The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Iowa State
No. 16 Women's Basketball preview: Iowa State [Jan. 1, 2017]
12.30.2016 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns play on New Year's Day for the first time in program history.
No. 16/16 Texas Longhorns (7-4, 1-0 Big 12) at Iowa State Cyclones (9-3, 0-1 Big 12)
Time: Sunday, January 1, 2017 | 12 p.m. CT
Location: Ames, Iowa | Hilton Coliseum (14,384)
TV: Fox Sports Net (Ron Thulin, Dan Hughes)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Chris Plonsky)
Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Audio | Fox Sports Clearances |
AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 16/16 University of Texas women's basketball team will play on New Year's Day for the first time in program history on Sunday when it travels to Ames, Iowa, to take on Iowa State. Tip-off at Hilton Coliseum is slated for 12 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.
Texas (7-4, 1-0 Big 12 Conference) opened Big 12 play on Thursday with a 67-47 win against Texas Tech at the Frank Erwin Center. The Longhorns have now won three consecutive league openers.
Texas is among the nation's leaders in both rebound margin and blocked shots. The Longhorns have won the rebound battle in each of their 11 games so far this season and rank third nationally in rebound margin at +14.2. Texas is 15th nationally in blocked shots per game at 6.1.
Junior guard Brooke McCarty leads the way for the Longhorns, averaging 13.4 points per game. She has dished out a team-high 37 assists this season and has made a squad-best 24 three-pointers on the year. McCarty has scored in double figures in eight of Texas' 11 games this season, including a team-high 16 points on Thursday against Texas Tech.
Junior guard Ariel Atkins follows with 11.8 points per game and a team-high 20 steals, while senior center Kelsey Lang adds 10.6 points per game and a team-high 8.5 rebound per game. Lang, who also has charted a team-high 22 blocks on the season, is six points away from 900 points for her collegiate career.
Texas and Iowa State meet for the 31st time in the history of the two programs. The Cyclones lead the all-time series between the two teams 17-13 and have taken six of the last nine meetings between the two teams. The Longhorns swept the season series with Iowa State in 2015-16.
Iowa State enters Sunday's game with a 9-3 overall record and an 0-1 tally in Big 12 play after falling 71-59 at Oklahoma State on Thursday night. The Cyclones rank 15th nationally in scoring offense, averaging 82.0 points per game, and are first in the nation in free-throw percentage at 82.0 percent.
Iowa State boasts three of the top-eight scorers in the Big 12 Conference, as senior guard Seanna Johnson is third in the league, averaging 18.4 points per game, while junior guard Jadda Buckley and sophomore guard Bridget Carleton are tied for seventh in the league at 15.1 points per game. Johnson adds a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game.
QUICK NOTES
• Texas women's basketball is in the midst of its 43rd season of intercollegiate basketball.
• The Longhorns have won 12 conference regular season titles and 10 conference tournament titles.
• 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 tied for fifth all-time in NCAA history with 1,019 all-time victories.
• The Longhorns consistently play a rigorous non-conference schedule. The Longhorns' schedule consists of six non-conference opponents that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 or further during the 2015-16 campaign.
• Texas head coach Karen Aston is four wins away from 100 on the Forty Acres. She is 96-50 (.657).
• Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Texas is 53-6 (.898) when playing in the Frank Erwin Center.
• Texas has won the rebound battle in each of its 11 games so far this season and holds a rebound margin of +14.2. The Longhorns rank third nationally in rebound margin.
• The Longhorns rank 15th nationally in blocked shots per game with 6.1 blocks per game.
• Senior center Kelsey Lang ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in double-doubles with five on the season. Oklahoma State's Kaylee Jensen has recorded a league-best six double-dips on the year.
• Lang currently ranks eighth in UT school history with 133 career blocks. She needs 24 more blocks to surpass Joy Williams (156) for seventh place all-time.
• Lang has played in 115 games in her UT career. She needs to play in 18 more games to move into the all-time Texas top-10 list in career games played.
• Junior guard Brooke McCarty has 128 career three-pointers made, which ranks eighth all-time in UT school history. She needs 25 more three pointers to surpass Erika Arriaran (152) for seventh place all-time.
• McCarty ranks tied for fourth in school history in three-point field goal percentage with a .393 clip (128-of-326). 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.
