The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 6 Women's Basketball preview: Iowa State [Feb. 24, 2017]
02.23.2017 | Women's Basketball
It's Senior Night and the Longhorns are honoring Kelsey Lang and Brianna Taylor.
No. 6/10 Texas Longhorns (21-6, 14-2 Big 12) vs. Iowa State Cyclones (16-11, 7-9 Big 12)
Time: Friday, February 24, 2017 | 7:30 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: Longhorn Network (Alex Loeb, Fran Harris, Tyler Denning)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Chris Plonsky)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
AUSTIN, Texas – It's Senior Night at the Frank Erwin Center on Friday as No. 6/10 Texas plays host to Iowa State. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally by Longhorn Network.
Seniors Kelsey Lang and Brianna Taylor will be honored prior to the start of the game. Collectively, the two have helped lead the Longhorns to 98 victories, four 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including an NCAA Elite Eight finish last year. Also being recognized on Friday are four student support staff members who have made important contributions to the program: Emily Johnson, Juliana Jimenez, Helen Tau and Justin Walling. Fans are encouraged to arrive by 7 p.m. to view the Senior Night presentation.
"This is never a day that you look forward to when you have these two, or anyone like these two, who are nearing the ends of their careers," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "With Kelsey and Bre, the reflection just becomes, for me as a coach, the journey that we've had together at Texas. They were really our first recruiting class. They were the first ones who sort of bought into what we were trying to do here and the change of the basketball program, in general, and the culture. To see the progress they have made, not only as basketball players, but as student-athletes, has been really rewarding for me as a coach and I hope for them as players."
Longhorn Network will be airing a 30-minute Texas Gameday beginning at 7 p.m. CT. Texas Cheer and Pom will perform their annual Extravaganza routine at halftime. This performance combines competitive cheer and dance routines including tumbling set to a high-energy music mix. After the Cheer/Pom Extravaganza, there will be a six-minute performance by Red Panda.
The first 100 UT students in attendance inside Entrance E will receive an In-and-Out burger coupon. The UT student shuttle will run beginning 90 minutes prior to tipoff. Full info here: http://www.texassports.com/news/2017/1/11/student-orange-bloods-free-student-shuttle-available-for-remaining-mens-womens-basketball-games.aspx
The Longhorns (21-6, 14-2 Big 12 Conference) are looking to return to their winning ways following a pair of losses to No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 4 Baylor. Prior to those two losses, Texas had put together a 19-game winning streak, which, at the time, was the second-longest active win streak in the nation.
Texas is 30-3 (.909) within the Frank Erwin Center over the past two seasons. The Longhorns are 59-7 (.894) since the start of the 2013-14 season inside The Drum. Six of those seven losses came to opponents ranked in the top-six nationally.
Junior point guard Brooke McCarty leads the way for the Longhorns, ranking seventh in the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 14.6 points per game. She also ranks second in the league in three-point field-goal percentage (.446) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4). In conference games only, she is the league leader in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9. McCarty is the reigning Big 12 Conference Player of the Week.
Junior guard Ariel Atkins follows with 13.5 points per game, which ranks 14th in the Big 12 Conference. She also is second in the league in steals at 2.0. Freshman guard/forward Joyner Holmes follows with 12.2 points per game and ranks third in the Big 12 with 8.4 rebounds per game. She is first among Big 12 freshmen in both scoring and rebounding. Holmes has been named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week six times this season, including five consecutive weeks.
Lang is the team's second-leading rebounder at 8.0 boards per game and has blocked a squad-best 58 shots this season. Lang has played in 131 games at Texas and needs to see action in two more to move onto the school's all-time top-10 list for career games played.
Texas and Iowa State meet for the 32nd time in the history of the two programs. The Cyclones lead the all-time series between the two teams 17-14, but the Longhorns hold a 9-4 edge when the game is played in Austin. Texas defeated Iowa State 75-68 earlier this season on New Year's Day in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa State enters Friday's game with a 16-11 overall record and a 7-9 mark in Big 12 Conference play. The Cyclones have won three games in a row heading to Austin and are looking to win four consecutive Big 12 games for the first time since 2012-13. Iowa State ranks second in the nation in free-throw percentage at .801. Sophomore Bridget Carleton and senior Seanna Johnson rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 15.7 and 15.4 points per game. Carleton (.936) and junior Jadda Buckley (.884) are the conference's top-two free-throw shooters, and Carleton is the national leader at the charity stripe.
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 fifth all-time in NCAA history with 1,033 all-time victories.
• The Longhorns consistently play a rigorous non-conference schedule. The Longhorns' schedule this season consisted 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 110-52 (.679) in her fifth 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.
• Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Texas is 59-7 (.894) when playing in the Frank Erwin Center. The Longhorns are 30-3 (.909) at home over the past two seasons.
• This year's team set the UT school record for most consecutive Big 12 conference victories at 14.
• Texas has won the rebound battle in 25 of its 27 games so far this season and holds a rebound margin of +10.3. The Longhorns rank fifth nationally in rebound margin.
• The Longhorns rank 14th nationally in blocked shots per game with 5.8 blocks per game.
• Over the past two seasons, Texas is 12-11 (.522) against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25, including a 5-6 (.455) mark this season.
• Senior center Kelsey Lang has played in 131 games in her UT career. She needs to play in two more games to move into the all-time Texas top-10 list in career games played. She recently became the 41st member of the school's all-time 1,000-point club and has 1,039 career points at UT.
• Lang currently ranks seventh in UT school history with 169 career blocks.
• Junior guard Brooke McCarty has 170 career three-pointers made, which ranks seventh all-time in UT history.
• McCarty ranks second in school history in three-point field goal percentage with a .407 clip (170-of-418). Current Texas assistant Jamie Carey holds the school record in three-point field goal percentage at .418.
• McCarty eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau on Feb. 6 vs. Baylor and became the 42nd player in school history to do so. She has 1,068 career points.