With trip to Lubbock on the horizon, No. 10 Texas women must learn to be 'different'

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The No. 10 Texas Longhorns women's basketball team will have to learn to play without star point guard Rori Harmon, but the player taking over for her has a special set of skills.

Harmon tore the ACL in her right knee during a shootaround before a game against Jackson State on Dec. 27 and made the announcement she'd be done for the season the following Friday ahead of the Big 12 Conference opener against Baylor. Despite all of the things Harmon does on the floor — she led the country in assist-to-turnover ratio and was second in total assists at the time of her injury — freshman Madison Booker can offer "a different look," as head coach Vic Schaefer put it.

Texas travels to Lubbock on Wednesday to take on Texas Tech, and they'll need Booker to run the show like she did against Baylor.

"She can really create problems for people, and we're going to try to do some things with her. We're going to have to be different," Schaefer said. "She was really special the other night."

Booker poured in 25 points with eight assists and seven rebounds in the 85-79 home loss to No. 6 Baylor on Dec. 30, and the 6-foot-1 freshman shot 50% from the field and got to the foul line seven times. Schaefer said, "That's a full day's job for anybody."

"When you're asking a freshman to do that, it's really difficult," he said. "I was really proud of her. She has a bit of a rough start, but boy, did she respond."

The Longhorns are a little banged up in addition to the Harmon injury. Forward Taylor Jones, the team's leading scorer at 16.2 points per game, is dealing with a hip injury. Schaefer was frustrated when talking about it Tuesday and said he needs, "12 warriors that can go to battle."

"I can only worry about the hand I've got, and I've got 12 healthy kids I'm taking to Lubbock," he said.

The loss to the Bears was the first of the season for the Longhorns, and the Red Raiders aren't pushovers by any means. They are 12-2 on the season and 9-0 at United Supermarkets Arena.

Schaefer said without Harmon, Texas is a different team. Her tenacious on-ball defending is irreplaceable and the Longhorns are going to have to adjust to make up for that.

"I've had to step back, rack my brain and do some research on some of the teams I've had in the past," he said. "It's not about reinventing the wheel, but we have to find a different way to turn it."