BIRMINGHAM, Ala. − After not expecting to see each other for the first time since the 2011-12 season, the Texas and TCU women's basketball teams will instead play the biggest game in the history of their in-state rivalry.
Former Big 12 rivals Texas and TCU will meet in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday evening and play for a spot in the Final Four. Texas (34-3), which holds a 53-4 lead in its all-time series with TCU, is the No. 1 seed in the "Birmingham 3" section of the NCAA Tournament's bracket. TCU (34-3) is a No. 2 seed.
Texas has reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons, but South Carolina (2021), Stanford (2022) and North Carolina State (2024) all prevented the Longhorns from securing their first trip to the Final Four since 2003. Meanwhile, TCU is looking to add to its deepest run in the NCAA Tournament.
Stay tuned for live updates from Legacy Arena.
Lone Star showdowns are rare this late in the NCAA Tournament
Tonight's Texas-TCU tussle will be just the second instance of a matchup this late in the NCAA Tournament between two teams from the Lone Star State. En route to winning a national championship in 2011, Texas A&M recorded a 58-46 win over Baylor in the Elite Eight round.
Texas has two ties to that 2011 Texas A&M-Baylor game. Fourteen years ago, UT coach Vic Schaefer was an assistant on the Aggies' staff. Sydney Carter, who is currently an assistant coach and director of player personnel for the Longhorns, contributed a game-high 22 points, six rebounds and three steals for Texas A&M in that Elite Eight game.
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