Texas Longhorns' Veteran Taylor Jones Reflects on Journey in Sixth Season

After three years at Oregon State and three more with the Texas Longhorns, Taylor Jones took time to look back on her career in her final season
Texas Longhorns forward Taylor Jones (44) celebrates after making a basket during a women's college basketball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.
Texas Longhorns forward Taylor Jones (44) celebrates after making a basket during a women's college basketball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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In six years of college basketball, Texas Longhorn Taylor Jones has learned many lessons, but some of the most important ones this season. Recently, she has been playing the best basketball of her career and she credits that to her growth off the court.

When Jones was a freshman at Oregon State, she had just lost her mom to cancer and struggled with the loss in a foreign environment. Since then, she has leaned on her faith and her teammates to get her to where she is now.

"Freshman year, Taylor, she was kind of going through," Jones said of herself. "I've had a lot of challenges going into college. I went up to Oregon State, having just lost my mother to cancer. And so that, in and of itself, when you lose someone that close to you, will put a lot of things into perspective, and it will sort of force you to grow mentally."

She said that losing her mother helped her grow as a person, and while she struggled, she is better from it. After three years at Oregon State, she transeferred to Texas, where her career has excelled.

In the past three games, her play has excelled and she had back-to-back 20-point games and has been a monster on the boards. She credits her rebounding abilities to a video she saw about Dennis Rodman rebounding for his guards to learn how the ball bounces off the rim or backboard. Her stellar play this past week earned her SEC Player of the Week honors.

Taylor Jones blocks a shot against Arkansas
Jan 9, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Christabel Ezumah (1) drives to the basket against the Texas Longhorns forward Taylor Jones (44) during the first half at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

"I've just really tried to be easier on myself mentally this year, I've kind of been really hard on myself, knowing that this is my last year, and sort of like my own expectations for myself," Jones said. "I've just put a lot of pressure on myself coming into this year, and I think over the last few weeks, I really have tried to focus on my mentality going into playing a game and just trying to play free, and just trying to fall back on my habits and like, use the strength and the footwork and all the stuff that I worked really hard on in the off season and just tried to have fun."

Her ability to play free has shown, as she is even extending her shooting range outside of the post. She has taken several foul-line jumpers, something head coach Vic Schaefer has confidence in her doing.

"He always tells me like, because I say, I kind of forgot that I had that move, the like, face up, or like, the turnaround over my shoulder," Jones said. "And there was one day in practice I did it, and he was like, 'that's my favorite move you have.' And I was like, Okay, if this is your favorite move, then if I do it and I miss, he won't be mad. So I was like, Okay, let me. Let me try it again. It just so happens that I'm pretty good at it, so I think it's just sort of habit now, and with my long arms and ability to get the ball up, it's really hard for people to contest it."

Jones has averaged 12.4 points per game this season, the highest of her career. Schaefer spoke about her ability to get open around the basket and another quality of hers that he loves: her toughness.

"With Taylor, one, her level of toughness is completely different than at any time, I think probably in her career, certainly at any time she's been in Texas," Schaefer said. "And then that's another kid that comes in every day. She's out there 30 minutes prior to practice, getting up shots, creating, you know,
consistency with her shot, doing the same thing over and over and over again. And so I think with for her, she's seeing the fruits of her labor as well."

She led Texas through arguably the toughest part of its SEC schedule and now, one of Texas' next matchups will have family ties. When Texas travels to College Station on Sunday to take on the Texas A&M Aggies, her dad will be there wearing orange to the dismay of his friends.

"I grew up in like, a small town, and all of his friends, especially from our church, most of them went to A&M and he was like, 'people are already giving me so much crap about that I'm gonna wear orange on A&M's campus,'" Jones said. "And I was like, 'Okay, we'll see what you wear when you show up.' But I mean, he's really excited."

Before Texas heads to College Station, it has a home game against Mizzou on Thursday at 8 p.m. The game will be aired on the SEC network as Texas looks to keep its one-loss SEC record alive.

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Lindsey Plotkin
LINDSEY PLOTKIN

Lindsey Plotkin is a journalism major and sports media minor at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a double coverage editor for the Daily Texan on the football and baseball beats, and a staff writer for Texas Longhorns On SI.