The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
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No. 10/9 Mississippi State
No. 8 Women's Basketball preview: No. 10 Mississippi State [Nov. 20, 2016]
11.19.2016 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns face second top-15 opponent in less than a week.
No. 8/10 Texas Longhorns (1-1) at No. 10/9 Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-0)
Time: Sunday, November 20, 2016 | 5 p.m. CT
Location: Starkville, Miss. | Humphrey Coliseum
TV: SEC Network (Brenda VanLengen, Andy Landers, Steffi Sorensen)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio
AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 8/10 University of Texas women's basketball team on Sunday will face its second top-15 opponent in less than a week when it travels to Starkville, Miss., to meet No. 10/9 Mississippi State. Tip-off in Humphrey Coliseum is slated for 5 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by SEC Network.
The Longhorns (1-1) are coming off a 98-46 win against Houston Baptist on Wednesday. Freshman guard/forward Joyner Holmes poured in 22 points and brought down nine rebounds, while junior guard Brooke McCarty added 16 points. Texas opened the season last Monday, falling to No. 11/10 Stanford, 71-59, in Palo Alto, Calif.
McCarty leads the Longhorns in scoring, averaging 18.0 points per game, has made a squad-best six three-pointers and is shooting 50 percent from the field, while playing a team-high 29.0 minutes per game. Holmes and junior guard Ariel Atkins follow with 12.5 points per game apiece. Atkins and McCarty have scored in double figures in both of Texas' two games this season.
Holmes and junior forward Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau are tied for the team lead in rebounds at 6.0 boards per game, while Holmes has swatted a squad-best four blocks.
As a team, Texas ranks in the top-20 nationally in both rebound margin (+17.5) and three-point field-goal percentage (44.8 percent).
Texas and Mississippi State meet for the fourth time in the history of the two programs with the Longhorns holding a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series. Texas defeated the Bulldogs 53-47 last season in Austin. The Longhorns are 143-70 (.812) all-time against members in the current alignment of the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State (3-0) is coming off a 66-49 win against Tulane on Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs have won 11 consecutive regular-season non-conference games, with their last regular-season non-conference loss coming against the Longhorns last December. Junior guard Victoria Vivians leads Mississippi State in scoring with 15.7 points per game, while senior center Chinwe Okorie is the team's leading rebounder at 6.3 boards per game.
QUICK NOTES
• Texas is one of just eight programs in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to reach 1,000 all-time wins. The Longhorns achieved the milestone on January 27, 2016. Texas ranks sixth all-time in NCAA history with 1,013 all-time victories.
• The Longhorns are seeking their 500th all-time win in the Frank Erwin Center this season. Texas has a 497-95 (.839) all-time record within the friendly confines of the Erwin Center, which opened during the 1977-78 season.
• Texas head coach Karen Aston won her 90th game at the helm of the Longhorns on Wednesday against Houston Baptist.
• Senior center Kelsey Lang on Wednesday moved into the top-10 on the all-time Texas career blocks list. She currently has 113 career rejections. Lang needs nine more blocks to move past Stacy Stephens (121) for ninth on the all-time career blocks chart.
• Lang has played in 106 games during her Texas career. She needs to play in 27 more games to move into the UT all-time top-10 for career games played at 133.
• Junior guard Brooke McCarty needs five more three-pointers to move onto the Texas all-time career three-pointers made list. McCarty has made 110 three-pointers in her career and, with five more, would tie Vicki Hall (1988-93) for 10th place all-time.
• McCarty ranks tied for fourth in school history in three-point field goal percentage with a .393 clip (110-of-280). Current Texas assistant Jamie Carey holds the school record in three-point field goal percentage at .418. Just three players in UT history - Carey, Kat Nash and Vicki Hall - have shot better than .400 beyond the three-point arc for their careers.
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