Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
#10 seed Missouri (17-12) vs. #7 seed Texas (17-13)
FIRST ROUND: Tuesday, March 6, 2007 · 6 p.m. CT
Cox Convention Center · Oklahoma City, Okla.
Game Day Information & Quick Facts
TV: Cox Cable TV, Time Warner Cable Austin Ch. 77 (Bill Land, play-by-play; Brenda Van Lengen, color analyst)
Radio: KVET 1300 AM-Texas (joined in progress after the conclusion of the Texas Baseball game which starts at 4 p.m. CT); KFRU 1400 AM (Columbia, Mo.)
Teams at A Glance
National Rankings: Neither Texas or Missouri is ranked in the Associated Press or USA Today/ESPN Polls
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 38th year overall: 1,205 games: 899-306 (.746); 31st year at Texas: 1,026 games: 782-244 (.762)
Missouri Head Coach Cindy Stein (Illinois '84): 12th year overall: 359 games: 215-144 (.599); 9th year at Missouri: 258 games: 139-119 (.539)
All-Time Series Record: 15th meeting: Texas leads the series, 13-1
Texas' Home/Away/Neutral Record vs. Missouri: 8-0 at home; 5-1 away; 0-0 at neutral sites
Series Win Streak: +6, Texas
Last Meeting: No. 23 Texas 79, Missouri 77 (OT)- Jan. 10, 2007
Only Missouri Win: 68-52, Jan. 6, 2001 (at Columbia, Mo.)
Conradt All-Time vs. Missouri: 13-1
Big 12 Championship Quick Facts
Texas' All-Time Big 12 Championship Record: 21 games: 12-9 (.571)
Texas' All-Time Big 12 Championship Records vs. League Teams: 1-0 vs. Baylor; 1-1 vs. Colorado; 1-2 vs. Iowa State; 2-0 vs. Kansas; 0-2 vs. Kansas State; 0-0 vs. Missouri; 2-1 vs. Nebraska; 2-1 vs. Oklahoma; 0-0 vs. Oklahoma State; 1-1 vs. Texas A&M; 2-1 vs. Texas Tech
UT's Top Big 12 Tournament Finishes: 2003 Champions (3-0); 2004 & 2000 Runnerup (2-1); 1997 and 2005 Semifinals (1-1 both years)
Texas' Tournament Seedings: No. 1 (2003, 2004); No. 2 (1997, 2005); No. 4 (1999); No. 5 (2002); No. 6 (2000); No. 7 (1998, 2001, 2007); and No. 8 (2006)
Texas In Last Year's Big 12 Tourney: No. 8 seed ... Record: 0-1, lost to #9 Iowa State, 72-68 in 1st Rd.
Texas-Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament: first meeting
UT's All-Tournament Selections All-Time: 2005-Tiffany Jackson (So. F) ... 2004-Tiffany Jackson (Fr. F) ... 2003-Stacy Stephens (Jr. C)-MVP; Heather Schreiber (So. F) ... 2000-Edwina Brown (Sr. G) - MVP
Tonight's Teams
Texas (17-13) enters as the No. 7 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship and will meet No. 10 seed Missouri (17-12) in first round action ... Texas finished in a three-way tie for seventh in the league and earned the No. 7 seed via the tiebreaker, with Colorado gaining the No. 8 seed and Texas Tech the ninth seed.
Texas is 3-7 in its last 10 games, while Mizzou is 4-6 over its last 10-game stretch ... The Longhorns closed out Big 12 regular season play going 1-1 ... UT defeated Texas Tech 59-47 (Feb. 24) -- a win which snapped UT's five-game losing streak, the longest losing string in the program's 33-year history before dropping a 67-60 decision to No. 14/16 Texas A&M (Feb. 28).
This is the first time that Texas and Missouri will meet in Big 12 Championship tourney play ... In all-time play, Texas leads the series, 13-1 and has a six-game win streak against the Tigers.
Texas on the Road This Season
The Longhorns stand 4-8 away from Austin this season, going 3-8 in away games and 1-0 at a neutral site ... In Big 12 action, Texas was 2-6 in away games.
Texas vs. the Top 25 This Year
The winner of the Texas-Missouri game will advance to the quarterfinals and face No. 2 seed Oklahoma, ranked No. 12 (AP) and No. 11 (USA Today/ESPN) last week ... Texas is 3-7 against the Top 25 to date, with all three victories coming in Austin over No. 10 Purdue (64-61, Jan. 7), over No. 17/18 Texas A&M (64-45, Jan. 21) and over No 9/8 Oklahoma (67-62, Jan. 31) ... Texas lost its last three games against Top 25 opponents.
