The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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No. 7 Women's Basketball preview: TCU
01.09.2018 | Women's Basketball
The Longhorns and the Horned Frogs meet at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday in Fort Worth.
No. 7/8 Texas Longhorns (13-1, 4-0 Big 12) at TCU Horned Frogs (10-5, 1-3 Big 12)
Time: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 | 8 p.m. CT
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Schollmaier Arena (6,800)
TV: Fox Sports Southwest Plus (Chuck LaMendola, Janice Dziuk)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Roger Wallace, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | Live Stats | Live Audio
No. 7 Texas Women's Basketball concludes its two-game road stretch on Wednesday when it travels to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU. Tip-off in Schollmaier Arena is slated for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast by Fox Sports Southwest Plus. The game is the second of four that will be played in an eight-day span by the Longhorns.
The Longhorns (13-1, 4-0 Big 12 Conference) are looking to start conference play 5-0 for the third consecutive season. Texas is coming off a 75-64 win against Kansas State on Sunday in Manhattan, Kan.
Junior guard Lashann Higgs is this week's Big 12 Player of the Week after averaging 28.0 points per game, shooting 74.1 percent (20-of-27) from the field, connecting on 80 percent (4-of-5) of her shots from beyond the arc, and making 92.3 percent (12-of-13) of her free-throws. She led the team with 2.5 steals per game and added 2.0 assists per game and 2.5 rebounds per game in an average of 30.5 minutes per game.
Higgs currently ranks 15th in the nation in field-goal percentage at 60.0 percent. In conference games only this season, she is averaging a staggering 22.0 points per game, shooting 68.9 percent from the field and 90.9 percent from the free-throw line. She also has a team-high 10 steals in league play with a squad-best six made three-pointers.
On the season, Higgs leads the way for the Longhorns, averaging 14.7 points per game. Senior point guard Brooke McCarty follows with 14.2 points per game and a squad-best 4.8 assists per game. McCarty is the Big 12 Conference leader in free-throw percentage at 92.9 percent, while ranking third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.3. Senior guard Ariel Atkins, who played in her 100th career game for Texas on Sunday, adds 13.4 points per game and has a squad-best 36 steals on the year.
Junior center Jatarie White, who has scored in double figures in eight consecutive games, is the team's leading rebounder with 6.1 boards per game and contributes 11.2 points per game. Senior forward Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau, who posted her first career double-double on Sunday, brings down 5.0 rebounds per game and is scoring 5.2 points per game.
Texas is the nation's No. 2 team in rebounding margin with a +14.3 edge on the glass. The Longhorns also rank seventh nationally in rebounds per game with 45.71. Texas has won the battle of the boards in 13 of 14 games this season and, dating back to the start of the 2015-16 campaign, UT has held the edge on the glass in 73 of 84 total games. Texas ranks 10th nationally in scoring offense (86.2 ppg) and ninth in scoring margin (+23.3).
Texas and TCU meet for the 43rd time in the history of the two programs. The Longhorns lead the all-time series 40-2. The Longhorns, who have won six consecutive meetings, are 19-2 all-time against the Frogs when the game is played in Fort Worth.
The Horned Frogs enter Wednesday's game with a 10-5 overall record and a 1-3 tally in Big 12 Conference play. TCU is coming off a 93-72 win against Texas Tech on Sunday. TCU ranks ninth in the nation in assists per game at 19.7 and 11th nationally in free-throw percentage at 77.7 percent.
TCU is led by junior forward Amy Okonkwo, who averages a squad-best 17.1 points per game and adds 6.0 rebounds per game. Junior center Jordan Moore follows with 14.3 points per game and is her team's leading rebounder at 7.3 boards 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 1,050 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 127-56 (.694) 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 17 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 73 of 84 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in 13 of 14 games this season and ranks second nationally in rebound margin (+14.3). The Longhorns are averaging 45.71 rebounds per game, which ranks seventh nationally.
- Texas ranks 10th nationally in scoring offense (86.2 ppg) and ninth in scoring margin (+23.3).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 202 career three-pointers made, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. She is one of only four players in school annals to accomplish that milestone. McCarty needs 20 more three-pointers to surpass Chassidy Fussell (220 career threes) for third place all-time.
- McCarty ranks fourth in program history in three-point percentage at 39.8 percent (202-of-507). Just four players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kathleen Nash and Vicki Hall) have shot 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.
- McCarty leads the Big 12 Conference in free-throw percentage at 92.9 percent (26-of-28).
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks fourth in program history in free-throw percentage with a 82.7 percent clip (224-of-271).
- Atkins played in her 100th career game in a Texas uniform in the Longhorns' last outing at Kansas State.
- Junior guard Lashann Higgs ranks 15th nationally in field-goal percentage at 60.0 percent.
