April 5, 2025
Texas’ Jordan Lee figured out her role, then expanded it in the Final Four spotlight
Vic Schaefer: ‘You love seeing kids that the moment’s not too big for them. And … the moment wasn't too big for her’
TAMPA, Fla. — Texas freshman Jordan Lee held her head high as she walked off the court after the Longhorns’ 74-57 loss to South Carolina in the Final Four on Friday. She thanked a member of the training staff, then got a handshake and a pat on the back from legendary former Texas head coach Jody Conradt before disappearing into the tunnel.
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“[Conradt has] always had great words of encouragement, and that means absolutely a lot for me because she’s the kind of G.O.A.T. of Texas women’s basketball,” Lee told The Next postgame. “… It’s an honor to be in her presence.”
Under current head coach Vic Schaefer, Texas rode its defense to the Final Four, giving up just 56.2 points per game all season and 51.3 per game in the NCAA Tournament entering Friday. But to beat the Gamecocks for the second time in four tries, Texas would need scoring, too. Early on, it looked like sophomore star Madison Booker would carry the Longhorns offensively, but she picked up three first-half fouls and had to sit for more than 10 minutes.
Enter Lee, the No. 9-ranked player in her class coming out of high school, who poured in a game-high 16 points on Friday on 6-for-12 shooting overall and 3-for-7 from 3-point range. The 6’ reserve guard was only Texas’ seventh-leading scorer among players who were available Friday, entering the Final Four averaging 5.6 points per game. So she wasn’t a priority on the Gamecocks’ scouting report, with Booker and the Longhorns bigs commanding most of South Carolina’s attention.
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Throughout her freshman season, Lee had some big games but also some quiet ones. She scored a career-high 20 points against James Madison on Dec. 8, and she was named USBWA’s National Freshman of the Week on Jan. 7 after shooting 8-for-12 from 3-point range over two games. Yet entering the NCAA Tournament, Lee hadn’t scored in double figures since Feb. 6. And in her first three games against South Carolina this season, she had a total of 4 points on 2-for-11 shooting.
Lee found more of a groove in the NCAA Tournament, scoring at least 13 points in three of five games. She entered Friday shooting 7-for-16 from behind the arc in the tournament, and she was hitting shots in both Thursday’s practice and Friday’s shootaround, senior forward Taylor Jones told The Next postgame.
Lee said she’d gotten some confidence from her NCAA Tournament success, especially her 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting in the Sweet 16 against Tennessee. But her hot shooting lately came mainly from settling into her role on a team that starts three seniors and a junior.
“We just have so many … weapons on offense, and so your windows and your moments are going to be few and far between,” Lee said. “And so one of my bigger things that I was struggling with before the tournament is I felt like I was shooting the ball before it got in my hand, and [I was] just really excited for those opportunities.
“And so [I’m] kind of now just acknowledging when my moments are going to be by watching film and kind of just letting those opportunities come to me.”
Booker got going right away on Friday, scoring six points on 3-for-3 shooting before the first media timeout to put Texas up 12-4. Two of those baskets were on elbow jump shots, and the third came when she shook a defender with a slick crossover, passed to senior guard Rori Harmon on the perimeter, and eventually got the ball back for a baseline jump shot.
“Madison Booker was doing a great job coming off screens and elevating and making shots,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley told reporters postgame. “She was in a rhythm.”
But Booker picked up two fouls in 21 seconds with about three minutes left in the first quarter, and Schaefer kept her on the bench until midway through the second quarter. Less than three minutes after returning, she picked up her third foul when she accidentally clipped South Carolina guard Tessa Johnson on a fast break. Booker put both hands on her head after the whistle blew, then crouched as she processed what the foul meant for her and her team.
“Every time she got a foul, we would throw up a number: This is how many fouls she’s got,” South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao told reporters postgame. “When you have a great player like that, you’ve just got to keep going at her because you know you’ve got to get them in foul trouble.”
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While Booker had sat the first time, though, Lee had started to heat up. After sinking a free throw late in the first quarter, she scored 7 points on 3-for-4 shooting in the first five minutes of the second quarter. Then she hit a midrange pull-up with 3:51 left in the half to become the game’s first player in double figures.
