The Texas Longhorns women's basketball team had a chance to test themselves before the regular season got rolling, facing the defending national champions in an exhibition game. But before the game began, the team passed a test of sportsmanship after an unfortunate travel mishap.
The No. 6-ranked Longhorns hosted the reigning champs, the UCLA Bruins, at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park as part of the Nyle Maxwell's LoneStar Showcase. This was their first rematch, albeit an exhibition, after the Bruins beat the Longhorns 51-44 in the 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four semifinal game. However, when the Longhorns and Bruins hit the court, the usual aesthetics of both schools' uniforms were noticeably different.
Instead of wearing their usual game-day jersey-and-short combinations from Nike and Jordan Brand, respectively, both teams wore their practice uniforms.
"We had a uniform mess-up, and so we called them and said, 'Hey, no disrespect. We're going to have to wear our practice uniforms,'" Bruins head coach Cori Close said on Sunday night about a discussion with Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer. "It would've been very understandable if they showed up and we were in our practice uniforms; they were in their regulars."
According to Close, their regular uniforms were apparently left behind on their Westwood campus. However, Schaefer decided to meet their opponent on level terms.
"They did a very classy thing and said, 'We'll be in our practice uniforms too, '" Close said. "I thought that was really classy on their part and I just want to say thank you for that."
The Longhorns won in a runaway fashion over the No. 11-ranked Bruins, with Madison Booker finishing with 21 points and Bryanna Preston adding 20, including four threes from behind the arc, in the 81-64 win.
"They're really lucky to play us and we're really lucky to play them," Close said after the game. "We're both top teams in the country."
The Longhorns have one more exhibition game, a home contest against Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 29, before kicking off their regular season against Lehigh on Nov. 2. The defending national champions will get a chance to get their lick back against the Longhorns in the second game of the 2026 Players Era Women's Showcase on Dec. 20, inside Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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This article originally published at Texas women's basketball made a classy call after UCLA's uniform mix-up.