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No. 6 Women's Basketball preview: Texas Tech
02.13.2018 | Women's Basketball
The Longhorns and the Lady Raiders meet for the 100th time on Wednesday.
No. 6/6 Texas Longhorns (20-4, 11-2 Big 12) vs. Texas Tech Lady Raiders (7-17, 1-12 Big 12)
Time: Wednesday, February 14, 2018 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Austin, Texas | Frank Erwin Center (16,540)
TV: Longhorn Network (Alex Loeb, Nell Fortner, Tyler Denning)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets
Pre-Game Media Availability Video: Karen Aston | Jordan Hosey
It will be an historic evening on Wednesday when the No. 6 Texas women's basketball team meets Texas Tech for the 100th time in the history of the two programs. Tip-off in the Frank Erwin Center is slated for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised by Longhorn Network.
The Longhorns (20-4, 11-2 Big 12) have met the Lady Raiders more times than any other opponent in program history and hold a 70-29 advantage in the all-time series. Texas has won the past nine meetings between the two teams, sweeping the season series in each of the last four years.
"It's a game that I, personally, always look forward to because I do understand the tradition of this rivalry," Texas head coach Karen Aston said. "It's always a game that I anticipate both teams feeling anxious about just because there are a lot of Texans typically on both teams. I expect it to be a competitive game."
At halftime of Wednesday's game, several mascots will compete in a mascot dodgeball game vs. selected kids on the court. After the game, fans are invited down to the court for postgame autographs. The UT Student Shuttle will begin running at 5:30 p.m. CT Wednesday. For more information, log on to www.texassports.com/studentshuttle.
Texas has reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth consecutive season and for the 35th time in the program's 44 seasons. The Longhorns averaged 25.5 wins per season over the last four years.
The program's four-year seniors Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty reached the 100th win of their time on the Forty Acres on Saturday in the Longhorns' 76-54 win against Kansas State in the Frank Erwin Center. Texas has a 100-29 (.775) record since the first two first stepped on the court for the Longhorns at the beginning of the 2014-15 campaign.
Atkins leads the Longhorns in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game. She currently ranks second in the Big 12 Conference and 31st in the nation in steals per game at 2.75. Atkins ranks in the top-20 of nine different Big 12 statistical categories – including the impressive feat of points per game, rebounds per game, blocks per game, steals per game and assists per game. Atkins has scored in double figures 71 times in her Texas career, including 18 of 24 games this season.
McCarty enters Wednesday's game eight points away from breaking into the school's all-time top-20 in career scoring. McCarty has 1,459 career points and is looking to surpass Nell Fortner, who scored 1,466 points in her career from 1977-81. McCarty also has 217 career three-pointers and needs four more to surpass Chassidy Fussell (220 career three-pointers) for third-place on the school's all-time career three-pointers made list. McCarty leads the Big 12 Conference and ranks 37th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.49. She is her team's assists leader at 4.7 assists per game and ranks third in scoring with 13.2 points per game.
Junior center Jatarie White leads her team and ranks 15th in the Big 12 Conference in rebounding at 6.0 boards per game. White also adds 10.6 points per game.
Texas is the nation's No. 2 team in rebounding margin with a +12.5 edge on the glass. The Longhorns also rank 10th nationally in rebounds per game with 43.96. Texas has won the battle of the boards in 22 of 24 games this season and, dating back to the start of the 2015-16 campaign, UT has held the edge on the glass in 82 of 94 total games.
The Lady Raiders enter Wednesday's game with a 7-17 overall record and a 1-12 mark in Big 12 Conference play. Texas Tech is coming off a 74-60 loss to West Virginia on Saturday in Lubbock.
Sophomore 6-foot-5 forward Brittany Brewer leads the way for Texas Tech, averaging a squad-best 10.1 points per game and also ranks seventh in the Big 12 Conference in blocked shots this season with 31 on the year. Senior center Jada Terry follows with 9.8 points per game and a squad-best 6.2 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 1,057 all-time victories.
- The Longhorns have made 30 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, which is fourth-most of any NCAA D-I Women's Basketball program.
- Texas head coach Karen Aston is 134-59 (.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 18 wins against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25. The Longhorns are 4-3 against AP Top-25 teams this season.
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 82 of 94 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in 22 of 24 games this season and ranks second nationally in rebound margin (+12.5). The Longhorns are averaging 43.96 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th nationally. Five Texas players are averaging better than 4.5 rebounds per game on the season.
- Texas ranks 18th nationally in scoring offense (81.8 ppg) and seventh in scoring margin (+19.8).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 217 career three-pointers made, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. She is one of only four players in school annals to make 200 or more career three-pointers. McCarty needs four more three-pointers to surpass Chassidy Fussell (220 career threes) for third place all-time.
- McCarty ranks fifth in program history in three-point percentage at 38.8 percent (217-of-559). Just three players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kathleen Nash and Vicki Hall) have shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc for their careers. Carey is the school's all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 41.8 percent.
- McCarty leads the Big 12 Conference and is 37th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.49.
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks fourth in program history in free-throw percentage with a 83.2 percent clip (257-of-309).
- Atkins ranks 31st nationally and second in the Big 12 in steals per game at 2.75.
- Atkins (110) and McCarty (128) have each played in more than 100 career games for the Longhorns.
- Junior guard Lashann Higgs ranks 29th nationally in field-goal percentage at 56.1 percent.
