‘We did come out punching’ — Rori Harmon loved how Longhorns pounced all over rival Aggies in SEC reunion

COLLEGE STATION Rori Harmons voice had a dour note, and she wore a faux smile Zooming with reporters Friday.

In her mind, the Texas senior didnt play all that great against Missouri and, from the looks of it, that weighed anchor heavy.

Having a mini shooting funk didnt help matters, either.

Focus on the positives and go get the next one.

Harmon was all over Reed Arena on Sunday in her and coach Vic Schaefers first trip back to A&M since December 2020.

She had 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, five assists, made a ton of smart decisions and guided the fifth-ranked Longhorns to a relatively easy 70-50 win.

My No.

1 goal at the point guard is to get the W and that's what we did that day, Harmon said Sunday.

But its nice to see the ball go in a few times.

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Granted, Texas A&M (10-11, 3-6 SEC) is down to eight players after losing Aicha Coulibaly to a season-ending knee injury in Sundays loss to LSU.

But the Aggies still made their rivals earn it.

The Longhorns (22-2, 8-1) arent exactly playing with a full deck, either.

Schaefer gave a downbeat prognosis on injured senior Aaliyah Moore and admitted I don't really have an answer right now on her return.

So, the Horns are trying some new things, like inserting Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda (10 points, six rebounds) in the lineup or going with a four-guard combination.

But Schaefer also bluntly admitted that hed like for his freshmen Jordan Lee, Justice Carlton and Bryanna Preston to improve as a group so they can earn more minutes.

Schaefer has interesting options, no questions.

Its easy to experiment when youve got Harmon and Madison Booker as backstops.

Booker, who grew up in Mississippi and doesnt know much about the Lone Star Showdown, had 17 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.

Shay Holle, whose father played football at Texas and knows all about the UT-A&M rivalry, had 10 points and buried two 3-pointers.

I think we won more of the little battles, more than the other team did, Booker said.

So I think that kind of helped us in the end.

Its been a while since Schaefers been to College Station, and the place has sure changed since Texas last trip 100 miles east in December 2020.

When I got my run in, I misremembered by four-mile run and it turned into five, Schaefer said of his pre-game routine.

About the only thing I got right was hanging a left at the post office.

Texas A&M reveres its history, and Schaefers mug is still plastered on the walls around Reed Arena.

The Longhorns got a kick out of seeing photos of Schaefer as an assistant coach I think I was in the sweater vest on a couple of em from the 2010-11 national title squad.

Texas director of player development Sydney Carter was a three-year captain for A&M during the Aggies glory run under Gary Blair.

Her face can still be found on the arena walls, too.

The history, I think it was preached to us every day since we were trying to prepare for them, Harmon said.

And we know coach Schaefer and coach Sydney Carter, theyre big, big names at Texas A&M, and they have their banner hanging up right there as well, so we understand the historical context of this.

But this was business.

We did come out punching, Harmon said.

Im so happy about that, because I feel like sometimes lately we haven't been.

But we should attack every game like it's the same in a way, and just be ready to play and have more focus.

Texas now gets to spend the week at home getting ready for dust-ups against No.

23 Vanderbilt (Thursday) and No.

2 South Carolina (Sunday).

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