Texas women's basketball at Houston: Prediction, scouting report for Big 12 matchup

danny davis, austin american-statesman

Tue, Feb 13, 2024, 9:41 PM·4 min read

Texas forward DeYona Gaston, right, thinks she's at about 85-87% back from an ankle injury. The Pearland product is eager to return home for Wednesday night's Texas-Houston game at Houston.

Winners of its last four games, No. 5 Texas opens this week with a trip to see the Houston Cougars at the Fertitta Center on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+, 103.1). History exists between the Longhorns and Cougars — UT holds a 54-3 lead in its all-time series and Danielle Viglione's school-record 48 points were scored in a 1994 game against Houston — but that history isn't recent. These two last played in 1999, and the Longhorns haven't visited Houston since 1998.

Here's what you need to know about the matchup:

DeYona Gaston discusses her health as she returns home

One of two Houston-area natives on the Texas roster, senior forward DeYona Gaston said this week that she's looking forward to Wednesday's homecoming. The Pearland product told reporters on Monday that she was still trying to secure tickets for 20 friends and family members.

Gaston has struggled to remain healthy this season as she's been sidelined twice by ankle injuries. After she re-injured her left ankle on Jan. 13 and missed four games, head coach Vic Schaefer said "most football guys don't play a season with (that kind of injury)."

On Monday, Gaston said she felt like she was "probably about 85, maybe 87%" healthy. She also detailed why the comeback from her initial injury lasted only nine games.

"The first one was really kind of severe. It wasn't any fractures or anything, it was mostly ligaments. The second one, it kind of irritated me more because I hurt it again," Gaston said. "I thought it was a little bit better than usual, but thinking back from the first injury, I felt like I could have did way more rehabbing and also getting in more treatment. So this second one kind of opened my eyes and just kind of reevaluate how I was doing my rehabbing and treatment and being able to get it stronger, way better.

"I feel like this time, it's gotten way stronger because the first time when I tried to recover from it, it felt like I wasn't having any type of mobility in my ankle. Now I feel like I'm getting my mobility back because I'm doing extra with Zack (Zilner, UT's athletic performance coach) and Cheyanne (Goyen), our trainer. I've been doing extra with them and so that's kind of getting my mobility back to where I can jump higher, run faster. There's still some cuts that I can't really do like plant on that foot pretty good. But I feel like it is getting way better than the first time."

Gaston is averaging 7.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Might a breakout game be coming in Houston? She certainly hopes so.

"I have to go off in front of my friends and family, show them what I can really do," she said.

Making moves in the polls

On Monday, Texas (22-3, 9-3) moved up two spots in the Associated Press poll. That No. 5 ranking matches the Longhorns' best ranking of the season. Texas was No. 13 in the preseason poll, but has not dipped below that number.

Texas is also No. 5 in this week's USA Today coaches poll. In ESPN's most-recent projections for the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns were seen as a No. 2 seed.

Look out for Leila, turnovers

When asked what stood out to him about Houston (12-11, 3-9), Schaefer pointed to how the Cougars play defense. Houston allows a Big 12-worst 73.3 points per game in conference play, but the Cougars are also forcing 20.3 turnovers per game. That's the second-best average in the conference.

When describing his team at Big 12 media day in October, Houston coach Ronald Hughey said, "If you've seen Nolan Richardson's Arkansas teams, C. Vivian Stringer's 55, Shaka Smart's double fist, that's who we are. We're 94 feet the entire game. We're running and jumping and pressing, it's organized chaos for us. If you come to practice, we're all over the place and people are looking at us like how can you function in this? And that's who we are."

Schaefer said to also watch out for Houston guard Laila Blair, who's scoring 16 points per game. "Laila's a really good player. She presents problems matchup-wise," he said.