No. 23/24 Texas (6-5, 0-1) at No. 4/4 Baylor (10-1, 0-1)
Saturday, Jan. 7, 2005: 3 p.m. (Central)
at the Ferrell Center (capacity 10,284), Waco, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts
TV: FSN (Kevin Eschenfelder, play-by-play; Brenda VanLengen, color analyst)
Radio: Texas: KVET Radio/Sports Radio 1300 (1300 AM), Austin; Baylor/ISP Sports Network
Teams at A Glance
National Rankings: Texas: #23, Associated Press; #24, USA Today/ESPN; Baylor: No. 4 in both polls
Last Year: Texas (22-9, NCAA 2nd Rd.); Baylor (33-3, NCAA champions)
All-Time Series Record: 68th meeting: UT leads, 52-15
Texas' Home/Away/Neutral Record vs. Baylor: 25-3 at home; 21-10 away; 6-2 at neutral sites
Series Streak: +1, Texas
Last Meeting: Jan. 22, 2005: #15/16 Texas 69, #3/5 Baylor 55 (at Austin, Texas)
Last Baylor victory: No. 3/No. 5 Baylor 63, No. 7/7 Texas 60 (Jan. 8, 2005 at Waco, Texas)
Texas Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 37th year overall: 1,158 games: 875-283 (.756); 30th year at Texas: 979 games: 758-221 (.774)
Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson: 6th year overall (all at BU): 180 games: 141-39 (.783)
Jody Conradt vs. Baylor: 52-12 (did not coach UT in the first 3 games vs. BU, all losses)
Quick Glance at the Teams
Texas, ranked No. 23 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 24 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll, brings its 6-5 mark into today's Big 12 Conference game against Baylor (10-1) ... Baylor is ranked No. 4 in both polls this week... This game pits last year's Big 12 regular season champion (Baylor) against last year's runnerup (UT) ... Both Texas and Baylor bring 0-1 Big 12 records into the game ... The Longhorns dropped a 70-61 decision to unranked Kansas (11-0) on Jan. 3 at KU, which ended UT's six-game win streak in the series ... The Horns are now 8-2 in all-time Big 12 openers, having won seven in a row until the loss at KU this week ... Baylor was upset by Missouri, 64-61 at Mizzou on Jan. 4 in a game which snapped its NCAA-best and school-record 30-game win streak ... Baylor does bring its 22-game home-court win streak into today's game ... The last Ferrell Center loss for the Lady Bears was on Feb. 8, 2004 to Texas Tech (62-59).
Conradt One Win Away From Tying Rupp for No. 3 in Wins
With ONE MORE WIN, Texas head coach Jody Conradt will tie the legendary Adolph Rupp for the No. 3 spot in all-time college basketball victories ... Conradt has 875 career wins, while Rupp has 876 ... With four more wins, Conradt will tie Dean Smith for No. 2 in all-time college wins.
UT Completes 3-Game Road Swing
Texas has hit the road for three straight nationally-televised road games against tough opponents - this ties UT's longest road swing of the year ... UT played at No. 9 Rutgers (Dec. 30) and at Kansas (Jan. 3) before playing in Waco today ... Texas is still looking for its FIRST AWAY GAME win this season... To date this year,Texas is 4-2 at home, 0-3 in away games and 2-0 at neutral sites.
Texas Has Never Started 0-2 in League Action
This is the 10th year of Big 12 Conference action ... Texas has NEVER started Big 12 play with a 0-2 mark ... Only twice have the Longhorns started Big 12 play with a loss (in 1997-98 to Oklahoma State at OSU, and this year) ... In fact, counting UT's play in the Southwest Conference from 1982-83 through the 1995-96 campaign, the Longhorns have NEVER started league play (either SWC or Big 12) with two losses.
Second-Toughest Schedule in Land
This week, according to the CollegeRPI.com, UT's schedule is rated the SECOND toughest in the nation while the Horns are ranked No. 11 overall in RPI ... Baylor stands No. 9 in the RPI, and its schedule is ranked as the 29th toughest in the land... Of this week's AP Top 25 teams, seven are on Texas' regular season schedule:- No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Duke, No. 4 Baylor, No. 7 UConn, No. 8 Rutgers, No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 21 New Mexico... In the CollegePRI.com, Tennessee (14-0) and North Carolina (13-0) rank one-two in the RPI, while the nations' toughest schedule belongs to Old Dominion.
