The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arkansas
No. 5 Women's Basketball preview: Arkansas [Dec. 20, 2015]
12.18.2015 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns and Razorbacks meet at 1:30 p.m. CT Sunday.
No. 5/6 Texas Longhorns (9-0) vs. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-7)
Location: Oklahoma City, Okla. | Chesapeake Energy Arena (18,203)
Time: Sunday, December 20, 2015 | 1:30 p.m. CT
Television: FS1 (Ron Thulin, Brenda VanLengen)
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Audio
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The No. 5/6 Texas women's basketball team faces old Southwest Conference foe Arkansas on Sunday in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. Tip-off in Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City is slated for 1:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by FS1.
Texas (9-0) is coming off a 92-62 victory against Canisius on Wednesday night in Austin. That win marked the 990th in the program's storied history. The Longhorns have won 23 consecutive games against regular-season non-conference opponents dating back to the 2013-14 season.
Texas is led by senior center Imani Boyette, who is averaging a squad-best 13.1 points per game and a team-best 9.0 rebounds per game. She has recorded four double-doubles in nine games this season, including 15 points and 10 rebounds against Canisius on Wednesday. Boyette, who also has blocked a team-best 18 shots this season, is a member of the Naismith Trophy Early-Season Watch List.
Sophomore guard Brooke McCarty adds 13.0 points per game, while junior guard Brianna Taylor adds 9.2 points per game. Junior center Kelsey Lang is the team's second-leading rebounder with 5.0 boards per game, while senior guard Celina Rodrigo has dished out a team-leading 31 assists.
"This game is about pride," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "It's the Big 12-SEC Challenge and we are representing our conference, so it means a little bit more to me personally and to our team because we're not only representing Texas, but we're representing the Big 12."
The Longhorns and Razorbacks will meet for the 25th time in the history of the two programs with Texas lead the all-time series 21-3. The two squads last met on March 25, 2003 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a 67-50 Texas win. All 23 previous meetings came with the two teams as Southwest Conference foes. Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference prior to the start of the 1991-92 season.
The Razorbacks, who advanced to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, are 3-7 on the 2015-16 campaign. Head coach Jimmy Dykes is in his second season leading the Razorbacks with a 21-21 (.500) overall record. Junior forward Jessica Jackson is Arkansas' leading scorer at 17.2 points per game and has recorded three double-doubles this year. She finished the 2014-15 season tied for the individual lead in scoring in the SEC.
QUICK NOTES
- Texas ranks sixth in all-time victories by NCAA Division I institutions with 990. Just four teams in the history of the sport have achieved 1,000 wins - Tennessee (1,284), Louisiana Tech (1,063), James Madison (1,024) and Old Dominion (1,000).
- The Longhorns hold a 141-70 (.668) advantage all-time against teams in the current alignment of the SEC.
- Senior guard Empress Davenport is the reigning USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week and the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, scoring a career-high 23 points in Texas' win against then-No. 14/12 Stanford last Sunday.
- Senior center Imani Boyette ranks fifth all-time in Texas history with 217 blocked shots. She needs four more blocks to tie Angela Jackson (221) for fourth-place in school history.
- Up Next: Texas breaks for the holidays before returning to action on Sunday, December 27, playing host to Sam Houston State. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. CT at the Frank Erwin Center and the game will be televised nationally by Longhorn Network.
PRE-GAME QUOTES
Texas Head Coach Karen Aston
"This game is about pride. It's the Big 12-SEC Challenge and we are representing our conference, so it means a little bit more to me personally and to our team because we're not only representing Texas, but we're representing the Big 12."
On what she would like to see her team improve upon …
"Lots of little things – detail things. In the big picture, we are doing some things that are pretty good, but when you really break it down, there are some detail parts of our game that we're not executing very well. Our transition defense hasn't been good lately, so it's a challenge for us to get the young players to understand that aspect of the game. You're always looking to execute better. I still think we can get so much better in the paint than what we've been. You continue to work on execution as you get ready to start league play."
On if it's difficult to get areas of improvement to resonate with the team when its record is 9-0 …
"I don't think so. I actually think that's the good part about our team. There are a lot of mature players who have been through league play and have been through postseason play, so they have a good understanding of the fact that you have to keep getting better and there are challenges to everything. I think they really understand that it adds up a little bit when you go to league play. It's not difficult when you have experience."
Senior Guard Empress Davenport
On competing in the Big 12-SEC Challenge …
"Last year we played Texas A&M and we won in the last minute. Every year it's fun and I think it's really going to be fun to play Arkansas for the first time [in her career]."
On her 23-point performance against Stanford that earned her National Player of the Week honors …
"I had been working on my shot and the transition pull-up [jumper] and I think it really showed against Stanford. At first, it was just having a feel for the game. And then Brooke [McCarty] got two fouls early on and Celina [Rodrigo] got in foul trouble. In my freshman year, I ran the point and I think Coach [Aston] trusts me running the point, so that's why late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter I was able to run the point-guard position against Stanford."
On what she thinks Texas needs to improve upon …
"I think we need to improve on transition defense – getting back and not letting the other team score three-pointers in transition. I think it's important for us to match up and find our man on defense. Those are the biggest things I think we need to tackle."
