Monday night was a mostly elementary affair for Louisville women’s basketball.
Led by 21 points from All-American honorable mention Hailey Van Lith, the No. 4 seeded Cardinals dispatched the Texas Longhorns 73-51 with ease. Now in the Sweet 16, Louisville is just two victories away from a second consecutive Final Four appearance.
However, before Van Lith and Co. could start preparing for the next round, the point guard first contended with an uncomfortable moment in the postgame handshake line. As Van Lith came up to Texas’ Sonya Morris, the Longhorns’ guard appeared to be very unhappy and said something to that effect.
Van Lith would listen and nod for a moment before shrugging Morris off to the side:
I don't know what was said here. But here is Hailey Van Lith going through the handshake line with Texas. Sonya Morris was first in line for the Longhorns to talk to Van Lith. pic.twitter.com/YqvnmwiRdn
— Tyler Greever (@Tyler_Greever) March 21, 2023
Phew. The handshake line is supposed to be an ultimate moment of sportsmanship — where both teams offer each other respect regardless of what happened between the lines. But whatever occurred during the game seemed to irk Morris enough that she had to confront Van Lith right away.
For what it’s worth, Van Lith took the (somewhat) diplomatic high road after the game:
Here is Hailey Van Lith on this moment: "I have all the respect in the world for Texas. No hard feelings. Sports can get chippy, you play in the heat. At the end of the day, I'm gonna let it go. No hard feelings, I assume that they'll do the same." https://t.co/WsodgeKACy pic.twitter.com/JilL1DfRtV
— Tyler Greever (@Tyler_Greever) March 21, 2023
For all those inquiring, I asked Hailey Van Lith what was said in the postgame handshake line and here was her response. FWIW, midway through the question, Olivia Cochran yells out, “We got your back!” pic.twitter.com/MRbwS2d42r
— Alexis Cubit (@Alexis_Cubit) March 21, 2023
Lip-reading college basketball fans had lots of guesses as to what Morris told Van Lith in this uncomfortable exchange. (Warning: NSFW guesses/responses below.)
Also, be sure to check out other March Madness goodness from us:
- All 68 men’s mascots, ranked
- Dawn Staley paid homage to HBCU history
- An all-time bad beat happened on Sunday
I think the highlight here is HVL’s brother saying “you got your ass kicked” near the end. pic.twitter.com/aWoSWz5tGc
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) March 21, 2023
You can’t tell what was said before but HVL pushes Sonya Morris away after Morris clearly says “honorable mention”. https://t.co/RKfyrvX3bj
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) March 21, 2023
Not sure what Sonya Morris said at first, but Hailey pushes her away after she clearly says "Honorable Mention", referring to Hailey's All-American status
— Chris Cunningham (@TheCunningham5) March 21, 2023
Did she just say “honorable mention” to HVL? She just dropped 21 points on you in a 22-point victory on your home court. Sit down. https://t.co/GzqYMRrpAR
— Jared Anderson (@MrAndersonJared) March 21, 2023
I think Sonya (who's like 25 and never been on an All-American team in her life), said "Honorable Mention" to HVL in the handshake line, after HVL was left off the All-American teams.
Sonya transferred to Texas to lose by 25 in a game they were favored to Louisville.
Haha. https://t.co/ral92ZWObu
— PK (he/him) (@PKellyMLB) March 21, 2023
How are people seeing honorable mention in her lips?? Maybe i just don’t see it, but whatever was said HVL didn’t like it, watching this i knew it immediately https://t.co/SD6Q4fwNFn
— Devin Sr. (@ThatBoyDew) March 21, 2023
Tacky. I'm no fan of HVL but this is poor sportsmanship. Your team lost on your homecourt by over 20pts. Looks like she's saying "Honorable Mention " talking trash as u walk to the couch #NCAAWBB #marchmadness #gositdown https://t.co/cME3QkGkgA
— GretchenM. Walker (@gretchen1913) March 21, 2023
Yeah y’all won but you got honorable mention…
HVL: “catch me outside.” https://t.co/FtV5D8Idyn— Taj Cole (@TCOLE_0) March 21, 2023
HVL was such a pro with the response to that Sonya Morris question. Wouldn’t have been meeeeee. I’d have “honorably mentioned” that she could see herself back across campus with that L. 😂
— John Bailey (@mister_bailey) March 21, 2023
Im dying cuz hvl told morris to have fun in miami 😂😂😂 today has been the best https://t.co/E7EmbDaRYd
— Sir Mac (@Rosa_taxidriver) March 21, 2023
Van Lith w the class in the presser… not gonna say what was said. All i could make out from the line up was “have fun in Miami” 💀 https://t.co/gLRvVY4m7M
— Olivia C. Alongi (@Olivia_Alongi) March 21, 2023
