SEASON OPENER
New Mexico (2-1) at Texas (0-0)
Friday, Nov. 18, 2005: 7 p.m. (Central)
Frank Erwin Center (capacity 16,775), Austin, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts:
TV: none
Internet TV: subscription-based
Radio: Texas: KVET Radio/Sports Radio 1300 (1300 AM), Austin; Chad Hastings (play-by-play); Cathy McDonald (color analyst) ... New Mexico: KNML Radio (610 AM, Albuquerque)
Live Audio: Available through UT's subscription service
Game Promotions: Breast Cancer Awareness Night ... The "Fun for Four" promotion allows fans to purchase four general admission tickets for only $16, while all youth - 14 and under - can receive one general admission ticket for $2 through the "Take a Kid to the Game" promotion.
Texas Tickets
Texas women's basketball has numerous ticket plans in place for the 2005-06 season (full season ticket packages, a five-game mini-season ticket package, group ticket sales and single game ticket purchases). For more information on UT basketball tickets, go to TexasBoxOffice.com or call 512-471-3333 or 1-800-982-BEVO. For charge-by-phone, you can call 512-477-6060. Tickets can be purchased in person at the following locations: Bellmont Hall Athletics Ticket Office (Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m-4 p.m. Central); and at any Texas Box Office location, including the Frank Erwin Center (Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and game days prior to tipoff) or at Austin area H-E-B stores.
Teams at A Glance:
National Rankings: Texas: #12, USA Today/ESPN Preseason Poll and No. 12 in Associated Press Top 25 .... New Mexico: "also receiving votes" in both polls Last Year: Texas (22-9, NCAA 2nd Rd.); New Mexico (26-5, NCAA 1st Round) All-Time Series Record: 5th meeting: Texas leads, 3-1 ... (Texas is 2-0 at home, 1-1 away, 0-0 neutral) Series Streak: +2, Texas Last Meeting: Dec. 4, 2004: Texas 73, New Mexico 56 (in Albuquerque, NM) Last New Mexico victory: 77-70, on Dec. 2, 2002 in Albuquerque Texas Coach Jody Conradt: 37th year overall: 1,147 games: 869-278 (.758); 30th year at Texas: 968 games: 752-216 (.777) UMN Coach Don Flanagan: 11th yr overall (all at UNM): 313 games: 219-94 (.700) Jody Conradt vs. New Mexico: 3-1
Quick Glance at the Teams
Texas opens its season tonight, while New Mexico (2-1) will play its fourth game in the last eight days ... The Longhorns are ranked No. 12 in both the Associated Press Preseason Poll and this week's first USA Today/ESPN Top 25 regular season poll, while UNM is in the "also receiving votes" category of both polls ... Texas went 0-2 in its exhibition play, dropping a 68-60 decision to Everyones Internet (Nov. 3) and a 77-73 game to the Houston Jaguars (Nov. 10) ... Both teams were comprised of current and former WNBA players and collegiate standouts.
New Mexico played its three early games in the WNIT Tournament, advancing to the semifinals... The Lobos played all three games at home, defeating Oral Roberts (69-52, Nov. 11) and California (55-46, Nov. 13) before losing to No. 25 Oklahoma (74-63) Wednesday night in the WNIT semi's ... UNM is led by 6-1 sophomore F Dionne Marsh (14.5 ppg) and 6-0 senior G Abbie Letz (9.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg).
The Longhorns are led by returning All-American and preseason national player of the year candiidate junior Tiffany Jackson ... The "all-everything performer" was UT's leading scorer (18.3 ppg), rebounder (8.7 rpg), shot blocker (1.9) and steals leader (3.4 spg) a year ago ... Senior guard Nina Norman, an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention Team pick, was fourth in scoring (7.8 ppg) and first in assists (98, 3.5 apg) last year ... Yet, these two players are listed as "questionable" for tonight's game and listed as day-to-day, due to injuries (Jackson, ankle sprain suffered last week; Norman, aggravated knee) ... The Longhorns welcome back eight letterwinners from last year's 22-9 team which advanced to the NCAA Championship second round after placing second to eventual national titlist Baylor in the Big 12 regular season standings.
In addition to the eight letterwinners, UT's class of seven freshmen is the largest rookie class in Texas head coach Jody Conradt's tenure ... These seven were selected as the nation's No. 1 recruiting class last year by the All-Star Girls Report recruiting service.
In Season Openers
This is the 32nd season of UT women's basketball ... In all-time season openers, Texas is 23-8 ... UT is 8-2 in its last 10 openers, winning the last two, including last year's 84-69 win over No. 21 Penn State in the Tip-Off Classic in Austin (Nov. 14)... In all-time HOME openers, Texas stands 29-2, with the last home opener loss in 1998-99 (66-59 loss to No. 11 Rutgers, Nov. 24, 1998).
The Texas-New Mexico Series
Texas and New Mexico meet tonight for the fifth time, with Texas leading the series, 3-1... Texas is 2-0 at home vs. UNM and 1-1 in Albuquerque... Texas won the last meeting last December 4th in Albuquerque (73-56), behind 28 points from senior G Jamie Carey (6-8 in 3-pointers) and 12 points from senior guard Kala Bowers ... UT's nine-for-17 performance from 3-point range and only 10 turnovers highlighted the game ... UNM went 4-18 from long range and had 17 turnovers ... Texas built a 34-26 halftime lead .. Texas shot 46 percent for the game (29-63) and held the Lobos to 39 percent shooting (23-59)... Lobo leaders included senior F Lindsey Arndt (15 points) and G Fatima Mattox (12).
