Game #27: Texas (16-10, 5-7) at Baylor (22-4, 9-3)
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2007; 2 p.m. CT
Ferrell Center; Waco, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts
TV: CSTV, Tom Hart, play-by-play; Tammy Blackburn, color analyst
Radio: KVET 1300 AM- Texas; Baylor Radio - KLRK (92.9 FM)- Waco; KVCE 1160 AM- Dallas
Teams at A Glance
National Rankings: Texas is in the "also receiving votes" in the Associated Press Poll - not in the USA Today/ESPN Poll; Baylor is ranked No. 15 (AP) and No. 14 (USA Today/ESPN) this week
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 38th year overall: 1,201 games: 898-303 (.748); 31st year at Texas: 1,022 games: 781-241 (.764)
Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey: 7th year overall (all years at Baylor): 228 games: 179-49 (.785)
All-Time Series Record: 71st meeting: Texas leads the series, 52-18
Texas' Home/Away/Neutral Record vs. Baylor: 25-5 at home; 21-11 away; 6-2 at neutral sites
Series Win Streak: +3, Baylor
Last Meeting: No. 13/11 Baylor 63, No. 24/24 Texas 59 (Jan. 24, 2007, Austin, Texas)
Conradt All-Time vs. Baylor: 52-14
Today's Teams
Texas enters today's game with a 16-10 overall record and a 5-7 mark in Big 12 play, while Baylor stands 22-4 overall and 9-3 in the league ... Texas has lost three in a row, while Baylor carries a three-game win streak into the Big 12 contest... This is the second time that these two teams will meet this season, as then-No. 13/11 Baylor came away with a 63-59 victory over the No. 24 Longhorns in Austin on Jan. 24 ... Since that game, both Texas and Baylor have played six times, and Texas has gone 2-4 while Baylor is 5-1.
Texas had a string of five games in a 12-day period, ending with Monday's 78-58 loss at No. 12/9 Oklahoma... Baylor is coming off a 75-66 victory over Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State on Wednesday in Waco.
Horns' Roller Coaster Ride
The Longhorns are 5-5 on the year in games decided by five points or less... Texas is 3-5 in its last eight games, and 6-6 in its last 12... Three of those six wins, however, have come against Top 25 opponents - 64-61 over No. 10 Purdue (Jan. 7), a 64-45 win over No. 17/18 Texas A&M (64-45, Jan. 21) and the 67-62 win over No. 9/8 Oklahoma (Jan. 31)- all in Austin ... Texas is 3-5 against the Top 25 to date, and 2-2 against top 10-ranked squads.
Scouting Texas
Texas has one player averaging double-figure scoring - All-America candidate and 6-3 senior Tiffany Jackson (17.8 ppg)... Jackson also leads the squad in rebounding (8.9 rpg), blocks (33, 1.3 bpg), steals (68, 2.61), games in double-figure scoring (21), double-doubles (9) and minutes played (30.6 mpg) ... Redshirt freshman forward Earnesia Williams (8.8 ppg) and junior guard Erneisha Bailey (7.8) follow in scoring, and Bailey is second to Jackson in both rebounding (5.9 rpg) and steals (53, 2.03)... Redshirt freshman point guard Carla Cortijo chips in with 7.3 ppg and leads the team in assists, dishing out 4.4 per game.
Texas-Baylor Series
This will be the 71st meeting between these two schools, with Texas leading the play, 52-18... UT is 5-5 against the Lady Bears in the last four years ... Baylor has a three-game win streak in the series, and is coming off the Jan. 24th four-point win... Last year, on Jan. 7, No. 4 Baylor beat No. 23/24 Texas, 61-48 in Waco and then stopped the Longhorns on March 1 in Austin (72-64) when BU was ranked No. 10... That win was the first for Baylor in Austin since January of 2002, as the Longhorns had won the last four meetings on their Erwin Center home court...In all-time games against Baylor, Texas stands 25-5 at home, 21-11 in games at BU, and 6-2 at neutral sites against Baylor.