Big 12 Honors for Longhorns
Four Longhorns earned post-season 2006-07 Big 12 honors, with All-America candidate and 6-3 senior forward Tiffany Jackson earning First Team All-Big 12 honors for the third consecutive year ... Erneisha Bailey, 5-9 junior guard, was named to the five-member Big 12 All-Defensive Team ... Redshirt freshman Carla Cortijo, a 5-7 point guard, was selected to the five-member All-Big 12 Rookie Team
Conradt Closes in on 900 -- at 899 Victories Entering Tourney
Already the No. 2 all-time winningest college basketball coach in history (for men's OR women's basketball), Texas head coach Jody Conradt needs ONE more victory to join the illustrious 900-victory plateau ... Only one collegiate hoops coach has registered 900-plus wins- Tennessee's Pat Summitt (with 940).
Texas Stat Leaders
All-America candidate and 6-3 senior F Tiffany Jackson continues as Texas' scoring (17.0 ppg), rebounding (8.9 rpg), blocks (37, 1.2) and steals (75, 2.5) leader ... UT's second-leading scorer is redshirt freshman F Earnesia Williams (9.4 ppg) ... Williams is followed by freshman G Brittainey Raven (7.7 ppg) and two players averaging 7.2 ppg: junior G Erneisha Bailey and freshman PG Carla Cortijo ... Big 12 All-Freshman Team pick Cortijo leads the way in assists (with 137) for a 4.9 apg average ... Bailey is second in rebounding (5.4), followed by Cortijo (4.5) and Williams (4.2 rpg) ... The Longhorns are outscoring the opposition by +5.8 ppg (64.4 ppg to opponents' 58.6) and hold a +1.0 rebounds per game edge over their opponents (38.3 to 37.3 rpg).
Scouting Mizzou
The 17-13 Tigers are led by All-Big 12 6-3 forward EeTisha Riddle (16.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg), 5-11 senior forward Tiffany Brooks (13.4 ppg, team-high 51 steals), 6-0 sophomore guard Alyssa Hollins (11.7 ppg, team-high 60 3-pointers) and 6-1 senior forward Carlynn Savant (11.2 ppg, team-high 7.7 rpg) ... Hollins and Savant account for 67 percent of Missouri's 3-pointers to date (57 of 88), with Hollins going 33-for-71 (.465) and Savant 24-for-54 (.444).
Texas & Missouri in the NCAA Stats
The Longhorns as a team are ranked in the top 52 in three Division I stat categories -- 34th in blocks per game (4.7), 44th in scoring defense (allowing 58.6 ppg) and 52nd steals (10.4).
The Longhorns will not want to put the Tigers on the free throw line ... Mizzou is No. 5 nationally in free throw percentage, hitting at a 78.6 percent from the foul line (385-490) ... Missouri also is 28th in 3-point percentage (.357, 164-459) ... Individually, 6-1 senior Carlynn Savant ranks No. 2 nationally in free throw percentage, making 41.2 percent from the charity stripe (42-102), while 6-0 sophomore guard Alyssa Hollins is 31st in 3-point percentage (.387, 60-155).
Jackson on a Tear Against The Tigers
Tiffany Jackson, in four prior games against Mizzou, has collected 70 points, 32 rebounds and 14 steals, to average 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor (28-for-57).
In the 2004-05 win (71-52), Jackson had a game-high tying 22 points (10-15 in FG's) with a team-high seven boards and game-high four steals ... She matched that 22 point effort with her 22-point/8-rebound effort against Mizzou on Jan. 10 in the overtime win.
Texas' RPI, Strength of Schedule Numbers
In the RPI ratings as of March 4, the Longhorns ranked in the top 35 in the rankings, and the always-tough Texas schedule was rated from 8th-toughest in the nation (by CollegeRPI.com) to 23rd-toughest (Sagarin) ... UT's RPI were: 31st (NCAA), 35th (Sagarin and CollegeRPI.com).
Very Little Experience in Big 12 Tourney For the Longhorns
Of the 13 players on the Texas roster, only SIX have prior Big 12 tourney experience; and, of the six, only FOUR are healthy for this year's Phillips 66 Championship (senior forwards Tiffany Jackson and Katrina Robinson, junior guard Erneisha Bailey and sophomore forward Ashley Lindsey).
Jackson has played in six tourney games, averaging 18.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 37.5 minutes per contest ... Bailey has seen limited action in three tourney games (3.7 mpg), with 0.7 ppg and 1.0 rpg ... Robinson and Lindsey faced Iowa State last year, with Lindsey playing 19 minutes with two points and a rebound and Robinson playing seven minutes.
The Texas-Missouri Series
This is the 15th game in the series, led by Texas, 13-1 ... Texas has a six-game series win streak, with the closest game in the win streak the Longhorns' 79-77 overtime win in Columbia on Jan. 10 ... In the six-game win streak, UT's margin of victory has been +16.2 ppg -as UT has out-scored Mizzou in this span by a 445-348 margin (74.2 ppg 68-52 upset win over No. 13 Texas on Jan. 6, 2001 in Columbia, Missouri ... In games in Austin, Texas is 8-0 against Mizzou (4-0 in Austin as Big 12 opponents); in Columbia, the Horns are 5-1 (all as Big 12 opponents) ... They have not met on a neutral court until tonight.
