St. Georges High School, Freeport, Bahamas
Friday, Nov. 25, 2005: First Round
No. 19 Purdue (1-0) vs. George Washington (0-1),
Noon/Central; 1 p.m./Eastern
South Carolina (2-0) vs. No. 18/12 Texas (1-1)
2:30 p.m./Central; 3:30 p.m./Eastern
Game Day Information & Quick Facts:
TV: none
Internet TV: none
Radio: Texas- KVET Radio/Sports Radio 1300 (1300 AM), Austin; WISW Radio (1320-Columbia)- USC
Texas Internet Radio: Available through UT's subscription service
Teams at A Glance:
National Rankings: Texas: #18, Associated Press Top 25 (Nov. 21); #12, USA Today/ESPN Top 25 (Nov. 15) .... South Carolina: not ranked
Last Year: Texas (22-9, NCAA 2nd Rd.); South Carolina (8-21)
All-Time Series Record: 2nd meeting: Texas leads, 1-0 ... (Texas is 1-0 at home, 0-0 away, 0-0 neutral)
Series Streak: +1, Texas
Last Meeting: Mar. 20, 1998 (NCAA Midwest Region 2nd Rd, Austin): Texas 77, South Carolina 58
Last South Carolina victory: none
Texas Coach Jody Conradt: 37th year overall: 1,149 games: 870-279 (.757); 30th year at Texas: 970 games: 753-217 (.776)
USC Coach Susan Walvius: 15th year overall: 432 games: 214-218 (.495); 8th year at South Carolina: 233 games: 116-117 (.498)
Jody Conradt vs. USC: 1-0
Quick Glance at the Teams
The Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 Conference stand 1-1, and are ranked No. 18 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll (down from No. 12 a week ago); the USA Today/ESPN Poll was to be released on Tuesday, with UT standing No. 12 in last week's poll ... Texas is coming off a season-opening loss to New Mexico (76-68, Nov. 18) before rebounding for an 83-33 victory over Sam Houston State (Nov. 21), with both games in Austin ... South Carolina (Southeastern Conference) is 2-0, having opened with wins over High Points (71-35, Nov. 18) and Winthrop (73-42, Nov. 20) ... In the preseason Big 12 coaches poll, the Longhorns were picked to finish second (behind defending NCAA titlist Baylor)... In the preseason SEC coaches poll, USC was picked 12th in the 12-team league, with Tennessee getting the top spot ... South Carolina went 8-21 a year ago.
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 ... The Longhorns have eight letterwinners back 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.
Junkanoo Jam Field
Prior to the Texas and South Carolina game, No. 19 Purdue (1-0) and George Washington (0-1) square off in the first game of the four-team tourney (noon, Eastern) on Friday ... On Saturday, the third-place game is set for noon (Central, 1p.m. EST) and the title game scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (Central/3:30 EST)... This is Texas' first trip to the Junkanoo Jam tourney.
Study in Contrasts
Whereas South Carolina returns its entire roster from a year ago and adds two freshmen, the Longhorns welcomed seven freshmen - the largest rookie class in UT history - to the campus this fall along with eight returning letterwinners ... Jody Conradt's Longhorns graduated six players last spring ... South Carolina has nine upperclassmen (one senior, eight juniors), three sophomores and two rookies ... In contrast, the Longhorns have four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and seven freshmen ... The average age of the Texas team is 19 years and 11 months; the average age of the Texas freshman is 18 years and seven months.
The Texas-South Carolina Series
Texas and South Carolina meet Friday for the second time in women's basketball history ... Texas is 1-0 at home in Austin against USC, having won a second-round game in the 1988 NCAA Tournament, 77-58, at the Frank Erwin Center on March 20, 1988 ... Texas advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight that year, losing to Louisiana Tech in overtime (83-80) in the Final Eight.
Texas vs. the SEC
South Carolina is the first of two Southeastern Conference opponents on the UT schedule this year ... The other is No. 2/No. 1 Tennessee, and the Longhorns go to Knoxville next week to face the Lady Vols (Thur., Dec. 1, ESPN2) ... Texas carries the longest win streak in the nation against Tennessee (four games) into that contest ... In all-time games against the SEC, Texas stands 49-36 ( 57.6%) ... UT against the SEC is as follows: 2-0 vs. Alabama; 21-3 vs. Arkansas (former Southwest Conference opponent); 0-1 vs. Auburn; 1-3 vs. Florida; 2-5 vs. Georgia; 1-0 vs. Kentucky; 4-4 vs. LSU; 4-1 vs. Mississippi; 1-0 vs. South Carolina; 11-15 vs. Tennessee; and 1-4 vs. Vanderbilt.
Texas-George Washington Series
If Texas and George Washington meet on Saturday, it will be the second time these two schools have met in the sport of women's basketball ... Texas and George Washington played on Nov. 29, 1991 in the first round of the 7-Up/Desert Classic in Las Vegas, where GW came away with a 70-62 win.
Texas-Purdue Series
Texas and Purdue have met three times previously, wtih Purdue leading the series, 2-1 ... The squads met in back-to-back years in 1988 and 1989, with Purdue winning, 76-71 on Nov. 26, 1988 in West Lafayette, and Texas winning on Nov. 27, 1989 in Austin (62-43) ... Then, in 2000, the No. 4 Boilermakers defeated unranked Texas, 71-49 on Nov. 19 at Purdue.
Action Jackson
Despite nursing an ankle injury which forced her to miss six straight days of practice prior to the New Mexico game, 6-3 All-America junior forward Tiffany Jackson had a strong outing against New Mexico... The National Player of the Year candidate had 17 points (tying with frosh Erika Arriaran for the team lead) and a team-best six rebounds along with three steals in 28 minutes of play... Jackson has now been in double-figure scoring in 84 percent of her collegiate games (57 times in 68 games) ... She also has a team-high 17 double-doubles (double-figure rebounding and scoring) in her career.
Frosh Strong
The nation's heralded No. 1 recruiting class is off to a good start at Texas ... In the opener against New Mexico, 5-10 freshman guard Erika Arriaran registered 17 points, tying for the team high, while fellow rookie guard Carla Cortijo added 15 points ... Against Sam Hoston, six frosh contributed 47 (of 83) points, or 57 percent ... In addition, the Longhorn freshmen pulled down 39 of UT's 62 rebounds -63 percent of them ... Freshman 6-4 post Ashley Lindsey netted game - and career-highs of 15 points and five blocks to go with six rebounds, while 6-3 freshman Aubry Cook had nine points and nine rebounds; 5-11 rookie guard Crystal Boyd also put up solid numbers, getting nine points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Not Many College Minutes of Experience
Outside of returning starters Jackson and Norman, the other six letterwinners bring an average of 10.2 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.
Longhorn Record Watch
Senior guard Nina Norman has 343 all-time assists, just two away from tying for the No. 8 position, held by Esoleta Whaley (345, 1980-84) ... She is 60 away from the No. 7 spot, held by Angie Jo Ogletree (403, 1993-97)... Norman led the Longhorns in assists the last two years, dishing out a career-best 142 in 35 games (4.1 as a sophomore) and 98 more a year ago (3.5 apg) in 28 contests.
Tiffany Jackson needs two blocks to move into a tie for the No. 8 position, held by Cinietra Henderson who had 106 rejections from 1989-93.
