The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 9/9 West Virginia
No. 8 Women's Basketball preview: No. 9 West Virginia
12.29.2017 | Women's Basketball
Texas hosts undefeated West Virginia at 3:30 p.m. CT on New Year's Eve.
No. 8/8 Texas Longhorns (10-1, 1-0 Big 12) vs. No. 9/9 West Virginia Mountaineers (13-0, 1-0 Big 12)
Time: Sunday, December 31, 2017 | 3:30 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: Fox Sports Net (Ron Thulin, Dan Hughes)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
It's a top-10 matchup on New Year's Eve at the Frank Erwin Center as No. 8 Texas plays host to No. 9 West Virginia. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised by Fox Sports Net. The Mountaineers are the first Associated Press Top-10 team that the Longhorns will face this season.
Texas is 3-0 all-time in games played on New Year's Eve. The last time the Longhorns played a New Year's Eve game was Dec. 31, 1994, an 82-68 win against Alcorn State.
Texas is 15-6 (.714) all-time in Big 12 Conference home openers. Texas has won four consecutive Big 12 home openers, including a 67-47 victory against Texas Tech last season on December 29, 2016.
The first 1,000 fans to Sunday's game that visit the display at Section 38 will get a free pair of 2018 New Year's Eve LED Longhorn glasses. Halftime will feature Hook 'Em's Baby Race with eight sets of Longhorn parents and their infants racing to the finish line. After the game, fans are invited to the Lone Star Room for a postgame Fast Break with Texas players and coaches.
The Longhorns are coming off an 88-78 win at Oklahoma on Thursday evening, marking Texas' first victory in Norman since February 3, 2010. Junior guard Lashann Higgs scored a career-high 25 points to lead the way for the Longhorns.
Texas has won the battle of the boards in 10 of 11 games this season and, dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, UT has held the edge on the glass in 70 of 81 total games. The Longhorns rank fourth nationally in rebound margin (+13.1) and 12th nationally in rebounds per game (45.5). Offensively, Texas ranks eighth nationally in scoring offense (88.1 points per game) and 10th in scoring margin (+26.3).
Senior guard Ariel Atkins averages a squad-best 14.5 points per game. She ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in steals per game (2.7) and three-point field-goal percentage (.531). She is among top-15 players in the Big 12 in nine different major statistical categories.
Senior guard Brooke McCarty, who looks to start her 95th career game on Sunday, follows with 13.8 points per game and a squad-best 4.7 assists per game. McCarty ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with a .909 free-throw percentage this season and ranks sixth in both assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4).
Higgs adds 13.0 points per game with 16 steals, while junior center Jatarie White contributes 11.5 points per game and a squad-best 5.8 rebounds per game. Senior forward Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau is recording 5.7 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Texas and West Virginia meet for the 15th time in the history of the two programs with the Longhorns leading the all-time series 8-6. The two teams first met on March 17, 2012, an NCAA Tournament first round game that West Virginia won 68-55. Texas had won five consecutive meetings against the Mountaineers before West Virginia claimed a 62-59 decision in last season's Big 12 Tournament semifinals, en route to claiming its first-ever Big 12 Tournament Championship.
The Mountaineers enter Sunday's game with a 13-0 record and are one of just six teams nationally remaining with an undefeated record. West Virginia is coming off an 87-82 win against TCU on Thursday evening in Fort Worth.
Senior forward Teana Muldrow leads the way for the Mountaineers, averaging 21.9 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game. She is the nation's 11th-leading scorer. Muldrow has seven double-doubles on the year, which leads the Big 12 and ranks 14th nationally. Junior guard Naomi Davenport follows with 16.2 points per game and junior guard Katrina Pardee adds 14.8 points per game.
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 1,047 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 124-56 (.689) 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.
- Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Texas has earned 15 wins against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25.
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 70 of 81 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in 10 of 11 games this season and ranks fourth nationally in rebound margin (+13.1).
- Texas ranks eighth nationally in scoring offense (88.1 ppg) and 10th in scoring margin (+26.3).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 199 career three-pointers made, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. McCarty needs one more trey to become just the fourth player in program history to make 200 or more shots from beyond the arc.
- McCarty ranks second in program history in three-point percentage at 40.4 percent (199-of-493) 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.
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks fifth in program history in free-throw percentage with a 82.5 percent clip (222-of-269).
- Atkins ranks 28th nationally in field-goal percentage with a 59.0 percent clip.
- Atkins has played in 97 career games in a Texas uniform. She and McCarty (115 games) are the active career leaders in games played.
TEXAS IN BIG 12 CONFERENCE HOME OPENERS
Date – Opponent - Result
01/07/97 - Oklahoma - W, 87-69
01/07/98 - Oklahoma - W, 78-44
01/02/99 - Colorado - W, 83-65
01/05/00 - Kansas State - W, 80-58
01/03/01 - Texas A&M - W, 62-49
01/09/02 - Iowa State - W, 66-65
01/08/03 - Oklahoma State - W, 77-44
01/10/04 - Oklahoma - W, 63-58
01/05/05 - Kansas - W, 66-51
01/11/06 - Iowa State - W, 80-50
01/03/07 - Nebraska - L, 75-79
01/13/08 - Kansas State - L, 74-77 (OT)
01/14/09 - Nebraska - W, 74-60
01/09/10 - Texas A&M - L, 70-91
01/12/11 - Baylor - L, 72-87
01/04/12 - Kansas - L, 67-72
01/05/13 - Oklahoma - L, 70-78
01/05/14 - Kansas State - W, 67-53
01/03/15 - Kansas - W, 60-46
01/02/16 - Texas Tech - W, 86-62
12/29/16 - Texas Tech - W, 67-47
TEXAS ON NEW YEAR'S EVE
Date – Opponent - Result
12/31/85 - vs. Louisiana-Monroe - W, 70-65
12/31/88 - at Long Beach State - W, 87-83
12/31/94 - Alcorn State - W, 82-68
