games, we're offering special "Holiday Hoops" $10 general admission tickets for those seats for all five games. Those contests are tonight's game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Rice (Dec. 22), Incarnate Word (Dec. 28) and our first two Big 12 Conference contests against West Virginia (Jan. 1) and Oklahoma (Jan. 11). And on the women's side, we have four games — including three key Big 12 contests — for you to bring out your friends and family to over the holidays for just $5. Those games are Alcorn State (Dec. 29), Texas Tech (Jan. 5), Kansas (Jan. 12) and West Virginia (Jan. 15). Come on out and celebrate the holidays with your Longhorns!
With signing day upon us, it's a good time to think Football and get those season ticket deposits in
So with Football National Signing Day upon us, what better time to get your plans and tickets set for the 2022 season. The Big 12 recently released its schedule, so now ours is completed and we open up with three-straight games at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium: Louisiana-Monroe (Sept. 3), Alabama (Sept. 10) and UTSA (Sept. 17). That sets the stage for our first road game at Texas Tech (Sept. 24), and Big 12 play begins at DKR against West Virginia the next week (Oct. 1). It's an outstanding home slate of games that also includes Iowa State, TCU and Baylor. Guarantee your spot by placing a 2022 season ticket deposit today for only $199 per seat! You'll be able to choose the exact location of your seats this spring before the general public and apply your deposit to the full cost of season tickets. All season ticket deposits are non-refundable.
Good Luck to our Longhorns at the FINA World Swimming Championships
Four Longhorns will be represented at the 15th edition of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi from Dec. 16-21. Texas legend Will Licon and current standout Carson Foster were named to the Short Course World Championship team, while associate head coach Wyatt Collins was named an assistant coach. For the women, Olympic gold medalist and our newest signee Lydia Jacoby will also be in competition.
Tara Davis' outstanding 2021 season to be celebrated at this week's The Bowerman award ceremony
Wow, what a blast it was to watch Tara Davis compete and leap into history as the nation's best long jumper last year. Collegiate records, national titles, Olympian, she absolutely did it all. And this week, Tara makes her way to Orlando to represent our Longhorns as a finalist for collegiate track and field's most prestigious award, The Bowerman. Tara is up against two Aggies, but everyone is a winner in this competition as the three finalists are the best of the best in track & field! Think about this, during the 2020-21 season, Tara swept the NCAA long jump titles while breaking both the indoor and outdoor collegiate records in the event. Her magical, memorable and historic long jumping campaign included an undefeated outdoor season, breaking Texas' indoor and outdoor records, setting the collegiate indoor record of 22-9 in winning the national title, and shattering track & field legend Jackie Joyner's 35-year old collegiate long jump record with a mark of 23-5.25 (7.14m) at the Texas Relays. It was one extraordinary year and you can see the ceremony live as well. To watch the big event, click here.
A couple more look backs at two recently honored Longhorn Legends
Longhorn Legends, Texas Athletics Hall of Honor members and College Football Hall of Famers Johnnie Johnson and Kenneth Sims were both recently honored. Johnnie was in Charlotte receiving the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award trophy, and we've talked about it previously, but now it's official as Kenneth has joined Johnson and 25 other former Longhorns as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Congratulations to a pair of great Longhorns!
Here's to an awesome holiday season, a fabulous finish to 2021 and a prosperous start to 2022! In this season of giving, hug your loved ones, enjoy your friends and families and have a Happy New Year. We are so grateful for all of your pride, passion, spirit and support!
Hook 'Em Horns,
Chris Del ConteÂ
Chris Del Conte
P.S. — Moody Center comin' along real nice!
P.S. II — Talk about an epic comeback, how about Thursday night at The Greg! Point TEXAS!!
P.S. III – O Canada! Sending a shoutout and Hook 'Em to our Longhorn great Jackson Jeffcoat who's tearing it up in the CFL and just helped his Winnipeg Blue Bombers win a second straight Grey Cup!
