GAME #31: 2005 NCAA Championship Second Round
No. 3 seed Texas (22-8) vs. No. 6 seed Georgia (23-9)
Monday, March 21, 2005: 6 p.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; Georgia is ranked No. 20 in both polls
Texas Coach Jody Conradt (Baylor '63): 36th year overall: 1,146 games: 869-277 (.758); 29th year at Texas: 967 games: 752-215 (.778)
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers: 30th year overall: 715-219 (.765); 26th year at UGA: 633-198 (.762)
All-Time Series Record: 7th meeting: Georgia leads, 4-2 ... (UT is 1-2 home, 1-2 away, 0-0 neutral)
Series Streak: +1, UGa
Last Meetings: Nov. 21, 2004: No. 5/5 Georgia 78, No. 2/3 Texas 64
Jody Conradt vs. Georgia: 2-4
Quick Glance at the Teams
Texas enters the NCAA Championships as a No. 3 seed and stands 22-8 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) ... Georgia (23-9) is a No. 6 seed and is ranked No. 20 this week in both polls ... UGA went 9-4 in the SEC ... Last year, Georgia advanced to the 2004 NCAA "Elite Eight", while Texas was a Sweet 16 team ..Texas is tied for third with the most NCAA Tournament appearances ever (21) and making its seventh straight NCAA showing, while UGA is tied for second with most NCAA showings (22) ... In all-time NCAA Tournament games, the Longhorns are 31-19 (.621) ... 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 ... UT is coming off a first-round win over No. 14 Oral Roberts (64-47) on Saturday where junior G Nina Norman netted a team-high 20 points and had a game-best five assists, playing for the first time since Feb. 26 due to injuries (missing three games)... Georgia defeated No. 13 seed Rice in first-round action, 75-49, behind 19 points and seven boards from guard Cori Chambers.
Hot Horns
The Longhorns are 9-1 in their last 10 games, 13-2 in their last 15 contests ... UT had a season-best eight-game win streak prior to the Big 12 tourney semifinal loss to Kansas State.
Sweet 16 for Fourth Straight Year on Tap
A win tonight over Georgia would send the Longhorns to their fourth consecutive NCAA Final 16 berth ... Texas was a Final 16 team in 2002 and 2004 after advancing to the 2003 Final Four in Atlanta ... Texas has made 11 prior trips to the Final 16 (and beyond the Sweet 16 in eight of those years, with the 1985 NCAA National Championship ... 1987 and 2003 NCAA Final Four ... and NCAA Elite Eight showings in 1983, 1984, 1988).
Ready to Reach 1,000
Both 6-2 senior G Kala Bowers and 6-3 sophomore F Tiffany Jackson are within reach of the 1,000-point milestone... Jackson enters the game with Georgia needing SEVEN POINTS to reach 1000, while Bowers has 991 points ... If they happen to reach the 1,000-point milestone, the Horns will have four current players with those 1,000 point-plus numbers ... Senior G Jamie Carey (1,383) and senior G Heather Schreiber (1,699) are the other two ... Carey's 1,383 points include her 319 points as a freshman at Stanford in 1999-2000 ... She has 1,064 points at Texas ... In Texas' rich heritage of players, there are 30 who have surpassed 1,000 points ... Schreiber currently ranks No. 10 in all-time scoring; Carey is No. 29 (just counting her TEXAS points).
Texas Stat Leaders & Accolades
Texas sophomore Tiffany Jackson leads the club in overall scoring (17.9 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), blocks (59, 2.0) and steals (99, 3.3 spg) ... Jackson also leads UT in double-figure scoring games (28) and double-doubles (9) ... Senior Jamie Carey (12.3 ppg), senior Heather Schreiber (10.3 ppg) and junior Nina Norman (7.9 ppg) follow in the scoring column ... This week, Carey ranked No. 16 nationally in 3-point shooting percentage (.428, 68-159) ... Norman leads the club in assists with 95 (3.5 apg) while Schreiber is second in rebounding (5.7 rpg) ... From the foul line, Schreiber (54-62, .871) and Carey (42-53, .792) lead the way... Schreiber is second in 3-pointers (42-116, .362) ... Carey and Schreiber have combined to score 110 of UT's 140 three-point field goals - or, 79 percent of them.
