They could have shriveled up and gone away in December. After all, they had just lost their best player.

That wasn't the makeup of the Texas Longhorns.

When they got the crushing news two days after Christmas that All-American point guard Rori Harmon was lost for the rest of the season with a torn ACL only 12 games in, all could have been lost. But it wasn't. Texas turned in a banner season.

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Sunday’s 76-66 loss to North Carolina State in the Elite Eight will stick in their craw over these next six months, but the key will be to use the disappointing finish as fuel to the fire that's already burning brightly in these young bellies.

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“It doesn’t feel good, but it will definitely push me in the future,” said freshman All-American point guard Madison Booker.

A surprising year after a scary start with Harmon's injury

Overall, it felt like this was an overachieving crew this season, given what they faced without Harmon, but there was also a sense in the middle of the conference schedule of “Why not us?” because Texas had continued to pile up the wins.

We knew the Horns would fight all season because it’s who they are. They're a reflection of their head coach and they don’t cower at the taste of their own blood. They got back at it. Unfortunately, time wasn’t on their side.

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They fell short of the Final Four — their desired destination — but have plenty to motivate them to take it one step farther this time next year.

“We had goals beyond (the Elite Eight) and I saw us doing it,” junior forward Aaliyah Moore said. “It’s tough.”

A 33-5 finish and a third Elite Eight in four years points to brighter days ahead, but the realization of being the first No. 1 seed to fall won’t sit well with this group. The toughness and grit Vic Schaefer’s crew showed in the midst of rough odds — and the tears they shed after the loss in the locker room showed they give more than a damn about this — will serve as the best accelerant next season when they’re back in the chase for that final weekend in Tampa.

“One game doesn’t define this team,” said Schaefer, who led the program to its most wins since the 1986 unbeaten national champions under the legendary Jody Conradt.

There was simply too much Wolfpack firepower

The Longhorns ran into an offensive buzzsaw on a less-than-regulation Moda Center court in Portland as Schaefer and Wolfpack coach Wes Moore agreed to play despite the two 3-point lines not being equal in distance.

That didn’t matter to Wolfpack guard Aziaha James, who blitzed the Horns with 27 points and seven 3-pointers, five of them coming from behind the deeper line in the first half. She was knocking them down from Caitlin Clark range and the Horns, who struggled from distance all season, were up against it as they fell behind 40-22 before mounting what turned out to be a futile comeback.

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Few teams were able to dictate pace to the Longhorns this season, but the Wolfpack got out and ran early, outscoring Texas 16-0 in fast-break points in the first half. The Horns won games this season because they were able to control tempo, pound the ball inside to their bigs and crash the boards for missed shots. They ran selectively, but with Harmon out and the bigger Booker at point, they were more of a half-court team.

And that worked for the most part until they ran into a team that was smaller, faster overall and much better from the perimeter.

Schaefer addressed the inexcusable 3-point measuring gaffe after the game — do better NCAA, do better — but the bigger issue was how the Horns were outplayed both in the backcourt in the first half and up front in the second, a place they figured to dominate with their size advantage like they did in last Friday's third-round blowout of Gonzaga.

James and Saniya Rivers outscored the Texas trio of Booker, Shay Holle and Shaylee Gonzales 38-29 while their post River Baldwin led all bigs with 16 points, two fewer than the Horns got from starters DeYona Gaston and Moore combined. Schaefer believes Texas got out-toughed and he was right. And it didn’t help that the Horns missed 12 of their first 19 shots inside the paint while the Pack couldn’t miss on the other end.

“We missed some point-blank shots,” Schaefer said. “Sometimes that happens. It hadn’t happened to us all year, but tonight it happened. Sometimes it happens on that stage, especially when you have some kids who maybe haven’t been there.”

Long-distance shooting was critical

No team had ambushed the Horns in this fashion, that is until they ran into the Wolfpack in the first half. They were tasked with a pair of guards who were quicker and better shooters in James and Rivers, a South Carolina transfer. Texas’ four other losses came by a total of 14 points, so to see them getting steamrolled early must have come as a severe shock to Longhorn Nation.

Schaefer has said time and time again that college basketball is a guard’s game, but he has yet to bring in a consistent killer from long distance. Texas ranked last in the Big 12 and No. 323 nationally in 3-pointers made.

He has a star in freshman point guard Booker, who scored 17 points but made only 8-of-21 field goals attempts and was too deferential when her team needed more assertion as a scorer as it clawed its way back from an 18-point deficit.

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Booker is a mid-range monster who'll leave here as an all-time great, but she will have to add a 3-point shot to her arsenal and Schaefer will need more sharpshooters to help her, Harmon and the athletic Holle, a defensive stopper who can knock down the occasional triple.

The Horns went 1-of-6 from distance Sunday — and Gonzales, the starting shooting guard, missed all six of her overall field goals and twice from behind the money line before fouling out — but Holle was a bright spot with 12 points.

The Pack outscored the Horns 21-3 from distance. In today’s game, you will eventually run into a team that can flat out stroke it. Schaefer is correct in his assessment that guards determine a team’s fate, but the best guards are proficient in shooting from downtown. His were not.

He has to find at least one, like South Carolina’s Dawn Staley did last offseason when she signed former Oregon transfer Te-Hina Paopao, who led the country in 3-point percentage this season.

A bright future: help is on the way

Texas should return everyone in this season's core rotation except Gonzales and forward Khadija Faye. Schaefer also is bringing in a stellar recruiting class, including a pair of five-stars in 6-foot-1 Katy forward Justice Carlton, who chose the Horns over South Carolina, LSU and UConn, and Saint Mary’s (Calif.) wing Jordan Lee, both of whom will play in Tuesday night's McDonald’s All-America game.

And there’s the portal, where there could be a vital piece waiting to don burnt orange.

A top seed that doesn’t make it to the Final Four can say it fell short on paper, but the Horns got that seed because they consistently overcame the odds. With a healthy Harmon, they'd still be playing, no doubt.

They’re a gritty group that will be back in this position next season. Expect them to break through and make it to the national semifinals on their next try. It won’t be easy with South Carolina and Kim Mulkey’s LSU as SEC rivals, but it’s the reason Schaefer took the gig: to get Texas to the final weekend.

He’s built for this and so is his team.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas women's basketball will use loss as fuel for 2025 Final Four