“I didn’t really notice,” Lee said about how well she was shooting in the second quarter. “I had given up too many points defensively. I was probably thinking about that. …
“My teammates know the spots to hit me. … So tonight, [I was] making myself available, and when the opportunity presents itself, knocking the shot down.”
“She came out hot, and we didn’t really have an answer for her at first,” South Carolina guard Bree Hall told The Next postgame.
Lee finished as one of just two Longhorns in double figures and the only one to shoot 50% from the field on at least four attempts. She also had all three of Texas’ 3-pointers until junior guard Jordana Codio hit one with 10 seconds left and the game out of reach.
“We need scorers. We need shooters,” junior center Kyla Oldacre told The Next postgame about the times when Booker is on the bench. And Lee delivered, shifting from a role player to a star in the biggest game of her career.
Her teammates and Schaefer weren’t surprised to see her step up. They’ve seen her get extra work in all season, and Jones said Lee and fellow freshman Bryanna Preston have consistently been the team’s “dynamic duo of energy.” On Friday, the jolt the Longhorns got from Lee kept them afloat in the first half.
“You love seeing kids that the moment’s not too big for them,” Schaefer told The Next postgame. “And I think tonight, that’s fair to say about her. The moment wasn’t too big for her.”
“If I didn’t know who she was and I saw her play [tonight], I wouldn’t think that she was a freshman,” Jones said.
But Booker, who finished with 11 points on 5-for-11 shooting in 24 minutes, and Lee couldn’t lift the Longhorns on their own, especially on a night when Texas’ vaunted defense allowed the Gamecocks to shoot 50.9% from the field. The Gamecocks created separation by holding Texas to 28.6% shooting in a 20-9 third quarter.
Related reading: South Carolina returns to national championship after united and unique Final Four win
Though the Longhorns were eliminated two wins shy of their goal, playing in her first NCAA Tournament meant “everything” to Lee. She’d long dreamed of shining on March’s biggest stage, especially as that stage expanded in recent years with the sport’s growing popularity.
“To be able to do that, especially as a freshman, wearing Texas [colors], it’s nothing sweeter than that,” Lee said.
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In the Texas locker room postgame, when the initial swirl of reporters had tumbled out and the media availability period was nearly over, it was relatively quiet but hardly funereal. There were no tears, and Lee even laughed as she answered questions. There was sadness, but there was also pride in a season that ended with a 35-4 record and the program’s first Final Four appearance since 2003.
“This tough loss at this point in the season doesn’t diminish the 35 games that we did take care of business,” Lee said.
Meanwhile, Schaefer echoed the mix of sadness and gratitude — and even an early dose of nostalgia for the team he’d just finished coaching — from the podium.
“You’re never ready for today,” he told reporters. “I don’t have the words. … It always catches me off guard even after 40 years. But one thing I’ll say about this group — several things, but No. 1, man, what a blessing.”
There was a silver lining, too, in this final chapter of Texas’ 2024-25 season. Despite the senior-laden starting lineup, it was underclassmen in Lee and Booker who led the way on Friday. In the Longhorns’ five NCAA Tournament games, seniors scored in double figures four times, whereas underclassmen did so nine times. So as good as the Longhorns have been this season — making the Final Four, getting a No. 1 seed and ranking in the top seven all season — there could be a lot more in store behind the likes of Booker, Lee and Preston.
“That’s three young kids that are really, really special,” Schaefer said. “It won’t be easier tonight or tomorrow, but it will be easier knowing them three are around. …
“You win with guard play. That’s three pretty good ones.”
The Next’s Howard Megdal and Rob Knox contributed reporting for this story.
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Written by Jenn Hatfield
Jenn Hatfield is The Next's managing editor, Washington Mystics beat reporter and Ivy League beat reporter. She has been a contributor to The Next since December 2018. Her work has also appeared at FiveThirtyEight, Her Hoop Stats, FanSided, Power Plays, The Equalizer and Princeton Alumni Weekly.
