Basketball Travelers Classic at Texas
Game #1: Maryland-Eastern Shore vs. Texas
Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006 · 6:30 p.m. Central
Frank Erwin Center (16,755) · Austin, Texas
Television: The game will be not be televised.
Radio: KVET-AM 1300 (Austin) will carry the game. Craig Way (play-by-play) and Women's Basketball Director of Operations Cathy McDonald (color) will call the action.
Tickets: Tickets (season, single game, group and mini-packs) for all Texas basketball games are available via the Internet at TexasBoxOffice.com; via phone at 800-982-BEVO or 512-471-3333; at the Erwin Center Box Office during business hours and one hour prior to tipoff on game day; and the UT Athletics Ticket Office in Bellmont Hall ( Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. CT ).
The Texas Team
Texas is ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press Top 25 Preseason Poll and is in the "also receiving votes" category in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Preseason Poll ... The Longhorns, picked to finish third in the Big 12 race, won both of their exhibition games with victories over the Houston Jaguars (72-31 on Nov. 2) and over Trinity University (78-29, Nov. 7) ... Leading the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg) last year, senior Tiffany Jackson is a National Player of the Year and All-America candidate and a First Team All-Big 12 standout ... Sophomore guard Erika Arriaran (11.5 ppg last year) was an All-Big 12 Freshman Team pick, while current freshman Brittainey Raven was named Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year and one of the nation's top five freshmen to watch by ESPN.com.
In Season Openers
This is the 33rd season of UT women's basketball ... In all-time season openers, Texas is 23-9 ... UT is 8-3 in its last 11 openers, and 2-1 in its last three... Last year in Austin on November 18, No. 12 Texas dropped a 76-68 game to New Mexico to open the season ... In all-time HOME openers, Texas stands 29-3 ... Prior to last year's home-opening setback, the last prior home opener loss was to start the 1998-99 campaign (66-59 loss to No. 11 Rutgers, Nov. 24, 1998).
A Look at the Visiting BTI Classic Teams
Louisiana-Lafayette is from the Sun Belt Conference and is led by 6-1 senior forward Yolanda Jones (18.1 ppg, 10.9 rpg), a Preseason All-Conference First Team pick ... ULL was 18-10 a year ago ... The Ragin' Cajuns defeated Arkansas Tech in exhibition play, 64-46, on Nov. 6 behind a 26-point, 12-rebound effort by senior forward Yolanda Jones.
Maryland-Eastern Shore went 16-13 last year and placed third in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) with a 12-6 league mark ... The Lady Hawks are led by All-MEAC performer Kristi Veltkamp (11.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg last year) ... MES had a 75-34 exhibition win (Nov. 8) over Salibury ... The Hawks will be playing four consecutive games this weekend, as MES opened the season on Saturday night (Nov. 11) at St. Francis University in Loretta, Penn. prior to flying into Austin on Sunday.
Texas State comes up I-35 for the tourney ... Going 17-11 overall (and 9-7 for fourth place in the Southland Conference) last year, the Bobcats will rely on junior Joyce Ekworomadu (13.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg in 2005-06), a preseason All-Southland First Team pick, and 5-9 sophomore Ashley Leffingwell (5.8 ppg, 29 3-pointers last year) ... Texas State, which lost five letterwinners off last year's squad, won its lone exhibtion with a 74-30 win over Houston Elite on Nov. 7.
Texas vs. the BTI Classic Field
Texas has never met Maryland-Eastern Shore in the sport of women's basketball ... Texas has faced Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State in basketball ... UT stands 1-0 all-time against Louisiana-Lafayette, having defeated the Rajin' Cajuns 86-40 on Feb. 9, 1979 (when ULL was known as Southwest Louisiana) in the Houston Invitational ... Texas stands 22-5 all-time against the Bobcats of Texas State (formerly known as Southwest Texas State) ... UT holds a 17-game series win streak over the Bobcats ... These two squads last met on Dec. 3, 2003 in Austin where UT posted an 88-27 victory... The last Texas State win against the Longhorns came on Feb. 28, 1976 -- a 47-39 win.