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.
Success at Reunion Arena
Texas has enjoyed great success while playing at Reunion Arena in recent years ...Since 2003, Texas is 6-1 at Reunion ... 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.
Stormin' Norman on Career Assist List
Junior guard Nina Norman is leading the way in the assists category for the second year in a row and has moved to No. 10 in all-time Longhorn assists... The 5-8 Norman has dished out 95 assists to date, averaging 3.46 assists per game ... Last year, she had a career-best 142 assists in 35 games (4.06 apg) ... She has 339 to date, and is ONE assists shy of tying for the No. 9 spot, held by Andrea Lloyd (340, 1983-87) and EIGHT away from tying for the No. 8 position, held by Esoleta Whaley (345, 1980-84).
The Texas-Georgia Series
This is the seventh meeting between these two schools in the sport of basketball ... Georgia leads the series, 4-2 ...Georgia and Texas had a home-and-home series the last two years ... No. 5 ranked Georgia won the last contest, 78-64 on November 21st in the second game of the year for No. 2 ranked UT ... Texas won 2003-04 game with a 71-58 win in Austin last Dec. 20th ... In all-time games in Athens, Texas has yet to win, standing 0-3 on UGA's home court ... Jody Conradt is 2-4 against Georgia in her tenure... SEE THIS YEAR'S BOX SCORE FROM THE NOV. 21st GAME IN THESE NOTES ... UT's Tiffany Jackson (game-high tying 27 points, eigth boards, four steals) and senior F Heather Schreiber (22 points, 4-9 in 3's) led the way for the Horns ... In that game, Georgia erased a 15-point Texas first-half lead (UT led 28-13) and was led by freshman post Tasha Humphrey (game-high tying 27 points) who had 24 points in the second half.
Last year, Texas recorded its 13-point win behind a game-high and season-high 25 points from then-junior F Heather Schreiber (Windthorst, Texas) ... Schreiber also added nine boards, while then-junior G Jamie Carey (Thornton, Colo.) had 15 points and senior C Stacy Stephens added a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) ... The game had eight ties and 16 lead changes ... After Georgia took a 37-34 lead into halftime, the biggest stat of the game emerged in the final half when UT limited Georgia to seven second-half field goals ... The Lady Dogs went 7-for-32 from the floor (22.2%) in the final 20 minutes, making their last field goal with 6:57 to go ... In the final 6:57, UGA scored five points on free throws going five-for-eight from the line while missing its final 11 field goal attempts ... On the flip side, the Longhorns were aided by a 56 percent shooting effort in the second half (14-25), led by Schreiber who converted on nine of her final 14 shots ... The Lady Dogs were paced by 14 points apiece from C Christi Thomas and F Kara Braxton.
Texas vs. the SEC
In all-time games against teams from the Southeastern Conference, the Longhorns stand 48-35 overall (a .578 winning percentage) ... This year, Georgia and Tennessee were back-to-back November opponents for the Longhorns, and the only two SEC foes on the regular season schedule ... Texas lost at Georgia (78-64, Nov. 21) and four days later, upset No. 1 Tennessee (74-59) in Austin on Thanksgiving evening.
Last year, UT went 2-1 against teams from the SEC, stopping No. 10/9 Georgia (71-58, Dec. 21) and No. 2/2 Tennessee (70-60) on Dec. 28 in back-to-back games ... Texas then faced LSU, the No. 4 seed in the NCAA West Region in Sweet 16 play in Seattle, and the Lady Tigers ended Texas' season with a 71-55 win on March 27, 2004.
