No. 1/2 Duke (5-0) at No. 16/18 Texas (3-2)
Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005: 12:30 p.m. (Central)
Frank Erwin Center (capacity 16,775), Austin, Texas
Game Day Information & Quick Facts:
TV: FSN (FOX Sports Net): Kevin Eschenfelder, play-by-play; Debbie Antonelli, color
Radio: Texas: KVET Radio/Sports Radio 1300 (1300 AM), Austin; Duke: WDNC-AM Radio Network
Teams at A Glance:
National Rankings: Texas: #16, Associated Press Top 25; #18, USA Today/ESPN Top 25 .... Duke: #1, Associated Press Top 25; #2, USA Today/ESPN Top 25
Last Year: Texas (22-9, NCAA 2nd Rd.); Duke (31-5, NCAA Elite Eight)
All-Time Series Record: 3rd meeting: Tied, 1-1 ... (Texas is 0-0 at home, 0-0 away, 1-1 neutral)
Series Streak: +1, Texas
Last Meeting: Nov. 16, 2003: #3 Texas 85, #2 Duke 77 (State Farm Tip-Off Classic, W. Lafayette, Ind.)
Last Duke victory: March 23, 2002: #3 Duke 62, #14 Texas 46 (NCAA East Regional Final 16, Raleigh, NC)
Texas Coach Jody Conradt: 37th year overall: 1,152 games: 872-280 (.757);
30th year at Texas: 973 games: 755-218 (.776)
Duke Coach Gail Goestenkors: 14th year overall (all at Duke): 431 games: 338-93 (.784)
Game Promotions: Please check out and for more information!
Fans that attend the men's basketball game vs. Texas-Arlington on Saturday, Dec. 3 can redeem their ticket stub for a $2 general admission ticket for the Duke game
UT Spirit Appreciation: Fans wearing UT apparel will receive one reserved seat ticket for only $7!
Regal Cinemas Special: Show your Regal Cinemas ticket stub from a movie you saw in either November or December of 2005 and receive one $7 reserved seat! UT Students enter to win FREE Chick-fil-A for a month ... Enter at the marketing tables located outside section 29 and 44 in the concourse.
Tickets:
Purchase at 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.
Quick Glance at the Teams:
The Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 Conference stand 3-2, while Duke is 5-0 ... Duke is No. 1 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN rankings, while the Longhorns are ranked No. 16 in this week's AP Poll (up from No. 18 a week ago) and stayed at the same spot (18th) as last week in the USA Today/ESPN Poll ... Duke becomes the second consecutive top-ranked opponent for the Longhorns, as Texas is coming off a 102-61 setback at No. 2/No. 1 Tennessee Thursday night in Knoxville ... Duke and Tennessee are flip-flopped at the Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the two polls... That loss to Tennessee was the sixth largest loss margin in Texas history, and the worst loss for either team in the Tennessee-Texas series, which stands at 26 games (a 16-10 series edge for the Lady Vols)... Duke has not played since Sunday (Nov. 27) when it earned the title at its own Duke Classic, defeating Auburn 69-37 in the finals.
Prior to the loss at Tennessee, Texas won the Lucaya Division title at the Junkanoo Jam Tournament (Freeport, Grand Bahama Island) where UT stopped South Carolina (59-55, Nov. 25) and George Washington (59-54, Nov. 26) ... In the preseason Big 12 coaches poll, Texas was picked second (behind defending NCAA titlist Baylor)- that's the one-two finish of those two teams in last year's Big 12 race ... In the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason coaches polls, the Blue Devils were picked first for the sixth time in the last eight years ... North Carolina and Maryland followed.
Brutal Stretch: Tennessee and Duke Back-to-Back for Longhorns:
This week, Texas will have played the top two teams in successive games, with both contests on national TV ... The Texas-Tennessee game was on ESPN2, and today's game is broadcast on FSN (FOX Sports Net) ... Texas is the only team in the country to face Tennessee and Duke in back-to-back games this regular season ... In addition, Texas joins Old Dominion, Maryland and Auburn as the only schools with Tennessee and Duke on their 2005-06 regular season schedules; only Texas and ODU have scheduled Duke and Tennessee as non-conference opponents, as Maryland faces Duke in the ACC and Tennessee as a non-league opponent, while Tennessee is Auburn's SEC foe and Duke is a non-league opponent.
Home Cookin'
Prior to the Nov. 18 loss to New Mexico, the Longhorns had only lost ONE game at the Frank Erwin Center dating back to the start of the 2002-03 season ...Counting the Nov. 21st win over Sam Houston, Texas is now 45-2 in this span at home .... Last year, UT was 13-1 at the Erwin Center after going 16-0 and 15-0 at home, respectively, the two previous years ... 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 prior to the loss to New Mexico)... Prior to that Rutgers loss, Texas owned the nation's top home-court win streak at 41 games - the second longest home-court victory streak in Longhorns history... In all-time games at the Erwin Center, which opened in 1977-78, Texas stands 362-54 (an 87.0 winning percentage).
