The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UTSA
No. 2 Women's Basketball preview: UTSA
11.16.2017 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns and Roadrunners meet at 7 p.m. CT Friday at the Frank Erwin Center.
No. 2/6 Texas Longhorns (2-0) vs. UTSA Roadrunners (1-2)
Time: Friday, November 17, 2017 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: Longhorn Network (Fran Harris, Nell Fortner)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Roger Wallace)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
The No. 2/6 University of Texas women's basketball team plays its third game in six days on Friday when it faces UTSA for the fifth consecutive year. Tip-off in the Frank Erwin Center is slated for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by Longhorn Network.
The first 250 students to attend Friday's game will receive an official Herd official student section t-shirt presented by Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes at Section 38 on the concourse. Terry Adams, a BMX Flatland World Champion, will perform a five-minutes routine at halftime. Following the game, fans are invited down to the court for a postgame autograph session.
The Clear Bag Policy is in effect for all Texas basketball games this season at the Frank Erwin Center. For more information, click here.
The Longhorns are 2-0 on the season after defeating Stetson 95-59 on Sunday and beating McNeese State 100-34 on Wednesday. Texas is averaging 97.5 points per game through two games and ranks third in the nation in scoring margin at +51.0 points per game. The Longhorns also are sixth nationally in rebound margin at +23.0.
Senior guard Ariel Atkins leads the way for the Longhorns, averaging 16.0 points per game and 4.0 steals per game. She is shooting 75 percent from the floor this season, including a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Atkins also leads the Big 12 Conference with an 8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Against McNeese State on Wednesday, Atkins became the 43rd member of UT's 1,000-point club.
Junior guard Lashann Higgs follows with 13.5 points per game, while senior guard Brooke McCarty adds 11.5 points per game.
Texas and UTSA meet for the eighth time in the history of the two programs. The Longhorns lead the all-time series 7-0. Texas is 68-18 (.791) all-time against teams in the current alignment of Conference USA.
UTSA is 1-2 on the season and is coming off a 69-68 overtime loss to UT-Arlington on Wednesday night in San Antonio. Senior guard Crystal Chidomere, who played for the first time this season, had a game-high 26 points in Wednesday's game. Sophomore forward Marie Benson is averaging 16.0 points per game and a squad-best 11.0 rebounds per game.
The Roadrunners opened the season with a 97-47 win against Sul Ross State before dropping a 74-42 game at Arizona State this past Sunday.
QUICK NOTES
- Texas women's basketball is set to begin its 44th season of intercollegiate basketball.
- Texas is one of just eight programs in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to reach 1,000 all-time wins. Texas ranks fifth all-time in NCAA history with 1,039 all-time victories.
- The Longhorns have made 30 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, which is fourth-most of any program in NCAA D-I Women's Basketball history.
- Texas head coach Karen Aston is 116-55 (.678) now in her sixth season at the helm of the Longhorns. She is the program's second-winningest coach in UT history behind Jody Conradt's 783 victories on the Forty Acres.
- The 2016-17 Longhorns tied the school record for most Big 12 wins in a season at 15. The 2002-03 and 2015-16 squads also posted 15 Big 12 victories.
- Texas has advanced to three consecutive NCAA Sweet 16s for the first time since the 2002, 2003 and 2004 campaigns.
- Over the past two seasons, Texas has earned 14 wins against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25.
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 184 career three-pointers made, which ranks sixth in school history in that category. She needs to make six more threes to surpass Heather Schreiber (189 from 2001-05) for fifth place all-time.
- McCarty ranks fourth in program history in three-point percentage at 40.3 percent (184-of-457) and is one of just four players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kat Nash and Vicki Hall are the others) to shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc for her career. Current UT assistant Jamie Carey is the school's all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 41.8 percent.
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins now ranks 42nd in program history with 1,006 career points.
- Atkins ranks fifth in school history in career free-throw percentage at 82.0 percent (201-of-245) and is one of just five players in program annals to shoot better than 82 percent from the line for her career.
