Tulsa vs. USF Preview

Wednesday, January 31

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

USF

Buy Tickets

Tulsa vs. USF Preview

1/29/2018 2:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Wednesday, January 31 ~ 7:00 pm Central ~ Donald W. Reynolds Center ~ Tulsa, Okla.

Tickets: Single game tickets are $5 general admission and season passes are $50. Tickets can be purchased ONLINE, at the Reynolds Center ticket office or by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688).

Game Notes: Tulsa

Radio: TU's regular season games can be heard on 93.5 FM The Jet, KWTU 88.7 FM HD2, free on the iHeart Radio App and online at TulsaHurricane.com. Brandon Hart calls play-by-play.

Live Audio: Listen Here

Live Video: Watch Live on ESPN.com

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ USF

2017-18 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ USF

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

USF Facebook: USF WBB

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

USF Twitter: USF WBB

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

USF Instagram: USF WBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 7th Year
Career Record: 237-208 (15 years)
Record at Tulsa: 90-115 (7 years)

USF: Jose Fernandez (FIU, 1994), 2nd Year
Career Record: 325-240 (18 years)
Record at USF: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          3          Erika Wakefield, 5-4, Sr-3L, Moore, Okla., 9.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg
G          10       Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, So-1L, Broken Arrow, Okla., 8.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg
G          12       Shug Dickson, 5-9, So-1L, St. Louis, Mo., 13.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg
G          21       Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Fr-HS, Plano, Texas, 4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg
F          25       Tyjae' Scales, 6-1, Jr-2L, Houston, Texas, 2.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg

USF's Probable Starters
G          10       Laura Ferreira, 5-11, Sr, Lisboa, Portugal, 10.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg
F          12       Maria Jespersen, 6-0, Sr, Arhus, Denmark, 17.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg
G          22       Laia Flores, 5-7, Sr, Mataro, Spain, 9.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg
G          33       Kitija Laksa, 6-0, Jr, Riga, Latvia, 19.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg
C          54       Alyssa Rader, 6-2, So, Thornton, Colo., 7.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg

Facing USF

This is the fifth meeting between Tulsa and USF
The Bulls have won all four previous meetings
USF won the last meeting, a 90-64 decision, last season in Tulsa

Scouting USF

USF is 16-5 on the season, including a 6-2 mark in The American
Three players average double-digit points, including Kitija Laksa (10.6), Maria Jespersen (17.3) and Laura Ferreira (10.8)
Jespersen has a team-best 9.1 rebounds per game
Tamara Henshaw has a team-best 16 blocks, Laia Flores has 128 assists and Ferreira has 31 steals

The Last Game: UCF

Shug Dickson scored a game-high 23 points, but it wasn't enough as UCF pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 47-44 win
Dickson converted 8-of-18 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line for her fifth 20-point scoring game of the season
Tyjae' Scales grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds for the Hurricane
It was a close game throughout with seven lead changes and neither team taking more than an eight-point lead in the contest

In the Nation...

Tulsa is ... 43rd in three-point field goal defense (28.5)
Tulsa is ... 73rd in turnovers per game (14.5)
Tulsa is ... 91st in free throw percentage (72.5)
Tulsa is ... 95th in fewest turnovers (304)

Dickson's Scoring

Shug Dickson's 33 points against Saint Louis (12-19-17) ranks third in school history for points scored in a single game by a player, as she ties the mark hit by Carla Morrow, Jillian Robbins (twice), Taleya Mayberry and Ashley Clark.
Dickson scored 20+ points in three-straight games in 2016-17, including 21 points (Temple), 21 points (#1 UConn) and 22 points (UCF)
Dickson was the first freshman in school history (dating back to the 1996-97 season) to score 20+ points in three-straight games
Dickson became the sixth player overall to reach this feat (Taleya Mayberry, Larrissa Williams, Jillian Robbins, Allison Curtin and Lila Osceola did it before her.)
Dickson has scored 20+ points in 10 games, including five times this season

Erika Wakefield on Tulsa's Career Charts

Erika Wakefield ranks sixth with 303 assists
She ranks 10th with 151 steals
She ranks 10th with 360 field goals made
She needs just 65 more points to become the 11th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark (she has 935 points)

Who's Starting?

Tulsa has used 14 different starting lineups this season
Only one lineup has been used three times

Last Year's Freshmen Made Marks

Addison Richards and Kendrian Elliott concluded their freshmen season's on the Tulsa Freshman Single-Season Records list
Richards ranked second in three-point field goal percentage (.387) and third in games played (31)
Elliott finished second in blocks (24), rebounds (220) and field goal percentage (.497), and fourth in free throw percentage (.774).

Mossman Has 237 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 237 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 90 wins at TU

Parker for Three

Tulsa's Ebony Parker knocked down an NJCAA Division I record 144 three-point shots during the 2015-16 season
In comparison, the most in a single season at Tulsa was 77 by Athena Pirpich (2000-01).

Eleven 2016-17 Postseason Teams Highlight 2017-18 Schedule

11 postseason teams highlight the 2017-18 Tulsa schedule
NCAA Tournament teams include Alaska Anchorage (Division II), Belmont, Temple, UConn and USF
WNIT participants were Little Rock, Saint Louis, SMU, South Dakota, Tulane and UCF.

Hurricane Picked Ninth in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll

In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, Tulsa was picked to finish ninth by the league's coaches
UConn, which has won four-straight American Athletic Conference Championships, was picked first
USF was selected to finish second and Temple was selected third
UCF, SMU, Tulane, Memphis, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Wichita State, Houston and ECU round out the poll

The 2018 American Athletic Conference Championship

The American Athletic Conference and Mohegan Sun Arena have agreed to a multi-year agreement for Mohegan Sun to host the Conference's Women's Basketball Championship from 2018 through 2020
The 2018 championship will mark the fifth consecutive year the tournament has been played at the Uncasville, Connecticut arena
The 2018 tournament is set for March 3-6

Tulsa in The American Championship

Tulsa has a 2-3 mark in American Athletic Conference Championship play
TU earned wins in the first round of the 2016 and 2017 tournaments
The Golden Hurricane lost matches in the quarterfinals in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Tulsa in Postseason

Tulsa has made five postseason appearances
TU earned WNIT bids in 2004, 2005 and 2015
The Hurricane played in the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2013.
Tulsa lost in the first round in 2004 (Memphis), 2005 (Texas A&M) and 2013 (Stanford), but went 1-1 (W, North Carolina State; L, DePaul) in 2006 and 2015 (W, Missouri State; L, Eastern Michigan)
The Hurricane has a 2-5 overall mark in postseason play

A Hurricane in Tulsa?
The Origination of The University of Tulsa nickname - Golden Hurricane - was created in 1922. A new football coach, Howard Archer came to town and inherited a slew of nicknames dating back to 1895. In the past, Tulsa had been named "Kendallites," "Presbyterians," "Tigers," "Orange and Black," "Tulsans," and of course, "Yellow Jackets." The team started working out in the fall with a new nickname "Yellow Jackets" which was apparently due to the fact that the team was wearing new black and yellow uniforms. The team opened the season and it was apparent that Tulsa was going to have a great year, and trying to seize some publicity for his team, Archer wanted to find a new nickname quickly. After a remark was made in practice one day about "roaring through opponents," and because of their new jersey colors, he thought of "Golden Tornadoes." But a check showed that Georgia Tech already had chosen that tag in 1917. From the tornado, he evolved meteorologically to the hurricane. A few days before the team left for a game against Texas A&M, Archer asked the squad to vote on the name, and thus "Golden Hurricane" was born.