Not only was this a must-win game for Texas to try and push to finish .500 in the conference, it was a great win over a top ten opponent. With young players and a new system, they need to learn to play together and to finish games, not have flashes of greatness here and there. Tonight, they won a gritty, hard-fought battle against a good opponent. Now, they need to use this win and the confidence to put forth the same effort against the rest of the Big 12.
A sustained effort like tonight will give the Horns a very good shot at winning out. Right now, the question is if they can sustain it every night. Tonight showed the team that they could do for 40 minutes, not just for a half or for 30 minutes.
Somebody's got to say it eventually so I'll put it out there now. Those refs were absolutely AWFUL. Both ways. All game long. Completely aggrevating for Bear and Longhorn coaches/fans/players. At least if refs are going to be horrid, they can be consistent with the calls they make so players can try and adjust. They really looked like they'd never officiated a game before because they couldn't even keep straight who was supposed to look for what and several times one of them with a great angle just shrugged and made another one come in from 30 feet away screened off by several players and just make a guess. Also one of the best defensive games I've ever seen. Ashley Lindsay must have stuffed Wilson 3 times in the post. EBay was nearly impossible to get around. We tipped tons of passes. Baylor played pretty darn good defense too.
A few days ago I looked back and compared our early success to our recent struggles. One thing that really stood out was Brittainey's declining offensive production. While I have to admit her shot selection have at times made me cringe, she has to be aggresive and put points on the board for us to win. She was huge tonight!
