The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tennessee
No. 23 Women's Basketball preview: Tennessee
12.11.2020 | Women's Basketball
Two of the top-six winningest programs in women's college basketball history renew their rivalry on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN
Women's Basketball Preview
#23 Texas [4-1] vs. Tennessee [3-1]
December 13, 2020
Where: Austin, Texas
Arena: Frank Erwin Center [16,540]
Time: 4 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN [Eric Frede, Deb Antonelli]
Video Stream: LINK
Radio: TexasSports.com [Roger Wallace, Kathy Harston] - LINK
Live Stats: LINK
All-Time Series: Tennessee leads 25-16
NOTES
• Just "Charge" It: The Longhorns defense is making taking charges an art form this season as Texas has now drawn 19 total charges through its first five games. Junior guard/forward Audrey Warren hasn't hesitated to step in front of any opponent, drawing a squad-best 10 of those charges.
• Big 12's Top Offense: Texas' defense has been wreaking havoc turnover-wise all season long, but its offense has also been humming along, currently leading the Big 12 Conference in both scoring offense (82.8 ppg) and scoring margin (+24.6). Four Longhorns players are averaging in double-figures through the opening five games of 2020-21: Charli Collier (25.0 ppg), Celeste Taylor (13.4 ppg), Audrey Warren (12.4) and Joanne Allen-Taylor (11.2 ppg).
• Storied Programs Collide: Texas and Tennessee, two of the top-six winningest programs in all of NCAA Division I women's basketball, will face off Sunday for the 42nd time. The Lady Vols lead the all-time series between the two programs, 25-16, and hold an 11-8 advantage over the Longhorns in Austin. Texas has won two of the last three meetings at the Erwin Center against Tennessee (won in 2014 & 2016, lost in 2018).
• Climbing the Poll: Despite going 1-1 last week, the pollsters rewarded Texas for its rout of Louisiana Tech and close loss to then-No. 12/13 Texas A&M by boosting the Longhorns up two spots in this week's Associated Press rankings to No. 23. The rating is UT's highest from the AP since coming in at No. 22 in the Nov. 11, 2019 release.
• Collier's in Charge: Preseason National Player of the Year candidate Charli Collier keeps putting up the stats, averaging 25.0 points-per-game to rank No. 15 in NCAA Division I and second in the Big 12 Conference. She has four 20+ point efforts in 2020-21 and also rates third in the NCAA in free throws made (38) & double-doubles (four), fourth in total points (125), fifth in total rebounds (59), sixth in FG's made (42) and 18th in rebounding average (11.8). Against North Texas, Collier scored a career-high 44 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, marking the first time a Big 12 player had scored 44 points and grabbed at least 15 boards in a game since at least 1999-2000. For her opening week efforts, she earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors (Nov. 30) for the second time in her career.