In the 79-77 overtime win on Jan. 10, UT freshman forward Earnesia Williams made two free throws with 5 seconds left in overtime to give No. 23 Texas the win ... Williams forced OT when she grabbed her own rebound off a missed jumper with 3 seconds left in regulation and hit a jump shot to tie it at 71-71 ... Williams finished with 10 points and senior Tiffany Jackson scored 22 and added eight boards ... Texas also got 15 points from freshman Carla Cortijo and 12 from freshman Brittainey Raven ... Mizzou, hurt by 25 turnovers to UT's 16 TO's, was paced by senior C EeTisha Riddle with a double-double with game-highs of 31 points and 13 rebounds ... Senior F Tiffany Brooks added 22 points and sophomore G Alyssa Hollins scored 11 ... Texas shot 43.8 percent, Mizzou shot 48.3 percent.. The Tigers held a 36-33 edge in rebounding, went 7-for-18 from 3-point range and 12-15 in free throws ... UT was 4-9 in treys, 19-23 from the free throw line.
Williams Heating Up
UT 6-1 redshirt freshman forward Earnesia Williams has scored in double-figures in four of the last five games - including four straight prior to netting six points against Texas A&M in UT's last game ... In the last five games, Williams has collected 63 points and 25 rebounds to average 12.6 ppg and 5.0 rpg while shooting 9-for-12 from the free throw line ... Williams has been in double-digit scoring 11 times, second-best on the squad.
10 Games Decided by 5 or Less Points
One of the reasons for the rocky run to date: Ten of UT's 30 games have been decided by five points or less, and the Horns are 5-5 in those games overall ... And, seven of UT's 16 regular season league games were close, with UT 3-4 in Big 12 games decided by five points or less. Texas also is 1-1 in games decided by five-to-10 points ... The win? 69-59 over Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 13) ... The loss? 67-60 to No. 14 Texas A&M last time out.
Jackson, Cortijo Leaders in Big 12
Individually, All-Big 12 senior Tiffany Jackson finished as the league's steals leader for the third year in a row ... Jackson averaged 2.31 steals per game this conference season, following her league-high 3.3 spg as a sophomore in 2005 and 2.6 spg as a junior ... Once again, Jackson's versatility shone during league play, as she also finished third in defensive rebounding (6.3 rpg), fifth in rebounding (8.8 rpg), seventh in scoring (14.8 ppg) and tied for eighth in blocks (1.31) ... Redshirt freshman and All-Rookie Team pick Carla Cortijo finished first in assists (93) and second in league assist average (5.81 apg), just behind Iowa State's Lyndsey Medders' 6.14 apg ... Cortijo also was third in assist-turnover ratio (1.58, 5.81 apg to 3.7 to's/game), third in minutes played (36.8) and tied for fourth in conference steals (1.75) ... Junior guard Erneisha Bailey ranked No. 15 in field goal percentage (.435).
Frosh Strong Among Big 12 Rookies
In the final Big 12 freshman statistics, three Longhorns finished among the top 11 rookie scorers, with 6-1 Earnesia Williams standing fifth among all freshmen scorers with 9.4 ppg, 6-0 guard Brittainey Raven ninth (7.7) and point guard Carla Cortijo 11th (7.2 ppg)...In rookie steals, Cortijo was second (1.61) to OSU's Andrea Riley (2.04), with Raven fourth (1.33) and Williams seventh (1.11) ... In addition, Cortijo was sixth in freshman rebounding (4.5) and Williams seventh (4.2) ... In free throws, UT's fourth freshman -- 5-11 guard Gabriell Mattox -- was sixth, going 10-for-13 (.769) from the line, while Cortijo was 10th (49-66, .742).
Cortijo Dishin' It
UT's 5-7 redshirt freshman point guard Carla Cortijo dished out 28 assists in the last three games (vs. Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, No. 14 Texas A&M), dishing out 9.33 assists in this stretch ... In the three games, Cortijo also collected 21 points, 16 rebounds and six steals ... Cortijo had an impressive assist-turnover ratio in the three games, with 28 assists and only six turnovers (two per game), as she played 105 of a possible 120 minutes on the floor ... Against Oklahoma State (Feb. 21), Cortijo had 11 points, six rebounds and tied her then-career high with nine assists, playing all 40 minutes ... In a 59-47 win over Texas Tech (Feb. 24), Cortijo dished out a career-high 13 assists -- the most by a UT player since 2000 -- and just missed a double-double as she had a career-high nine rebounds to go with six points and two steals as well ... Against Texas A&M (Feb. 28), Cortijo had four points and a game-high six assists ... Cortijo is UT's assist leader with 137 (4.89 apg) while averaging 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
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