Warren’s wonderful play warrants attention
AUSTIN, Texas — Audrey Warren’s prowess on the court early this season has garnered her some well-warranted honors and attention.
The freshman guard nabbed Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Week honors for a second time this season through just nine games after she hung a career-high 21 points on Tennessee in a narrow loss last weekend. This marks the second time this season that Warren was honored by the Big 12 with the award.
Warren was sizzling from the start, pouring in 12 points in the first quarter against the Volunteers as the Longhorns lassoed an early lead through the first quarter. Tennessee adjusted to try and stifle the hot-shooting freshman after that, and Warren wisely kept the ball moving and looked for her shot when it was there.
After coming off the bench for the first four games of the year, Warren has started the past five games, including against Tennessee, in which she logged even more career-highs with 33 minutes, two 3-pointers made, and five free-throws made (on 5-of-6 shooting).
At halftime @TexasWBB trails Tennessee 40-35 #HookEm pic.twitter.com/6nMEPHAoSZ
— Horns Illustrated (@HornsIllus) December 9, 2018
The Fort Worth-native is now up to 8.9 points per game, 4.2 rebounds per game and has nine steals on the season, good for second-best on the club.
Texas will host Stetson at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Erwin Center.
Following the loss to Tennessee, she said that things are trending upward for herself and the entire team thanks to the effort put in practice lately.
“It started in practice and we knew that effort is a yourself-thing, you have to build it up yourself but everybody on your team is going to help you,” Warren said.
Read more about her Warren’s journey to Texas and her transition to the college game thanks to a quick five questions with the freshman, courtesy of Texas Sports:
Q: One of the things most players have difficulty adjusting to in the college game is the physicality and you seem to have adjusted well to the physicality. To what do you attribute that?
Audrey Warren: "Probably when I was younger, I played mainly with boys with my dad's team and all the teams he coached. That really helped with the physicality of my game."
Q: What has been the biggest adjustment for you so far at Texas?
Warren: "Adjusting to the fact that your class doesn't matter here. Being a freshman doesn't mean that you can't be on the court with the upperclassmen, knowing what to do and having a voice."
Q: What has given you confidence in your freshman season?
Warren: "The whole team and the coaches push you so hard to make sure that you feel comfortable on the court and off the court with them."
Q: You went to three high schools in four years. How has that experience helped you?
Warren: "It wasn't easy. It really helped me come out of my comfort zone – going from school to school, having to make new friends almost right off the bat. It has helped me adjust to situations and environments really well. We moved quite a bit with my dad's job. He's a coach and a trainer."
Q: What made you interested in coming to Texas?
Warren: "The girls. They feel so much like a family and family is the No. 1 most important thing to me."
