The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 11/13 Tennessee
No. 2 Women's Basketball preview: No. 11 Tennessee
12.08.2017 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns and Lady Vols meet at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday in Knoxville.
No. 2/4 Texas Longhorns (7-0) at No. 11/13 Tennessee Lady Vols (9-0)
Time: Sunday, December 10, 2017 | 2 p.m. CT
Location: Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678)
TV: ESPN2 (Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
Two of the most storied programs in NCAA Division I women's basketball meet Sunday in one of the longest-running rivalries in women's college basketball. No. 2 Texas travels to Knoxville to face No. 11 Tennessee at 2 p.m. CT in Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
They are two of the top-five winningest programs in the history of college basketball. The Lady Vols are the NCAA's all-time wins leader at 1,328 victories and the Longhorns rank fifth with 1,044 wins. Texas (7-0) and Tennessee (9-0) are two of 14 teams still currently undefeated in NCAA Division I women's basketball.
Texas is the national leader in both scoring offense and scoring margin through seven games this season. The Longhorns are averaging a nation-leading 93.0 points per game and defeating their opponents by +35.3 points per game. Texas also ranks eighth in the nation in assists per game at 20.9.
Texas has won the battle of the boards in all seven games this season and, dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, in 67 of 77 total games. The Longhorns rank fourth nationally in rebound margin at +15.4.
Texas is 182-235 (.436) all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top-25, including a 7-7 mark last season. The Longhorns are 21-31 against ranked foes under head coach Karen Aston.
"We always look forward to going to Knoxville," Aston said. "It's a game that, if you've kept up with Texas women's basketball, you know that this is a traditional game that's on the calendar. It's usually circled by the players. They're very, very good in transition. I'm super impressed with the way they're sharing the ball and the way they're scoring the ball, so I'm concerned. I'm concerned at how we'll react to that but, at this point, we're all looking forward to challenges. As I told the team, any time you go on someone's court like Tennessee, you're probably going to get exposed in some manner. At this point, you almost look forward to being exposed in some areas, so that you know right before conference play what it is that you have to get better at."
Texas is led by senior guards Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty, who each are averaging 13.4 points per game. Atkins leads the Big 12 Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.3 and is second in three-point percentage at .600. She ranks third in the league in steals at 2.6 and field-goal percentage (.655). McCarty is fourth in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.5. She is fifth in the league in steals per game (2.3) and sixth in assists per game (5.0) and three-pointers per game (2.1).
Junior guard Lashann Higgs adds 11.9 points per game, while junior center Jatarie White follows with 11.4 points per game. Senior forward Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau is the team's leading rebounder at 5.9 boards per game.
Texas and Tennessee meet for the 39th time in the history of the two programs with the Lady Vols leading the all-time series 23-15. This is the 36th consecutive season that the two teams will face one another. Tennessee holds an 11-6 advantage when the game is played in Knoxville. Texas has won three consecutive in the series.
The Lady Vols enter Sunday's game with a 9-0 overall record and are coming off a 131-69 win against Troy on Wednesday evening. Tennessee ranks second in the nation in rebounds per game with 50.11. The Lady Vols are seventh nationally in scoring offense at 89.4 points per game and fourth in the nation in scoring margin at +29.9.
Senior center Mercedes Russell averages a squad-best 17.4 points per game and contributes 8.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 68.8 percent from the field, which ranks third nationally. Senior guard/forward Jaime Nared follows with 17.0 points per game and a team-high 8.9 rebounds 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 1,044 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 121-55 (.688) 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.
- Texas and Tennessee are two of 14 NCAA Division I women's basketball teams still undefeated.
- Through seven games this season, Texas leads the nation in both scoring offense (93.0 ppg) and scoring margin (+35.3). Texas has scored 90 or more points in four of their seven games this season.
- As a team, Texas ranks ninth in the nation in field-goal percentage with a 49.9 percent clip. The Longhorns are fourth nationally in rebound margin (+15.4) and fifth in the nation in assists per game (22.0).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 196 career three-pointers made, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. McCarty needs four more treys 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 40.8 percent (196-of-480) 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 81.8 percent clip (207-of-253).
- Atkins leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.3 with 30 assists and nine turnovers.
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 67 of 77 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in all seven games this season.
PRE-GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Karen Aston
"We always look forward to going to Knoxville. It's a game that, if you've kept up with Texas women's basketball, you know that this is a traditional game that's on the calendar. It's usually circled by the players. This year is a little bit different in the sense that it feels like the rivalry has come back a little bit. Our team is fired up to play them. They are very good. They are a much-improved team from top to bottom. They have players who look like they've really bought into roles. It's looks like they're really serious about defense and rebounding and things that I think Tennessee has always been known for. It will be a big challenge for us on Sunday."