Youth Will Be Served:
Two young teams take to the Erwin Center floor today ... Texas has eight returning letterwinners and a class of seven freshmen ... This 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 ... Texas' fields a team of four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and seven freshmen ... Duke features three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen ... Air Force has the youngest squad in women's basketball with 13 underclassmen.
Texas Against No. 1's
Texas stands 4-13 against teams ranked No. 1 in all-time games - dating back to 1976-77 ... Texas' first three wins came in the mid-1980's before the No. 4 Longhorns stopped No. 1 ranked Tennessee last year in Austin, 74-59 ... In the last nine games against the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, Texas is 1-8 ... This includes Thursday's loss at Tennessee (102-61) ... Three of UT's four wins against No. 1 ranked opponents have come against the Lady Vols ... Texas has met Tennessee eight times when the Lady Vols were No. 1 and stand 3-5 in those games ... Prior to last year's victory, the last Texas win over a No. 1 ranked team was one of those wins over Tennessee (97-78 on Dec. 9, 1987 in Knoxville when Texas was No. 3).
Texas-Duke Series
This is the third meeting between these two squads, and the series is tied, 1-1 ... The first meeting took place in the 2002 NCAA East Regional Final 16 (Raleigh, N.C.), where the No. 3 Blue Devils posted a 62-46 win over the No. 14 Longhorns on March 23, 2002 ... Current fifth-year senior Coco Reed was a freshman redshirt on that UT squad.
The second game took place in 2003-04 season opener at the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in West Lafayette, Ind. (Nov. 16, 2003, Purdue University campus) ... Both were coming off NCAA Final Four semifinal appearances in the Georgia Dome ... In a matchup between the No. 3 Longhorns and No. 2 Blue Devils, Texas emerged with an 85-77 victory ... UT out-scored Duke, 26-12, in the final 8:35, going 15-for-16 in free throws in that span ... Texas had five players in double-figure scoring, including two current Longhorns - then-sophomore G Nina Norman (15 points, six rebounds, four assists) and then-freshman F Tiffany Jackson (15 points, eight rebounds, five assists off the bench) ... Current Longhorn Reed is the only other Longhorn to appear against Duke in that game, as she played 20 minutes with seven points and four rebounds.
Quick Look at Duke
The Blue Devils, under the direction of 14th-year head coach Gail Goestenkors, went 31-5 a year ago, winning 30-plus games for the fifth straight year... Duke lost in the NCAA Elite Eight to LSU (59-49) in Chattanooga, Tennessee after tying for first in the ACC regular season race (12-2) with North Carolina... The Blue Devils have four players averaging double-digit scoring: 5-10 freshman guard Abby Waner (14.0 ppg), Kodak and AP All-America 6-0 senior Monique Currie (13.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg), 5-8 junior guard Lindsey Harding (12.0 ppg, team-best 24 assists) and 6-3 senior forward Mistie (Bass) Williams (11.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg).
Texas vs. the ACC
Duke is the only Atlantic Coast Conference opponent on the UT schedule this year ... In all-time games against the ACC, Texas stands 13-11
( 54.2%) ... Against the ACC, Texas stands as follows: 0-1 vs. Boston College; 1-1 vs. Clemson; 1-1 vs. Duke; 1-0 vs. Florida State; 1-3 vs. Maryland; 1-1 vs. Miami; 0-1 vs. North Carolina; 5-1 vs. N.C. State; 3-2 vs. Virginia ... Texas has never faced Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech or Wake Forest in women's basketball.
Youth Will Be Served, Part II
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 7.5 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, 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).
Frosh Strong
The nation's heralded No. 1 recruiting class is off to a good start at Texas ... Of the seven, six are competing currently (6-3 P Mari Mergerson is sidelined indefinitely, recovering from her ACL injury) ... Of the 14 active players, here is a quick breakdown of the six competing freshmen and their performances to date (Erika Arriaran, Crystal Boyd, Aubry Cook, Carla Cortijo, Ashley Lindsey, Earnie Williams)... Only Arriaran has drawn a start among this group, as she has started all five games.
FRESHMEN IN TOTAL HAVE:
· 56.7% of UT points (187 of 330) ... are six of the top eight scorers, including three of the top four (Arriaran 12.0 ppg, Cortijo 7.8 ppg, Lindsey 6.8 ppg)
· 49.7% of UT rebounds (90 of 181) ... Lindsey is second in rebounding (4.8) off the bench
· 57.1% of UT assists (36 of 163) ... Arriaran (13, 2.6 apg) and Cortijo (11, 2.2 apg) are one-two in assists
· 58.1% of UT turnovers (50 of 86)
· 60.0% of UT blocks (18 of 30) ... Lindsey has a team-high 13 of those 30 blocks (2.6 bpg)
· 47.5% of UT steals (29 of 61) ... Arriaran (8 steals) and Cortijo (7 steals) are second and third in steals
· 48.4 % of UT minutes played (484 of 1000) ... Arriaran is playing a team-high 30.0 mpg, while Lindsey (17.8 mpg), Cortijo (17.4 mpg) and Williams (12.6) are fourth, fifth and eighth in minutes played, respectively
