The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
No. 17/17 N.C. State
No. 14 Women's Basketball preview: No. 17 N.C. State [March 19, 2017]
03.18.2017 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns and Wolfpack vie for the opportunity to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16.
No. 14/15 Texas Longhorns (24-8, 15-3 Big 12) vs. No. 17/17 N.C. State Wolfpack (23-8, 12-4 ACC)
Time: Sunday, March 19, 2017 | 1:30 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: ESPN2 (Roy Philpott, Brooke Weisbrod)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Roger Wallace, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 14/15 University of Texas women's basketball team vies for the opportunity to advance to its third consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 on Sunday when it plays host to No. 17/17 N.C. State. Tip-off in the Frank Erwin Center is slated for 1:30 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN2.
The Longhorns (24-8) advanced to the NCAA Second Round following a 78-50 victory against Central Arkansas in the first round. Junior point guard Brooke McCarty scored a game-high 15 points for Texas, while freshman guard/forward Joyner Holmes added 12 points and nine rebounds. Texas shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) and out-rebounded the Sugar Bears 55-23.
"N.C. State is just a really solid basketball team," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "As you start to get ready for an opponent, you try to figure out what are their weaknesses and how can you attack their weaknesses? How can you take away their strengths and those types of things? And the one thing that's striking about N.C. State is that I'm not sure they have a lot of weaknesses. They do things really solidly, really well."
Texas has advanced to the NCAA Second Round for the fourth consecutive year. The Longhorns are making their 30th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and are 39-28 (.582) all-time in NCAA play. Texas is 13-8 (.619) all-time in the NCAA round of 32 and the Longhorns are 5-4 all-time when playing as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas has won the rebound battle in 29 of 32 games this season. The Longhorns rank sixth nationally in rebound margin at +10.8. Texas is averaging 43.4 rebounds per game, which ranks among the top-15 nationally.
Over the past two seasons, Texas is 13-11 (.542) against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25, including a 6-6 (.500) mark this season.
McCarty this season became the program's first player to be named Big 12 Player of the Year. McCarty averages a squad-best 14.1 points per game, is shooting 43.3 percent from beyond the arc, has dished out a squad-best 113 assists and has a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. She has recorded double-figure scoring in 27 games this season, including in 16 of 18 Big 12 games.
Junior guard Ariel Atkins follows with 12.8 points per game and is the Big 12 Conference leader in steals per game at 2.1. Atkins was a first-team All-Big 12 selection. Holmes, the 2017 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, adds 11.9 points per game, a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game. She is first among league freshmen in scoring, rebounding and double-doubles (8).
Senior center Kelsey Lang, a 2017 Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, is second on the team in rebounding at 7.6 boards per game. She also averages a squad-best 2.2 blocks per game and contributes 9.3 points per game.
Texas and N.C. State meet for the seventh time in the history of the two programs. The Longhorns are 5-1 all-time vs. the Wolfpack and the two teams are meeting for the first time since Nov. 23, 2003. Texas is 20-13 (.606) all-time vs. teams in the current alignment of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
N.C. State (23-8) advanced to Sunday's NCAA Second Round with a 62-48 win against Auburn on Friday afternoon. The Wolfpack finished fourth in the ACC this season with a 12-4 league tally and head coach Wes Moore was selected as the 2017 ACC Coach of the Year.
Senior guard Dominique Wilson leads N.C. State in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game, while fellow senior guard Miah Spencer adds 12.3 points per game. Junior forward Chelsea Nelson is bringing down a squad-best 6.2 rebounds per game.
QUICK NOTES
• Texas women's basketball is in the midst of its 43rd season of intercollegiate basketball.
• The Longhorns are making their 30th NCAA Tournament appearance, which is fourth-most of any program in NCAA D-I Women's Basketball history.
• 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 1,036 all-time victories.
• Texas head coach Karen Aston is 113-54 (.677) 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.
• The 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 won the rebound battle in 29 of its 32 games so far this season and holds a rebound margin of +10.8. The Longhorns rank sixth nationally in rebound margin.
• The Longhorns rank 11th nationally in blocked shots per game with 5.8 blocks per game.
• Over the past two seasons, Texas is 13-11 (.542) against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25, including a 6-6 (.500) mark this season.
• Senior center Kelsey Lang has played in 136 games in her UT career, which ranks fifth all-time in career games played for the Longhorns. She is the first player since 1983 to play in 136 or more games in her career.
• Lang recently became the 41st member of the school's all-time 1,000-point club and has 1,076 career points at UT.
• Lang currently ranks seventh in UT school history with 180 career blocks. She needs two more blocks to surpass Tiffany Jackson (181) for sixth-place on the school's all-time list.
• Junior guard Brooke McCarty has 178 career three-pointers made, which ranks seventh all-time in UT history. She needs two more three-pointers to surpass Kim Lummus (179) for sixth place on the school's all-time list.
• McCarty ranks tied for second in school history in three-point field goal percentage with a .404 clip (178-of-441). 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 1,124 career points, which ranks 32nd all-time.
• Junior guard Ariel Atkins is the Big 12 Conference leader (all games combined) in steals per game with 2.1. Atkins also has 948 career points and is 52 points away from 1,000 for her Texas career.
