Longhorn Nation,
Y'all showed up and showed out this weekend at the Erwin Center, UFCU Disch-Falk Field and the Texas Tennis Center. It was so much fun seeing you sporting your Longhorn-best, with those Horns held high, and cheering for our teams like only the best fans in the nation can. Y'all came early, were really loud and decked out and Burnt Orange, and we are so darn grateful for your support! There's much more on deck this week at home and on the road, so let's keep that pride, passion and spirit at a frenzied level as we pull for our Horns to put over one more win!
Championship Week is upon us
Championship season begins this week, and of course, victory would mean lighting the tower orange. First up are our Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving and Track & Field programs as they look to defend their crowns at Big 12 Championship meets. Swimming & Diving is off to Morgantown, Track & Field competes in Ames, and all four programs come in ranked among the top-three in the nation. For Swimming & Diving, our resident Longhorn Legend Coach Reese is looking for an unprecedented 43rd-straight conference title on the Men's side, and Coach Capitani is in quest of a 10th in a row as her squads are perfect nine-for-nine in Big 12 Championships since she took over our Women's program. Coach Flo and Track & Field are out to repeat their sweep of the Men's and Women's titles for the second-straight year with only Nebraska (2000 and 2001) accomplishing that feat in Big 12 history. All of the Big 12 action will be streamed live on ESPN+, so tune in, and we'll be ready to get that victory tower prepared to be beaming proudly very soon!
Looking back at the week it was
Looking back at last week, we've got to start off talkin' Baseball! Coach Pierce and our No. 1 Longhorns were en fuego on the field and in the stands at UFCU Disch-Falk Field all weekend long. Every phase of our game was clicking on all cylinders as our Longhorns swept Rice, outscoring the Owls 36-3 over the three games. And hats off to Longhorn Nation. Day or night, y'all brought the heat, too. Friday night was a little chilly, but that certainly didn't deter your enthusiasm as you delivered the best opening night crowd ever with 7,355 in the house. We felt and appreciated that big-time, and it carried on to Saturday when that energy went straight from the Erwin Center to the Disch, and Sunday was just outstanding, too. Three days, three crowds of 7,000 or more, and the three-day attendance tally of 21,580 was our largest total attendance for Opening Weekend in program history! Most-ever, top of the list, the very, very best!! And with that stampede of energy on their side, Coach Pierce and the squad delivered each and every game. How about those 450-foot blasts from the bat of Ivan Melendez on Sunday?! It was like a bolt of lightning and exemplified the total domination our Horns put on display for the entire series. And now, after a couple mid-week road games, we'll all be back together, raising the roof at UFCU Disch-Falk Field as Alabama comes to town this weekend. Be there or be square my friends, it's showtime!
Coach Schaefer and Women's Basketball are really heating up these days, too. Sunday's convincing 67-58 road victory at West Virginia made it four in a row and helped our Horns rise to No. 11 in the polls this week. After back-to-back top-12 wins in truly dominating fashion over No. 12 Oklahoma (78-63) on Feb. 12 followed by a 25-point homecourt triumph versus No. 6 Iowa State last Wednesday, our squad is on a roll. Point guard extraordinaire Rori Harmon continued her incredible UT debut and push for national freshman of the year honors, earning ESPNW National Player of the Week along with Big 12 Freshman of the Week after tallying 39 points, 14 rebounds, 16 assists and nine steals in two games last week. She absolutely stuffed the stat sheet against Big 12-leader Iowa State with 20 points, six rebounds, nine assists and six steals. As a matter of fact, not a single player in the Big 12 can claim a better stat line in those categories this season. Next up, it's a trip to Kansas State on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. CT/ESPN+), then back to the friendly confines of the Erwin Center on Saturday against TCU (7 p.m. CT/LHN). Y'all have been terrific and helped us take down OU and Iowa State in our last two home outings, let's pack the Drum and bring the heat again on Saturday! Tickets are only $5, and I promise you'll have a great time and see some fast-paced, fun and spectacular basketball!
Saturday wasn't the result we wanted for our Men's Basketball game against No. 11 Texas Tech, but I can't thank y'all enough for bringing that Longhorn passion and pride to the Erwin Center. From the pregame festivities outside all the way until The Eyes after the game, Longhorn Nation was rockin'! We've put a ton of emphasis on creating an awesome student section, and WOW did our they come through and bring the juice on Saturday. Thank you, students, you were a huge boost as Coach Beard and our team left it all on the court, but unfortunately came up just short in a down-to-the-wire 61-55 loss. That came on the heels of a thrilling win over Oklahoma in Norman on Tuesday night. Andrew Jones and Timmy Allen each scored 20 points in the 80-78 Red River Showdown victory. Now we're in the stretch run of the season and right back in the Drum on Wednesday for another important Big 12 tilt against TCU at 6 p.m. CT (ESPN2). There are only two games left in our historic arena, so let's close it out with a bang!
Last chances to cheer on Men's and Women's Basketball games at the historic Erwin Center
And while we're talking Basketball, we are closing in on your last chances to see Texas Basketball at the historic Erwin Center. Only four regular season home games remain for Men's and Women's Basketball at the longtime home of the Horns prior to next season's move to the state-of-the-art Moody Center. And one of those games – the Men's final home game against Baylor – is already sold out. So your final chance to purchase tickets and celebrate the farewell of Men's hoops at the Erwin Center in person is Wednesday versus TCU at 6 p.m. with limited mezzanine tickets available. Bring your family and friends as all tickets are just $10. The Women will take on TCU this Saturday at 7 p.m. before playing their final regular season game on Saturday, March 5, against Oklahoma State. Those tickets are only $5 so go get yours now and let's meet at the Drum. We can't wait to celebrate the memorable moments of an iconic arena with Longhorn Nation as we have some fun surprises planned for those in attendance. Stay tuned for more information as the final games approach.