UT Looks to Snap Home-Court Loss Streak
Texas' next win at home will end an unlikely streak for the Longhorns ... Going 13-15 last year in an injury-riddled campaign, UT ended the season by going 1-7 in its final eight games of the year ... Of those seven losses, five were consecutive at home at the Frank Erwin Center ... That five-game losing streak is the longest such home court streak in UT history ... Prior to last year, the Horns had never lost more than four home games in a row, and that happened once (in 2000-01 when UT went 11-5 at home, losing its last four)... Last season, UT was 8-7 in Austin.
Longhorns No. 25 in AP Preseason Poll, Will Go Up Against Seven of the Top 25 Teams
Texas was ranked No. 25 when the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 (media poll) was announced on November 8 ... Jody Conradt's Longhorns are set to go up against seven of the teams ranked in the AP preseason poll, with four of UT's opponents ranked in the top 11.
Texas was one of five teams ranked in the preseason poll who were not ranked at the end of the 2005-06 season, joining Kentucky, Vanderbilt, California and Southern Cal as one of those five teams... Last year, injuries depleted the Longhorns' roster and the team suffered only its third losing season (going 13-15) in 32 years of program history ... Texas has been ranked in the preseason Top 25 every year but two since the poll was started in the early 1980's.
Seven months after winning its first national championship in women's basketball, Maryland is No. 1 in the preseason for the first time ... The Terrapins picked up 47 of the 49 first-place votes, finishing with 1,246 points... Following them were North Carolina (1,161, 1 first-place vote), Oklahoma (1,148, 2 first-place votes), Stanford (1,079) and Tennessee (1,072) ... Last year, North Carolina, joined Maryland and No. 6 Duke to form an Atlantic Coast Conference trio in the Women's Final Four in Boston along with the SEC's LSU. Maryland beat Duke in overtime for the title.
Of the teams ranked in the AP preseason poll, four are from the Big 12 Conference - No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 19 Baylor and Texas.
The Longhorns will face No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Duke in back-to-back December games, going to Durham, N.C. For a Dec. 10th matchup with the Blue Devils (noon CT, on ESPNU) before coming home to host No. 5 Tennessee (Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. CT on FSN TV) ... Texas squares off against No. 11 ranked Purdue in the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge held in Austin on Jan. 7 (2 p.m., ESPN2) and goes to No. 18 New Mexico (Nov. 17, 8 p.m. CT).
The Longhorns will meet Big 12 opponents Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Baylor in home-and-home contests during the Big 12 slate of games ... UT squares off against Oklahoma on Jan. 31 at Austin (ESPNU TV) and Feb. 12 at OU in an ESPN2 "Big Monday" contest; Texas meets the Aggies in two State Farm Lone Star Showdowns on Jan. 21 (in Austin on FSN, 2 p.m.) and at College Station (Feb. 28, 6 or 8 p.m.) ... Additionally, the two Texas-Baylor games will be broadcast on College Sports TV (CSTV) and will take place in Austin (Jan. 24, 7 p.m.) and in Waco (Feb. 18, 2 p.m.).
New Mexico -- UT's opponent next Friday in Albuquerque -- and No. 24 BYU are the only teams in the Top 25 that had never before appeared in the preseason poll.
Texas Head Coach Jody Conradt
Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt enters her 31st season as University of Texas mentor and will be coaching the 997th game of her collegiate career Sunday as UT faces Maryland-Eastern Shore ... She stands No. 2 in all-time collegiate coaching victories, by a men's or women's coach ... Her overall record is 882-293 (.751) as she enters her 38th overall collegiate season ... Conradt's record at Texas stands at 765-231 (.768) after 996 games ... Two women's coaches rank one-two in all-time college basketball victories, as Conradt is second to Tennessee's Pat Summitt in victories ... Summitt has 913 entering Tennessee's season opener, also on Sunday (Nov. 12 vs. Chatanooga).
Preseason Honors
Senior All-America candidate and preseason National Player of the Year candidate Tiffany Jackson leads the preseason honors list for the Longhorns ... The 6-3 senior is a candidate for Player of the Year honors for both the State Farm Wade Trophy and Wooden Award ... A preseason Street & Smith All-America, Jackson (14.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg last year) also was one of five preseason All-Big 12 First Team picks and was named one of the top five forwards nationally by ESPN.com ... Freshman guard Brittainey Raven (Fort Worth, Texas/North Crowley HS), a 6-0 consensus HS All-American, was one of five rookies chosen on ESPN.com's Preseason National Freshman First Team .... Raven also was chosen as the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year.
