The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Louisiana Tech
No. 2 Women's Basketball preview: Louisiana Tech
11.29.2017 | Women's Basketball
Texas celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Erwin Center Thursday at 7 p.m. vs. Lady Techsters.
No. 2/4 Texas Longhorns (5-0) vs. Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (4-2)
Time: Thursday, November 30, 2017 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: Longhorn Network (Alex Loeb, Nell Fortner)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
Two of the nation's most storied programs meet on Thursday when No. 2 Texas plays host to Louisiana Tech. Tip-off at the Frank Erwin Center is slated for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by Longhorn Network.
The Frank Erwin Center celebrates its 40th anniversary on Thursday. Festivities include 70s inspired music from house DJ, Deejay Honeycomb, a tribute performance from Texas Pom, a special halftime presentation by women's basketball Texas Exes and complimentary birthday cake for fans. In addition, admission is free for UT students.
This is a meeting of two of the winningest programs in the history of NCAA Division I women's basketball, as Louisiana Tech ranks second all-time with 1,095 wins, while Texas is fifth with 1,042 all-time victories.
The Longhorns (5-0) are coming off a successful weekend at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev., where it earned victories against LSU (75-66) and Washington (92-68). Junior center Jatarie White averaged 19.0 points per game on 76.2 percent shooting with 6.0 rebounds per game. After tying her career high with 14 points against LSU last Friday, she smashed her previous personal best with 24 points against Washington. White and senior point guard Brooke McCarty each were named to the South Point Shootout All-Tournament Team.
Texas ranks first in the nation this season in scoring offense, averaging 96.4 points per game. The Longhorns have scored 90 or more points in four of their five games this year, including reaching 100 points on a pair of occasions. Texas also ranks second nationally in scoring margin, defeating opponents by a +37.0 edge.
Senior guard Ariel Atkins leads the way for the Longhorns, averaging 13.8 points per game and ranks second in the nation in field-goal percentage at 73 percent. She is shooting 80 percent from beyond the three-point arc and leads the team with 69 steals.
McCarty follows with 13.4 points per game and a squad-best 28 assists. She leads the team with 11 three-pointers this season and has 192 treys for her collegiate career. She needs two more three-pointers to surpass current Texas assistant coach Jamie Carey (193) for sole possession of fourth-place on the school's all-time career three-pointers made list.
White adds 12.6 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game, while junior guard Lashann Higgs contributes 11.6 points per game. Senior forward Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau is bringing down 5.6 rebounds per game.
"I'm really, really impressed with what [Louisiana Tech head coach] Brooke [Stoehr] is doing," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "She's taken a very storied program and, really very quickly, I think is getting them to buy into their culture and the way they do things, and very quickly getting them to play really, really hard. I am very impressed with their competitive nature, how they defend and the pressure that they put on you just because they push tempo and try to score."
Texas and Louisiana Tech meet for the 11th time in the history of the two programs with the Lady Techsters leading the all-time series 8-2. The two teams are meeting for the first time since March 20, 1993. Texas has not defeated Louisiana Tech since March 12, 1977. The Longhorns are 69-18 (.793) all-time against teams in the current alignment of Conference USA.
The Lady Techsters enter Thursday's game with a 4-2 overall record. Louisiana Tech also was at the South Point Shootout this past weekend, where it defeated Penn State 71-59 and fell to Niagara 73-67. Junior guard Kierra Anthony leads the way for the Lady Techsters, averaging 13.7 points per game, while senior forward Alexus Malone is bringing down a squad-best 8.7 rebounds per game.
The legendary former Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore coached his final game as Lousiana Tech's head coach in the Erwin Center on March 15, 2002 – an NCAA First Round loss to UC Santa Barbara (57-56). Current Louisiana Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr (then Brooke Lassiter) also played her final collegiate game in the Erwin Center (that same March 15, 2002 game). She finished her career as the NCAA's all-time career leader in free-throw percentage.
QUICK NOTES
- Texas women's basketball is in the midst of 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 1,042 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 119-55 (.684) 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. Aston's next victory will be her 120th at Texas.
- 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.
- Through five games this season, Texas leads the nation in scoring offense, averaging 96.4 points per game. The Longhorns have scored 90 or more points in four games this season.
- As a team, Texas ranks fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage with a 51.8 percent clip. Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks second nationally in field-goal percentage among individuals with a 73 percent clip from the floor. Junior center Jatarie White is 25th in the nation in field-goal percentage at 62.8 percent.
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 192 career three-pointers made, which ranks fifth all-time in program history. She needs two more three-pointers to surpass current Texas assistant coach Jamie Carey (193) for fourth place on the school's all-time career three-pointers made list.
- McCarty ranks second in program history in three-point percentage at 40.8 percent (192-of-471) and is one of just four players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kathleen Nash and Vicki Hall are the others) to shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc for her career. Carey is the school's all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 41.8 percent.
- Atkins ranks sixth in program history in free-throw percentage with a 81.3 percent clip (205-of-252).
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 65 of 75 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in all five games this season. The Longhorns rank ninth nationally in rebound margin with a +16.6 advantage.