In their final tune-up weekend before the Big 12 Indoor Championships, our Track & Field squads had some outstanding performances from the small contingent that competed on Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend. The Men's DMR team of Crayton Carrozza, Jon Maas, Cole Lindhorst and Cruz Gomez passed the baton in fast-paced fashion, recording the second-fastest time in Texas history at 9:23.99. A pair of Longhorns posted two of our program's top indoor times in the 800m, as well, with Yusuf Bizimana (1:47.27/No. 2 in UT history) and Cole Lindhorst (1:47.46/No. 3 in UT history) finishing one-two in that event. With Jonathan Jones setting the school-record in the 800m last week, Texas posted the top three indoor times in school history over the past two weeks! Now Coach Flo and our entire Longhorns team turns their full attention on the Big 12 Indoor Championships this weekend in Ames!!
Also last weekend, Men's Tennis pulled off a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 5 Florida last Friday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Indoor Team Championships. Though Coach Berque and our Horns fell in the quarterfinals, it did match the third time in four years they advanced to at least the final eight of the ITA National Indoors tourney. They'll now have a week off before traveling to face No. 9 Georgia in Athens on Tuesday, March 1.
This Week for our Longhorns
As we've said, championships are on the line with our Swimming & Diving and Track & Field squads headed to their Big 12 meets, and there's much, much more for our Longhorns this week. Baseball gets it started by traveling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a pair games on Tuesday (6:35 p.m. CT) and Wednesday (4:05 p.m. CT) before returning to UFCU Disch-Falk Field for a weekend series with Alabama. Men's Basketball hosts TCU at the Erwin Center on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/ESPN2), travels to West Virginia on Saturday (1 p.m. CT/ESPN or ESPN2), then has a quick turnaround hosting top-10 Baylor on Big Monday (8 p.m. CT/ESPN). Women's Basketball is off to Manhattan to face Kansas State on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. CT/ESPN+) to set up a home game with TCU on Saturday (7 p.m. CT/LHN). Softball welcomes in North Texas on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/LHN) before the five-team (Arizona State, Texas State, Tulsa, UTSA) Texas Classic at Red & Charline McCombs Field. Women's Tennis travels to the west coast to face top-15, Pac-12 opponents Stanford on Friday (2 p.m. CT) and Cal on Sunday (2 p.m. CT). Men's Golf is headed to Las Vegas for the Southern Highlands Collegiate on Sunday, while Women's Golf will begin play at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Hilton Head, S.C., on Monday.
Texas Baseball TraDISCHions series
While I've got you, I'm really diggin' this TraDISCHions series we're doing at Texas Baseball. What a way to honor our Baseball Legends and connect the past to the present. On Saturday, it was the epitome of a Longhorn for Life in Tommy Harmon. An All-American as a player, longtime coach and now member of our Longhorn Foundation, Tommy is the absolute best! My man was an All-American catcher who led us to three-straight Southwest Conference Championships, then as a coach helped our Horns win 10 more conference titles, make 12 College World Series appearances and win two National Championships. He's a member of the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor to boot. What a privilege it was to honor him on Saturday, and he's still got it, he hit the target on that ceremonial first pitch! This Saturday it will be the great Calvin Murray, a first-team All-American outfielder in the early '90s who is a member of our Texas Athletics Hall of Honor. Can't wait to celebrate Calvin this weekend!
Black History Month
As we continue our celebration of Black History Month, I hope y'all are having a chance to follow along on all of our platforms. We have so many powerful and impactful voices among our student-athletes, past and present, and are so grateful for all they do. Please join us and our entire campus community as we share their stories, honor, pay tribute and celebrate this truly special month.
Let's Renew those Football Season Tickets, Deadline is March 18:
A huge shoutout to all of our Football season ticket holders who have already renewed their tickets for the 2022 season. For those who haven't renewed, you have until March 18 to secure your spot at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium this season. It's just a click (online at TexasSports.com/Renewals) or phone call (512-471-3333) away. Or you can fill out and drop that paper application you received in the mail to secure your spot to celebrate alongside us and cheer on the Horns. It's going to be so cool to have seven home games for the first time since 2010. For those looking to join us at DKR this season, season ticket deposits are on sale now at TexasSports.com/deposits for $199 per seat and give you the first chance to select seats after current season ticket holders. The response so far has been fantastic, and I want to extend a welcome to everyone who is joining the Longhorn season ticket family. We can't wait to see you in the fall!
There are Longhorns in action at every turn, championships on the line this week and many more on the horizon. So much fun, so many opportunities to put on that Burnt Orange and White with great pride. Get those Horns UP and let's Hook 'Em, Longhorn Nation! Here's to another great week!!
Hook 'Em Horns,
Chris Del ConteÂ
Chris Del Conte
P.S. — Today is 2/2/22, well played Texas Football!
P.S. II — This is so wonderful and a must-watch! Asjia is an extraordinary student-athlete and a wonderful person. We're so fortunate to have her in the Burnt Orange and White!
P.S. III – Love seeing our teams support one another. I want to send a huge THANK YOU to Coach Sark and our Football team for coming out to support our Horns on Saturday!
P.S. IV – The best in the game! Congrats to our NBA All-Stars!!
P.S. V – This is just a fabulous photo! Our student-athletes have a huge impact on communities far and wide!!