Last Texas-Baylor Game
Baylor senior forward Bernice Mosby netted a game-high 23 points, scoring 17 of those in the final half, and added a game-best 12 boards, to lift No. 13 Baylor over No. 24 Texas, 63-59 in Austin (Jan. 24) ... Baylor hit 64 percent of its' shots in the final half, going 14 for 22 from the floor, to overcome a 29-25 Texas lead at the break... Texas, which shot just 37 percent in the game, was led by junior guard Erneisha Bailey (16 points, seven rebounds) and freshman reserve guard Niqky Hughes (11 points).
The score was knotted nine times and there were 11 lead changes as well.
The last tie of the game was 48-48 with 7:51 to go. The difference in the final eight minutes was the play of Mosby, who netted seven points and had three rebounds in the waning minutes.. After the 48-48 tie, Texas got to within two points twice (50-48, 55-53), but each time, Baylor countered with a score on its next possession.
In the final 1:50 of play, Baylor held a 59-53 lead before a Hughes fastbreak layup cut the lead to four, 59-55 with 1:37 to go... Neither team scored for the next 1:15, as UT missed the front end of a one-and-one and Baylor missed a shot and had a turnover... Baylor iced the game, however, by hitting four free throws in the final 22 seconds of action... Junior guard Angela Tisdale sank two free throws with 22 seconds left to push the lead to 61-55... After a Texas missed 3-pointer, Bailey pulled down the offensive rebound and hit a short jumper to cut the gap to 61-57 with 13 seconds left.
Baylor turned the ball over on the inbounds play, but the Longhorns missed a jumper and freshman Latara Darrett was fouled on the rebound.. She went to the line and made both of her free throws with eight seconds left for a 63-57 edge... The final four-point margin came on a last-second layup by UT's Carla Cortijo.
Baylor shot 47 percent from the floor (25-for-53) and held the edge on the boards, out-rebounding Texas by a 41-30 margin.. Texas had 16 turnovers to Baylor's 22, and the Longhorns held a 23-13 edge in points off turnovers... Texas was 13-for-17 from the foul line, while BU was 10-for-15, including a nine-for-13 effort in the final half.
Texas in the Big 12 Stats
After 12 Big 12 league games, senior Tiffany Jackson has shown herself to be one of the most versatile players in the league... Jackson is first in leage steals (2.5 spg), third in defensive rebounds per game (6.58), No. 6 in rebounding (8.8 rpg), No. 6 in scoring (15.9 ppg), No.7 in minutes played (35.5 mpg),10th in blocks per game (17, 1.42 bpg) and 13th in assists (2.58 apg).
Redshirt freshman Carla Cortijo is second in Big 12 assist average (62, 5.17 apg), No. 4 in minutes played (36.9 mpg), No. 6 in assist/turnover ratio (1.32, 5.2 apg to 3.9 to's/game) and tied for sixth in steals (21, 1.75 spg) and No. 13 in FT pct. (25-34, .735) ... Among all Big 12 freshman, Cortijo is second in steals and fifth in rebounding among all rookies (4.2 rpg).
Junior shooting guard Erneisha Bailey, UT's top defender, is tied for No. 10 in league steals (20, 1.67 spg) and is No. 15 in FG pct. (.443).
As far as team statistics in the league, the 5-7 Longhorns rank in the top four in EIGHT different categories... The Longhorns are first in steals (117, 9.8/game), third in assist-turnover ratio (0.84, 13.8 assists, 16.4 to's/game), second in turnover margin with a +3.33 advantage, turning the ball over 16.4 times per game to the opposition's 19.8 ... Additionally, Texas is 2nd in scoring defense (allowing 60.8 ppg); 4th in blocked shots (4.5, 54), third in assists (13.8), 8th in 3-point percentage (.324, 33-102); 4th in rebound margin (+1.2, 39.5 to opponents' 38.3 rpg), 4th in defensive rebounding (25.8) and 5th in scoring margin (+1.0, 61.8 ppg to 60.8 ppg) and NO. 5 in offensive rebounds (13.2).
On the flip side, Texas is 6th in field goal pct. defense (opponents shooting .396), 7th in scoring (61.8 ppg), 8th in field goal pct. (.385), 9th in free throw pct. (.656), and 12th in 3-pointers per game (33, 2.75).
