The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

No. 15 Women's Basketball preview: Kansas [Jan. 4, 2017]
01.03.2017 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns looking to go 3-0 in Big 12 Conference play for second consecutive year.
No. 15/17 Texas Longhorns (8-4, 2-0 Big 12) at Kansas Jayhawks (6-7, 0-2 Big 12)
Time: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Lawrence, Kan. | Allen Fieldhouse (16,300)
TV: ESPN3 (Mick Shaffer, Jill Dorsey-Hall)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Roger Wallace, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio |
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 15/17 University of Texas women's basketball team looks to open Big 12 Conference play with a 3-0 record for the second consecutive year and for just the fourth time in program history on Wednesday when it faces Kansas. Tip-off at Allen Fieldhouse is slated for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast by ESPN3.
The Longhorns (8-4, 2-0 Big 12 Conference) have won six consecutive games and are off to a 2-0 start in league play for the third consecutive year. The 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2015-16 teams all started the Big 12 slate with a program-best 5-0 record.
Texas head coach Karen Aston is nearing 200 wins for her coaching career. Aston is 198-113 (.637) in her 10th season as a collegiate head coach. Aston is in her fifth season as head coach at UT with head coaching stops also at Charlotte and North Texas.
Texas is coming off a hard-fought 75-68 win at Iowa State on Sunday afternoon. Junior guard Ariel Atkins scored a career-high 25 points to lead the way for the Longhorns, who were out-rebounded in that game for the first time in 12 contests this season.
In conference play only, Atkins leads the way for the Longhorns, averaging 17.0 points per game, while also shooting 50 percent from the field and averaging 5.0 rebounds per game.
In all games combined, junior point guard Brooke McCarty is the team's leading scorer, averaging 13.3 points per game with a squad-best 43 assists and a team-best 25 three-pointers. McCarty has scored in double figures in nine of her 12 games this season.
Atkins adds 13.1 points per game on the season, while senior center Kelsey Lang contributes 10.7 points per game and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game. Lang has charted a Big 12-leading six double-doubles this season and just eclipsed the 900-point mark for her collegiate career. Senior guard Brianna Taylor has swiped a team-high 21 steals.
Texas and Kansas are meeting for the 33rd time in the history of the two programs. The Longhorns lead the all-time series 22-10. Texas has won eight consecutive meetings in the all-time series with Kansas, including all three meetings last year.
Kansas enters Wednesday's game with a 6-7 overall record and an 0-2 mark in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks are led in scoring by guards McKenzie Calvert and Jessica Washington, each of whom are averaging 14.2 points per game. Washington has scored in double figures in five consecutive games, and she and Calvert have each recorded a team-leading eight double-digit scoring efforts this season.
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 1,020 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 three wins away from 100 on the Forty Acres. She is 97-50 (.660).
• 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 11 of its 12 games so far this season and holds a rebound margin of +12.8. The Longhorns rank sixth nationally in rebound margin.
• The Longhorns rank 16th nationally in blocked shots per game with 6.2 blocks per game.
• Senior center Kelsey Lang ranks tied for first in the Big 12 Conference in double-doubles with six on the season. Oklahoma State's Kaylee Jensen also has recorded six double-dips on the year.
• Lang currently ranks eighth in UT school history with 138 career blocks. She needs 19 more blocks to surpass Joy Williams (156) for seventh place all-time.
• Lang has played in 116 games in her UT career. She needs to play in 17 more games to move into the all-time Texas top-10 list in career games played.
• Junior guard Brooke McCarty has 129 career three-pointers made, which ranks eighth all-time in UT school history. She needs 24 more three pointers to surpass Erika Arriaran (152) for seventh place all-time.
• McCarty ranks fifth in school history in three-point field goal percentage with a .391 clip (129-of-330). 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.