2005 NCAA Championship First Round
No. 3 seed Texas (21-8) vs. No. 13 seed Oral Roberts (22-8)
Saturday, March 19, 2005: 11 a.m. (Central)
Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts
TV: ESPN2/ESPNU (Ron Franklin, play-by-play; Nancy Liberman, color analyst; Holly Rowe, sideline reporter)
Texas Radio: KVET Radio/1300 AM (Austin)
Teams at a Glance:
National Rankings: Texas: #13 AP; #11, USA Today/ESPN; Oral Roberts is not ranked
Texas Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 36th year overall: 1,145 games: 868-277 (.758); 29th year at Texas: 966 games: 751-215 (.777)
Oral Roberts Head Coach Jerry Finkbeiner (Southern Nazarene, 1980): 16th year overall: 493 games: 338-155 (.686); 9th year at Oral Roberts: 260 games: 139-121 (.535)
All-Time Series Record: 6th meeting: Texas leads series, 4-1
Texas' H/A/N Record vs. ORU: 2-0 at home; 1-0 away; 1-1 at neutral sites
Series Streak: +4, Texas
Last Meeting: Texas 75, ORU 56 (Feb. 28, 1996)
Quick Glance at the Teams:
Texas enters the NCAA Championships as a No. 3 seed and stands 21-8 overall ... In this week's Top 25 polls, UT is No. 13 in the AP poll and No. 11 in the USA Today/ESPN poll ...The Longhorns finished second in the Big 12 Conference regular season (at 13-3) ... Oral Roberts (unranked) is a No. 14 seed and is 22-8 overall ... ORU went 10-6 in the Mid-Continent Conference regular season play and then went on to win the post-season tourney ... Texas is tied for third with the most NCAA Tournament appearances ever (21) and making its seventh straight NCAA showing, while ORU is making its third appearance (1999, 2001, 2005) ... Texas received an at-large bid to the NCAA's after being the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and advancing to the semifinals, where the Horns lost to No. 4 seed Kansas State, 72-69 on March 10 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, MO ... Oral Roberts earned the Mid-Continent Conference's automatic berth to the NCAA's after winning the league tourney, defeating Missouri-Kansas City 48-42 in the finals on March 8 (in Tulsa, Okla.) ... In all-time NCAA Tournament games, the Longhorns are 30-19 (.612); Oral Roberts is 0-2.
Hot Horns:
The Longhorns are 8-1 in their last nine games, 12-2 in their last 14 contests ... UT had a season-best eight-game win streak prior to the Big 12 tourney semifinal loss to Kansas State.
Ms. Jackson, Ms. Versatility:
There may be no more versatile player nationally than Kodak All-America finalist, All-Big 12 First Team standout 6-3 sophomore Tiffany Jackson, who also is a finalist for all three 2005 National Player of the Year honors (State Farm Wade Trophy, Naismith, Wooden Awards) ... Jackson was only of only TWO Big 12 players (along with Baylor's Sophia Young) ranking in the top 10 in league scoring, rebounding and FG pct.) ... Jackson finished leage play No. 3 in league scoring (19.3 ppg), No. 3 in rebounding (9.1 ppg) and No. 2 in field goal pct. (.568) ... Jackson also was No. 1 in steals (47, 2.94 spg), No. 3 in blocks (30, 1.88 bpg), No. 4 in league defensive rebounds (6.06/game), tied for No. 4 in offense rebounds (3.0/game) and tied for third in league double-doubles (four) ... For the second year in a row, Jackson was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team - her two-game tourney totals: 24.5 ppg (49 points), second-best tourney scoring average ...19-for-37 in FG's (.514) ...17 boards (8.5 rpg)... tourney-high 11 steals (5.5 spg)... played all possible 80 minutes.
Texas Stat Leaders & Accolades
Texas sophomore Tiffany Jackson leads the club in overall scoring (18.1 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), blocks (57, 2.0) and steals (94,, 3.24 spg) ... Jackson also leads UT in double-figure scoring games (27) and double-doubles (9) ... Senior Jamie Carey (12.2 ppg), senior Heather Schreiber (10.4 ppg) and junior Nina Norman (7.5 ppg) follow in the scoring column ... This week, Carey is ranked No. 16 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (.425, 65-152) ... Norman leads the club in assists with 90 (3.5 apg) while Schreiber is second in rebounding (5.8 rpg) ... From the foul line, Schreiber (52-60, .867) and Carey (42-53, .792) lead the way... Schreiber is second in 3-pointers (41-114, .360) ... Carey and Schreiber have combined to score 106 of UT's 134 three-point field goals - or, 79 percent of them.
