The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Basketball preview: Everyones Internet
11.02.2005 | Women's Basketball
Exhibition Game #1
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 - 7 p.m. (Central)
Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts
TV: none
Internet TV: subscription-based
Radio: none
Internet Radio: via
Texas Women's Basketball Tickets
Texas women's basketball has numerous ticket plans in place for the 2005-06 season (full season ticket packages, a five-game mini-season ticket package, group ticket sales and single game ticket purchases). For more information on UT basketball tickets, go to TexasBoxOffice.com or call 512-471-3333 or 1-800-982-BEVO. For charge-by-phone, you can call 512-477-6060. Tickets can be purchased in person at the following locations: Bellmont Hall Athletics Ticket Office (Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m-4 p.m. Central); and at any Texas Box Office location, including the Frank Erwin Center (Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and game days prior to tipoff) or at Austin area H-E-B stores.
Teams at a Glance:
National Rankings: Texas: #12, USA Today/ESPN Preseason Poll (Associated Press Top 25 not yet released)
Texas Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 37th year overall: 1,146 games: 869-278 (.758); 30th year at Texas: 968 games: 752-216 (.777)
All-Time Series Record: n/a
Everyones Internet: 2005 Exhibition Season (1-0 to date); next up: vs. No. 3 LSU (Nov. 2, at Baton Rouge)
Texas Capsule
Texas opens up its season tonight with the first of two exhibition games ... The Longhorns, ranked No. 12 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Poll, host Everyones Internet, a team from the Houston area comprised of former collegiate and current WNBA/European pro players ... The Longhorns are led by returning All-American and preseason national player of the year candidate junior Tiffany Jackson ... The all-everything performer was UT's leading scorer (18.3 ppg), rebounder (8.7 rpg), shot blocker (1.9) and steals leader (3.4 spg) a year ago ... Senior guard Nina Norman, an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention Team pick, was fourth in scoring (7.8 ppg) and first in assists (98, 3.5 apg) last year ... The Longhorns welcome back eight letterwinners from last year's 22-9 team which advanced to the NCAA Championship second round after placing second to eventual national titlist Baylor in the Big 12 regular season standings... In addition to the eight letterwinners, UT's class of seven freshmen is the largest rookie class in Texas head coach Jody Conradt's tenure ... These seven were selected as the nation's No. 1 recruiting class last year by the All-Star Girls Report recruiting service.
Jackson enters with All-America accolades from every preseason publication (Athlon, Lindy's, Street & Smith, Women's Basketball News Service) and as a preseason candidate for State Farm Wade Trophy and the Wooden Award for National Player of the Year honors.
What's Back for UT in 2005-06
Letterwinners .... 8
Starters ............ 2 (Jackson, Norman)
Newcomers ....... 7
% of Points Returning ............. 49.2% (1,067 of 2,170)
% of 3-Pointers Made Returning ... 16.7% (24 of 144)
% of Rebounds Returning .......... 51.0% (564 of 1,105)
% of Assists Returning .............. 56.7% (231 of 408)
% of Steals Returning ............... 56.0% (178 of 318)
Tonight's Opponent: Everyones Internet
Everyones Internet team is sponsored by EV1 (Everyones Internet) from Houston... The squad, coached by WNBA Houston Comets assistant coach Kevin Cook, is on a 12-game exhibition swing through the Southwest and East Coast ... Tonight marks the third game in as many nights for this squad ... EI defeated Louisiana-Lafayette, 82-54 on Tuesday before meeting No. 3 ranked LSU Wednesday night in Baton Rouge.
Top players include former WNBA 5-9 standout guard Jae Cross from Australia who played for the Detroit Shock and Phoenix Mercury franchises after starring on the Australian National Team; All-Pac 10 5-8 guard Felicia Ragland from Oregon State who played for the WNBA's Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury and is now on the National Women's Basketball League's (NWBL) Dallas Fury squad; former Sunbelt All-Conference star and Middle Tennessee State standout 5-11 guard Patrice Holmes; 6-0 forward Keila Beachem from Cal Poly-Ponoma who now plays for the Chicago Blaze in the NWBL; and 6-1 forward LaTonya Johnson who graduated from Memphis in 1998 and went on to play for the WNBA Houston Comets and now plays for the NWBL Chicago team.
In the win over Louisiana-Lafayette, EI was paced by 15 points from 5-8 guard Cynthia Jordan, who played her college ball at Temple, and 14 points and seven boards from6-3 center Naomi Mobley, who starred at Shaw University... Following the games against LSU and Texas, EI continues its brutal stretch of eight games in eight days by playing at Houston (Nov. 4), Rice (Nov. 5), SMU (Nov. 6), Texas A&M (Nov. 7) and Texas Tech (Nov. 8) ... Everyones Internet breaks for one day before closing out their schedule at Texas State (Nov. 12), TCU (Nov. 12), George Washington (Nov. 13) and South Carolina (Nov. 14).
No. 2 in Big 12 Preseason Poll
Texas was picked second in the 2005-06 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll as voted on by the league coaches... Defending NCAA champion and league champion Baylor was picked first in the poll, gathering 113 points and six-first place votes... Texas was just edged out by the Lady Bears, as UT gained 110 points, including two first-place votes. Last year, UT was the runnerup in the Big 12 race, posting a 13-3 mark in league play.
Texas won back-to-back Big 12 regular season titles in 2003 and 2004, winning outright in 2003 and tying with Kansas State the next year.
In the 2005-06 preseason poll, Texas Tech was a close third with the four remaining first place votes and 108 points. Oklahoma (91 points), Nebraska (70 points), Kansas (66 points), Texas A&M (59 points), Kansas State (56 points), Iowa State (45 points), Missouri (37 points), Oklahoma State (23 points) and Colorado (14 points) round out the poll.
Tough Schedule Ahead
Following tonight's game, the Longhorns have one more exhibition (next Thursday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m.) when they host the Houston Jaguars at the Erwin Center ... Texas will meet five of the top-10 rated squads from the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Poll, and will face a total of seven of these Top 25 squads - with a possible eighth opponent as well (if UT meets Purdue in the Junkanoo Jam tourney over Thanksgiving in the Bahamas) ... This includes the Longhorns going against five of the top 10-ranked teams - Tennessee, Duke, Rutgers, Baylor and Connecticut ... Tennessee is No. 1 in the USA TODAY/ESPN preseason poll with Duke, LSU and Ohio State, with Rutgers and Georgia tied at No. 5, rounding out the top five.
Texas tips off the 2005-06 campaign against New Mexico on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in Austin ... New Mexico was an NCAA Championship team a year ago and is in the "also receiving votes" category of the USA Today/ESPN preseason rankings.
Texas meets Tennessee and Duke in back-to-back early games, with the Longhorns traveling to Knoxville, Tenn. and putting their four-game series win streak on the line against the No. 1 ranked Lady Vols (Thur., Dec. 1, 6 p.m. on ESPN2) ... Three days later (Sun., Dec. 1), Duke visits Austin for a 12:30 p.m. game to air on FSN (FOX Sports Net) ... Texas meets Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ on Friday, Dec. 30 (6 p.m., CSTV telecast) and then hosts Connecticut on Sunday, Feb. 12 (2 p.m., ESPN2) at the Frank Erwin Center ... The other USA Today/ESPN Top 25 preseason teams Texas faces are its Big 12 opponents.
