No. 25/25 Texas (15-5, 3-3) at No. 6/6 Baylor (18-1, 6-0)
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008 · 7 p.m. Central
Ferrell Center (capacity 10,284), Waco, Texas
GAME COVERAGE
TELEVISION: none
RADIO: KVET 1300 AM (Central Texas): Chad Hastings, play-by-play; Chris Plonsky, color; KRZI/ESPN 1660 AM Waco; KVCE 1160 AM Dallas (Baylor Radio)
GAME DAY INFORMATIION
In the National Rankings: Texas is ranked No. 25 in both the Associated Press Top 25 (media poll) and USA Today/ESPN (coaches poll) Top 25, up from "also receiving votes" last week in both polls ... Baylor is No. 6 in both polls
Texas Head Coach Gail Goestenkors (Saginaw Valley State '85): 16th year overall: 515 games: 411-104 (.798); first year at Texas: 15-5 (.750)
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey (Louisiana Tech ): 8th year overall as collegiate head coach (all games at Baylor):
SERIES INFO
All-Time Series Record: 72nd meeting - Texas leads the series, 52-19
Texas' Home/Away/Neutral Record vs. Baylor: 25-5 at home; 21-12 away; 6-2 at neutral sites
Series Win Streak: +4, Baylor
Last Year's Games: No. 13/11 Baylor 63, No. 24/24 Texas 59 (Jan. 24, 2007, Austin, Texas) ... No. 15/14 Baylor 71, Texas 56 (Feb. 18, 2007, Waco, Texas)
Goestenkors All-Time vs. Baylor: 0-0
Tonight's Teams
Texas brings a 15-5 overall record with a 3-3 mark in Big 12 action into tonight's game against No. 6 Baylor (18-1, 6-0 in the Big 12) ... Baylor sits atop the Big 12 standings with Kansas State (also 6-0), while Texas is sixth ... The Longhorns are ranked No. 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 weekly polls, returning to the Top 25 after a week's absence (the only week of the year that UT was not ranked) ... Texas is coming off two home wins last week - a 70-63 upset win over No. 13 Oklahoma State (Wed., Jan. 23) behind a game-high 19 points from sophomore guard Brittainey Raven, and a 67-37 victory over Missouri (Sunday, Jan. 26) as junior post Ashley Lindsey (14 points) and Raven (13 points) led the way ... This season, Texas is now 3-1 against Top 25 opponents.
Baylor has an 11-game win streak and stands 13-0 at home to date ... The Lady Bears only loss was at No. 5 Stanford, 87-63 on Dec 16 ... Last week, Baylor defeated Missouri (72-57, Jan. 23) and Nebraska (76-56, Jan. 26).
The Texas-Baylor Series
Texas and Baylor meet for the 72nd time in series play... UT leads the series, 52-19, but Baylor has won the last four meetings in the series ... The last win for Texas came during the 2004-05 season when #15 Texas upset #4 Baylor, 69-55 in Austin on Jan. 22, 2005 ... The significance of that win? That was the last loss for Baylor that season, as the 33-3 Lady Bears won their last 20 games en route to the NCAA title.
Last year, Baylor won both games... No. 13/11 Baylor won 63-59 over No. 24/24 Texas on Jan. 24 in Austin, and then won in Waco, 71-56 (Feb. 18) when Baylor was ranked 15th and UT was unranked.
In games in Waco, the Longhorns hold a 21-12 edge in play, but Baylor has earned wins in the last four years of games at the Ferrell Center ... The last Texas win in Waco was on Feb. 26, 2003 -- a 79-57 victory -- as UT went onto its Final Four run.
It's So Raven, Offensively
UT sophomore guard Brittainey Raven (16.1 ppg) has been in double-figure scoring all 20 games to date -- doubling her freshman year scoring totals when she hit 10-plus points 10 times in 32 games for 18-14 Texas .. She is averaging nearly 10 points a game more than she did as a freshman last year when she averaged 7.9 ppg ... Raven has been UT's leading scorer 11 times in 20 games, and is the only player to score 20-plus points -- she has done it three times.
In the NCAA Statistics
Tonight's game will feature two teams ranked among the nation's best in blocked shots, scoring margin, and field goal percentage defense.
Texas stands 16th among all NCAA Division I teams in scoring margin (+16.1), as UT scores 74.8 ppg and holds the opponent to 58.8 ppg ... Texas also is 18th in blocked shots per game (5.3 bpg), led by junior Ashley Lindsey's 58 ... Lindsey stands 10th among all Division I players in blocked shots average (2.9 bpg)... UT also is 20th in scoring (averaging 74.8 ppg) and 21st in field goal percentage defense (limiting opposition to 35.5 percent shooting accuracy).
Baylor is ranked in the top 10 in seven NCAA Division I team statistics, including: 2nd in won-loss percentage (.947); 4th in scoring margin (+23.5 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (limiting opposition to 33.8 shooting); 5th in blocks per game (6.7); 8th in rebound margin (+9.9); and 10th in scoring (77.0 ppg)... Individually, 6-3 sophomore post Danielle Wilson is eighth in blocks per game average (3.1).
Longhorn Stat Leaders
Sophomore guard Brittainey Raven has been in double-figure scoring all 20 games and carries a team-best 16.1 ppg average into the Baylor game ... She also is second in steals with 40 (2.0 spg), is second in assists (62, 3.1 apg) and third in rebounding (4.9 rpg).
