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Texas Advances to Elite Eight, Defeats Tennessee 67-59

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•03/29/25
Vic Schaefer
Vic Schaefer (Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Texas beat Tennessee 67-59 in a hard-fought, physical game. Madison Booker led all scorers with 17 points, but the real stars of the game for the Horns were the freshmen: Bryanna Preston and Jordan Lee.

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Tennessee’s full court pressure gave the Horns some issues throughout the game, forcing 14 turnovers, and disrupting the offensive flow for the Horns. Early in the second half, Tennessee erased the 4 point halftime lead Texas held and owned all of the momentum. Booker and the Texas guards were struggling to even get the ball past half court, until Preston started changing the game. Her speed and energy allowed her to break the press and set up the Texas offense. Offensively, she gave the Horns 12 points and 4 assists. On defense, she stole the ball 3 times, including a momentum-stealing jumped pass that she took all the way for a layup. 

Another freshman, Lee, hit two big threes for Texas, and scored 13 total points. She also secured three important rebounds. 

Texas was able to hold Tennessee to just 5-26 from 3, just 19.2%, and 37.9% from the field, while shooting 42.9% from three and 46.6% from the floor. 

The biggest factor that kept the Vols in the game was their offensive rebounding, grabbing 17 for the game, 8 more than Texas. Tennessee attempted 8 more shots, but struggled from 3 too much for them to win. 

Texas by no means played its best game, surrendering too many rebounds, committing too many turnovers, and struggling to generate consistent shot opportunities, but the Horns managed to hang on with solid defense and good mid-range looks late. 

With the win, Texas advances and will face the No. 2 seed, TCU, in the Elite Eight on Monday, March 31. 

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