Home Cookin'
Texas went 13-1 at home at the Erwin Center last year, and in the last three years, posted an amazing 44-1 record at home dating back to the beginning of the 2003-04 season ... Last year's only home loss came to No. 24 Rutgers in a 51-47 upset when the Longhorns were ranked No. 4 ... After that, Texas won its final eight home games, and takes that eight-game home-court win streak into tonight's game ... Prior to that Rutgers loss, Texas owned the nation's top homecourt win streak at 41 games - the second longest homecourt victory streak in Longhorns history... In all-time games at the Erwin Center, which opened in 1977-78, Texas stands 361-53 (an 87.2 winning percent age). ing a 13-3 mark in league play.
Youth Will Be Served
In addition to having the most freshmen ever (seven) on her squad, Jody Conradt enters the 2005-06 campaign with the YOUNGEST, age-wise, team she has ever coached ... The seven Longhorn freshmen are an average combined age of 18 years and seven months; the 15 player roster has an average age of 19 years and 11 months ... The team has: one fifth-year senior (Coco Reed), three seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and the seven rookies. Of the seven freshmen, however, six gained All-America status in high school, headlined by 5-10 guard Erika Arriaran, who earned Parade Magazine and 2005 State Farm/WBCA National HS Player of the Year honors as a senior at Norco HS ... The UT lineup also features Gatorade State Players of the Year from Oklahoma (6-1 forward Earnesia Williams from Sapulpa) and Arkansas (5-11 guard Crystal Boyd from Little Rock).
Brand New Starting Lineup?
If you take returning starters Tiffany Jackson and Nina Norman out of the mix, the Longhorns enter tonight's game with a total of SEVEN CAREER STARTS from just one other player on the squad ... Fifth-year senior shooting guard Coco Reed has those seven starts to her credit - six last year and one from the 2003-04 campaign ... Norman has claimed 68 starts in 98 career games, with 25 starts a year ago, while Jackson has 47 starts in 66 career games.
Not Many College Minutes of Experience
Outside of returning starters Jackson and Norman, the other six letterwinners bring an average of 8.2 minutes per game of playing time into tonight's contest ... Reed leads the other letterwinners in career minutes played average with 13.5 (including 15.8 mpg a year ago). Why is this? The Longhorns graduated six players from last year's 22-9 squad, including three starters (6-2 Heather Schreiber, 6-2 Kala Bowers, 5-6 guard Jamie Carey)... Schreiber started each and every possible game in her Longhorns career - 133 ... Schreiber and Carey (96 games at UT, 84 starts) combined for 383 3-pointers in their career ... Bowers (132 games, 111 starts) and 6-2 Annissa Hastings (111 games, 18 starts) were UT's "lockdown defenders"... Carey averaged 31.3 mpg, Schreiber 28.9, Bowers 23.3 and Hastings 16.2 during their respective careers.
Double-Double Threats
Tiffany Jackson has logged an a double-double (double-figure scoring and rebounding) 17 times in her career ... In 85 percent of her collegiate games, Jackson has scored in double-figures (56 times in 66 games) .... Senior Nina Norman is the only other active player to have a double-double.
Unenviable Schedule
Texas will face seven teams - and a possible eighth - which were ranked in the AP and USA Today/ESPN Preseason Top 25 Polls ... In addition, the 2005-06 slate of games features 11 teams which advanced to the 2005 NCAA Tournament ... Fifteen of UT's games are at home and 12 are away.
The 11 opponents who advanced to the 2005 NCAA "Big Dance" are: Baylor (champions), Tennessee (Final 4 semifinalists), Duke and Rutgers (Elite Eight), UConn and Texas Tech (Sweet 16), Kansas State (2nd rd.), Oklahoma (1st rd.), New Mexico (1st rd.), Iowa State (1st rd.)... The other opponent will either be Purdue or George Washington (both 2nd rd. teams last year), UT's second-round opponent in the Junkanoo Jam Tournament over Thanksgiving Weekend.
Of the Preseason Top 25 teams on Texas' schedule, Texas faces FIVE of the TOP TEN this season, squaring off against Tennessee, Duke, Rutgers, Baylor and Connecticut ... Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll and Duke was second, and these two squad flip-flopped in the USA Today/ESPN Poll ... Texas will face Tennessee and Duke in back-to-back games early on, traveling to Tennessee (Thr., Dec. 1, 6 p.m. on ESPN2) before hosting the Blue Devils (Sun., Dec. 4, 12:30 p.m., FSN) ... Additionally, Texas squares off against No. 5 Rutgers (Fri., Dec. 30, 6 p.m. at Piscataway on CSTV) and the following Big 12 opponents: No. 6 Baylor (at Baylor on Sat., Jan. 7, 3 p.m. on FSN; at Austin on Wed., Mar. 1 at 7:30 p.m. on FSN); No. 13 Texas Tech (Wed., Feb. 1, 5 p.m. on ESPNU at Lubbock; and in Austin on Sun., Feb. 26, at 3 p.m. on ESPN2); and No. 25 Oklahoma (Wed., Jan. 25, 7 p.m. on CSTV in Norman, Okla.; and Wed., Feb. 15 in Austin at 7 p.m.) ... The Longhorns might face an eighth ranked team - Purdue - if the two squads face each other in the second round of the Junkanoo Jam Tournament.
Texas will be the ONLY school to play Duke and Tennessee back-to-back this season ... Texas carries a four-game series win streak into its game at Tennessee on December 1.