Junior post Ashley Lindsey is second in scoring (11.3 ppg) and tied for first in rebounding (7.0 rpg) with freshman guard Kat Nash ... Lindsey also is first in blocks (58, 2.9 bpg), with that 2.9 bpg average ranking No. 10 nationally ... Lindsey has pulled down 10 or more rebounds four times in the last nine games ... Kat Nash is third in scoring (9.7 ppg), despite coming off the bench in 13 games and playing 27 minutes per contest... Nash is followed by redshirt sophomore point guard Carla Cortijo (9.2 ppg), senior guard Erneisha Bailey (8.0 ppg) and redshirt sophomore Earnesia Williams (7.9 ppg) in scoring.
Nash also is first in 3-pointers made (26) and tied for fifth in steals (20, 1.0 spg)... Cortijo is the club's assist leader with 101, dishing out 5.1 apg ... Cortijo is the club leader in steals as well with 41 (2.1 spg) ... She joins Williams and Nash as the team's best free throw shooters... Nash has nailed 82.7 percent of her free throws (43-52) ... Williams is hitting at an 81.8 percent clip in foul shooting (27-for-33), while Cortijo is at 77.5 percent (55-for-71).
Texas and Big 12 Numbers
Sophomore Brittainey Raven (14.8 ppg) and junior Ashley Lindsey (11.3) are the lone Longhorns averaging double-figure scoring in Big 12 play ...Raven is 12th in Big 12 league scoring ... Lindsey is second in blocked shots in Big 12 games with 20 (3.33), ranking behind junior Courtney Paris of Oklahoma (17, 3.40 bpg) ... Carla Cortijo is tied for third in conference assists (27, 4.50 apg) and is seventh in assist-turnover ratio (4.5 apg, 4.0 to's, 1.33) ... Senior Erneisha Bailey stands third in league steals (16, 2.67 spg), while freshman Kat Nash is sixth in 3-point percentage in league games (.429).
As a team, the Longhorns are first in two categories - steals (with 64), averaging 10.7 thefts per league game, and in turnover margin (+4.83, 15.5 to's/game to opponents' 20.3 to's/game) ... UT also is No. 4 among in conference scoring defense, limiting the opposition to 59.8 ppg; No. 4 in free throw pct. (.729); and tied for fourth in blocked shots (29, 4.83 bpg)...On the flip side, Texas ranks No. 8 in league scoring (62.2 ppg) and rebound margin (1-2) and 12th in field goal pct. (.353).
A Look At Baylor
Baylor is out-scoring the opposition by 23.5 ppg, averaging 77.0 ppg to the opponents' 53.5 ... In Big 12 play, the Lady Bears are out-scoring conference foes by 13.0 ppg (70.3 to 57.3 ppg) -- second best in the league to Kansas State's +14.2 scoring margin ... Overall, the Lady Bears are out-rebounding their foes by 9.9 rebounds per game; in Big 12 action, Baylor holds just a +2.2 edge in rebound margin, pulling down 40.5 boards per game to the opponents' 38.3 rpg.
All five of Baylor's starters averaging double-figure scoring ... Baylor is led by 5-7 senior guard Angela Tisdale (15.1 ppg), 6-1 junior forward Rachel Allison (13.8 ppg, team-high 7.8 rpg), 5-10 junior guard Jhasmin Player (12.7 ppg, team-high 68 assists), 6-3 sophomore post Danielle Wilson (11.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and 6-0 junior guard Jessica Morrow (11.1 ppg) ... Morrow is the top 3-point shooter, going 20-for-56 (.357) from long range ... Wilson averages 3.1 blocks per game.
In Big 12 statistics, the starting five again are averaging in double-figure scoring, led by Tisdale (15.5 ppg), Allison (13.5 ppg) and Player (12.7 ppg) ... Allison is the top rebounder in league play with 7.8 rpg and has 13 steals in six conference games ... As a team, Baylor ranks first in conference scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 ppg and second in field goal pct. defense (opponents shooting .370), in blocks (5.33 bpg) and second to Texas in turnover margin (+3.83, 14.3 to's to foes' 18.2).
Kat Nash Among Big 12 Rookie Bests
UT freshman guard Kat Nash is emerging as one of the Big 12's top rookie players ... The 6-2 Nash has been primarily used as UT's sixth man, coming off the bench 13 times and starting seven contests ... She is third in Texas overall scoring (9.7 ppg) and tied for the rebounding lead (7.0 rpg) with Ashley Lindsey .... Among all Big 12 players in conference stats, Nash is tied for third in free throw percentage, hitting 15 of 17 FT's (.882) through six league games .. She also is tied for sixth in league 3-point percentage ( .429, 9-21) ... Among all freshmen players in conference games, Nash has put up some of the best numbers of all Big 12 rookies ... She is second among all freshmen in conference rebounding (7.0 rpg), fourth in assists (1.5 apg), fifth in scoring (9.7 ppg), and seventh in 3-point percentage (.429).
Early RPI's for Big 12 and Texas
The Big 12 Conference stands No. 1 in conference RPI (ratings percentage index) through games of Jan. 29... The RPI ratings of Jeff Sagarin, College Basketball New (CBN) and collegerpi.com all have the Big 12 rated as the toughest conference ... Collegerpi.com has the Big 12, followed by the B ig East, ACC and Big 10, while Sagarin lists Big 12, Big East, ACC, Big Ten and SEC ... The Texas team RPIs are: 25th (Sagarin), 31st (CBN, collegerpi.com) and 39th (NCAA).