Texas All-Time in the NCAAs
Texas has registered a 30-19 record (61.2%) in all-time NCAA Tournament action ... Texas, Virginia and Penn State are tied for making the third most all-time NCAA appearances with 20 ... Texas' 13 NCAA Tournament showings since 1990 is tied for the third highest in the decade ... The Longhorns are making their seventh consecutive NCAA appearance, after a season's absence in 1998 when Texas had only its second losing season (at 12-15) in history ... With their great NCAA Tournament tradition, the Longhorns have earned one NCAA National Championship, going a perfect 34-0 in 1986 as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region to become the FIRST of THREE Division I women's basketball teams to go undefeated en route to the NCAA title ... Following Texas were Connecticut (35-0 in 1995) and Tennessee (39-0 in 1998). Texas also has made three Final Four showings (1986, 1987, 2003), seven "Elite Eight" appearances (1983, '84, '86, '87, '88, '89, '90) and three other Final 16 showing (1985, 2002, 2004) ... Again, Texas has been the No. 1 seed FIVE times (from 1985-88, 2004), the No. 2 seed four times (1983, `84, `89, 2003), the No. 3 seed four times (1990, `93, `97, 2005) and twice as the No. 4 seed (1992, 2002).
Texas Vs. This Year's Top 25
No team in the Big 12 has faced as many Top 25 opponents as the Longhorns have to date ... Texas is 5-7 against the Top 25 to date, defeating No. 21 Penn State, No. 1 Tennessee, No. 4/5 Baylor (Jan. 22), No. 13/12 Texas Tech (Feb. 13) and No. 18/18 Kansas State (Feb. 16), while losing at No. 5 Georgia, to No. 24 Rutgers at home, at No. 3 Baylor, at No. 13 Texas Tech, at No. 13 UConn, at No. 19 Iowa State, vs. No. 17 Kansas State (Mar. 10)...Against top-10 opponents, the Horns stand 2-2 ... At home against the Top 25, Texas was 4-1 and is 1-6 on the road against the Top 25. Last year, Texas went 12-5 against teams ranked in the Top 25 (going 7-2 against Big 12 ranked opponents) ... Against top 10 ranked teams, the Horns were 5-2.
Injury Update
Junior starting guard Nina Norman is expected to be back into the lineup this week after suffering an injury in the Feb. 26 game against Oklahoma and then fracturing her left pinkie finger (fifth metacarpal bone) in practice on March 8 ... Against OU, Norman was carried off the court on a stretcher and brought to the ER after Oklahoma's Chelsi Welch elbowed her in the head as the two scrambled for the ball midway through the first half ... All tests and x-rays were negative, and Norman returned to the Erwin Center at game's end ... She had a slight concussion and did not participate in the regular season finale against Texas A&M ... She then missed the two Big 12 tourney games with her fractured finger ... She is wearing a tape cast in practice this week.
On a Neutral Court this Year for Horns
The Big 12 tourney marked the first time that the Longhorns played on a neutral court this year ... Texas went 13-1 at home this year, 7-6 in away games and is 1-1 at a neutral site.
Success at Reunion Arena
Texas has enjoyed great success while playing at Reunion Arena in recent years ... Reunion Arena was the site for the 2003 and 2004 Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournaments ... UT clinched its first-ever Big 12 tourney title in 2003, going 3-0 in the tourney; Texas then was 2-1 last year, placing second in the tourney, for a combined record of 5-1 at Reunion the last three years ... Additionally, Texas enjoyed great success at Reunion when the old Southwest Conference Tournament (UT's former conference) held its tourneys there.
Texas-Oral Roberts Series
Texas and Oral Roberts have met five times, and Texas leads play, 4-1 and has a four-game win streak in the series ... These two teams last met in regular season play on Feb. 28, 1996 in Austin, with Texas winning, 75-56 ... The two teams have never met in NCAA Tournament play ... They did, however, meet twice in the 1970's (1978 and 1979) in AIAW regional tournament action, with Texas losing in 1978 (100-84) and winning in 1979 (77- 68) ... Against ORU, Texas is 2-0 in games played in Austin, 0-1 at Oral Roberts, and 1-1 at neutral sites.
Texas vs. the Mid-Continent
In all-time games against Mid-Continent Conference teams, the Longhorns are 6-1 ... UT is 4-1 vs. Oral Roberts, 1-0 vs. Centenary and 1-0 vs. UM-Kansas City.
Texas-Georgia Series
Texas and Georgia have met six times, and Georgia leads the series, 2-4 ... These two squad met in Texas' second game of the year this season - on November 21 in Athens, Ga., where the Lady Dogs came away with a 78-64 win (see the Box Score/Recaps in these notes for game details) ...The two squads have never met in NCAA Tournament play... This year, the series with UGA was renewed after these two teams had not met since 1996 ... UGA is 3-1 against the Longhorns in the last four meetings.
Texas-Rice Series
Texas leads the all-time series, 32-1 ...Texas and Rice were former conference opponents in the old Southwest Conference (abandoned in 1996-97) ... The two teams have not met since 1996, with UT posting an 89-75 win on Feb. 7 in Austin ... The lone Rice win in the series happened on March 4, 1995 (67-47) after UT had won the first 30 games in the series.