On if the annual game against Tennessee is always a good barometer for Texas …
"I think we do. Any time that you play Tennessee, it is definitely a gauge of where your team is competitively because your team is going to always be competitive. There's certain things that they've traditionally always done – rebound, play defense, they usually have really good guard play. So those are things you get used to when you play them and you know that if you're not tough, you're probably going to get run out of the gym. Different years, it's always been different scenarios, but this year I think is really a great opportunity for both teams to lace them up and really get after each other and have some fun competing."
On if the current players know of the dominance of Tennessee women's basketball in the 1990s and 2000s …
"We have players that are playing the game probably because of the impact that players like Tamika Catchings had on them. I know she's a huge role model of Ariel's [Atkins]. And, quite honestly, Pat [Summitt] was a big role model of mine. Just the tradition at Tennessee was always something that everybody was chasing."
On if this is the toughest test that Texas has faced this season …
"I think so. It's tough for us in a lot of areas. Going on the road last Sunday [at Georgia] was a big test for us because we hadn't been on somebody's home court. This is a bigger test. They're bringing back national championship teams. I think it will be a challenge for us to be in that environment, but once you get between the lines, that's actually a bigger challenge that they pose. They're very, very good in transition. I'm super impressed with the way they're sharing the ball and the way they're scoring the ball, so I'm concerned. I'm concerned at how we'll react to that but, at this point, we're all looking forward to challenges. As I told the team, any time you go on someone's court like Tennessee, you're probably going to get exposed in some manner. At this point, you almost look forward to being exposed in some areas, so that you know right before conference play what it is that you have to get better at."
On the challenges that Tennessee will pose defensively for Texas …
"I think they'll mix defenses on us. I think that's one thing that we haven't really seen a lot of. We've seen people have game plans but they've sort of stuck to those game plans. With Tennessee, they have depth, they have length and they have the ability to jump in and zone and make that zone look really tough. I think they can get in the passing lanes in a man-to-man. They've shown that they can press. So they're going to give us multiple looks. I think they have a lot of size. We haven't seen as much size as this across the board."
On the differences she sees in this year's team vs. last year's team …
"When I watch film, the eye in the sky doesn't lie, they say. So when I look back at our games, I think the one thing that I look at is our starting five. And then we're starting to get two, three, maybe four off the bench that are serious about what they're doing. There's a job to do and the players that are playing at a high level are doing their jobs and they're taking it pretty seriously. When I look back at film, we look like a team that's pretty serious about what we're doing and not a lot of joking around. They're pretty serious about getting the game plan accomplished, so I think it speaks for maturity – a little bit more maturity than last year. I think that bodes well down the stretch as you get into conference play and things get really tough when you're on the road. You have to have a mature team."
On the key to Texas' fast starts in games …
"We try to somewhat simulate games in practice. I do the best that I can and our coaching staff does the best we can to make practice tough and play at a high speed in practice so that the games seem natural and you're not having to flip a switch to play in a game. I value practice a lot. I thought our practice prep was very good before the Georgia game. There were times that I kind of took a deep breath and said 'Okay, I think we're ready to play this game.' We were. The key for us is continuing the intensity throughout the 40 minutes. We've not shown to be able to do that yet, although it's early in the year. When you look at other teams on film, that's sort of the going theme – just consistency throughout the game. That's just getting in game shape and game reps. I definitely think Tennessee will be a different beast. It's pretty staggering how they've outscored people in the first quarter, so it will, I guess, be a boxing match in the first quarter to see who wins that contest."
On the team's practices this week …
"We've had a couple of days off this week. It's a really tough week academically for our players, so it was an opportunity for us to let them breathe for a minute and focus on academics. Having said that, typically when that happens, their minds are a little exhausted and that leads to sloppy practices, which I thought we had a few of. Today will be a good day for us. I think they know what's ahead of them. We have today and tomorrow before we have to play on Sunday, so we'll be ready."
Senior Guard Ariel Atkins
On what first comes to mind when she thinks about Tennessee …
"Tradition, Pat Summitt and Tamika Catchings, my favorite player."
On the Texas vs. Tennessee rivalry …
"We've played them every year that I've been here and it's fun to play a team that you know is always going to compete and is always going to be a challenge. I just love playing against Tennessee. It's Pat Summitt's place."
On the challenges that Tennessee presents for Texas …
"Definitely rebounding and athleticism. They have very good guard play. They have a 6-foot-5 post player in Mercedes Russell. I think they present a lot of challenges for us, but I would say the most important one would be rebounding."
On Tennessee being a good test for the Longhorns …
"They're really good and it will be a really good test for us to have, especially early in the year. I think it's about time for us to really get down to it and understand what it means to play in such a different environment. I think Tennessee's basketball environment is just really different, so it will be good to get our young players in that environment."
On her earliest memory of Tennessee basketball …
"When I started watching and playing basketball, my earliest memory was Candice Parker. She was just an absolute beast and monster."
On her excitement for Sunday's game …
"I'm really excited. Every game is exciting – it's my last year, so I look at every one as a challenge and competition, and I take it head on."