Texas Stat Leaders
Versatile All-America 6-3 junior Tiffany Jackson leads the Longhorns in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg) and steals (29, 2.6 spg), is second in blocks (21, 1.9 bpg) and third in assists (18) ... Freshman Erika Arriaran (11.4 ppg) and senior Nina Norman (8.2) follow in scoring, with Arriaran first in UT assists (26, 2.4 apg), free throw percentage (.885, 23-26) and 3-pointers (16) ... Freshman 6-4 post Ashley Lindsey (7.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg) is the next healthy player in scoring with UT's freshman point guard Carla Cortijo (7.5 ppg) out with her knee injury ...Fifth and sixth in scoring are two more rookies - 6-4 post Ashley Lindsey (7.2 ppg) and 6-3 Aubry Cook (5.5 ppg) ... Lindsey is second in Longhorn rebounding with 5.6 boards per game and first in blocked shots (25, 2.3 bpg), ranking 21st nationally in that category ... Cook (64.9%) and Lindsey (54.1%) are UT's top field goal shooters, and the only ones shooting over .439 from the floor.
The Texas-Baylor Series
This will be the 68th meeting between these two schools, with Texas leading the play, 52-15... UT is 5-2 against the Lady Bears in the last three years ... Last season, Texas and Baylor split the series, with No. 3/5 Baylor nipping No. 7 Texas, 63-60 on Jan. 8 in Waco and then No. 15 Texas upsetting the No. 4/5 Lady Bears, 69-55 in Austin on Jan. 22 (see box score and recap in these notes)... In 2003-04, Texas went 2-1 against the Lady Bears ... In the last 11 games of the series, UT leads the series, 6-5 ... In all-time games against Baylor, Texas stands 25-3 at home, 21-10 in games at BU, and 6-2 at neutral sites against the Lady Bears. The two squads split their home-and-home series last year ... In a scheduling quirk, they played both games within a two-week period, with No. 3/No. 5 Baylor winning on Jan. 8th in Waco over No. 7/7 Texas (63-60), before the No. 15/16 Longhorns upset No. 3/5 Baylor, 69-55 in Austin.
Texas-Baylor Last Year
In the first game last year (at Waco), the BU frontcourt duo of junior Sophia Young (25 points and 15 rebounds) and senior Stephanie Blackmon (19 points, six rebounds) lead BU to the 63-60 win...The duo effectively shut down Longhorn All-America sophomore center Tiffany Jackson, who finished with nine points on just 3-of-13 shooting .. Jackson did not have a field goal after Texas' first possession of the second half... Baylor, which had 23 second-chance points, took a 61-58 lead on Chameka Scott's putback of her own miss before Texas cut it back to one behind two Jamie Carey free throws ...Baylor then committed two straight turnovers and gave Texas a chance to win, but Carey missed an open shot on the baseline and Jackson, swarmed by three defenders in the lane, turned the ball over on Texas' next possession and fouled Young...Young made both of her shots with 20 seconds left for the final margin, and Carey launched an off-balance 25-footer that bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
In the second game, the 69-55 UT win, UT junior point guard Nina Norman scored 17 points, including eight in a key two-minute stretch late in the second half ... Texas closed with a 15-2 run as the Lady Bears did not score a field goal over the final 7:48 ... Baylor outrebounded Texas 43-31 but committed 25 turnovers, including five in a row during the Longhorns' final run... It was a "must-win" for the Longhorns, who came in with a 2-4 mark in their last six games...Tiffany Jackson rebounded from her game two weeks prior by adding 18 points and eight rebounds for Texas ... Young had 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Blackmon had just three points and four boards this time.
Jackson Strong Versus Baylor
In her five appearances against Baylor, Tiffany Jackson, has collected 63 points and 27 rebounds for averages of 12.6 points and 5.4 boards per game ... She is 15-for-20 in FT's against the Lady Bears as well (75%).
Longhorn Record Watch
Senior guard Nina Norman has 364 all-time assists to stand No. 8 in all-time UT steals ... She is 39 away from the No. 7 spot, held by Angie Jo Ogletree (403, 1993-97)... Norman led the Longhorns in assists the last two years, dishing out a career-best 142 in 35 games (4.1 as a sophomore) and 98 (3.5 apg) in 28 contests last year. With 125 career blocks, Tiffany Jackson stands No. 6 in career rejections .. Jackson needs FOUR blocks to tie for the No. 5 position, held by Tracy Cook (129, 1999-2002) ... She is 25 blocked shots shy of the No. 4 position.
