Tulsa vs. UTEP Preview

Sunday, December 29 ~ 2:00 pm Central ~ Don Haskins Center ~ El Paso, Texas

Game Notes: Tulsa

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

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Rosters: Tulsa ~ UTEP

2019-20 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ UTEP

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The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 9th Year
Career Record: 256-242 (17 years)
Record at Tulsa: 109-149 (9 years)

UTEP: Kevin Baker (Austin College, 1995), 3rd Year
Career Record: 377-170 (18 years)
Record at UTEP: 33-39 (3 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          00        Kendrian Elliott, 6-2, Sr., Wichita, Kan., 16.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg
F          4          Addison Richards, 6-2, Sr., Bixby, Okla., 9.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg
G         10        Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Sr., Broken Arrow, Okla., 7.4 ppg, 4.1 apg
G         11        Maddie Bittle, 5-8, So., Bixby, Okla., 6.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Jr., Plano, Texas, 7.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg

UTEP's Probable Starters
G         1          Arina Khlopkova, 6-0, Fr., Moscow, Russia, 6.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg
G         3          Katia Gallegos, 5-7, Fr., El Paso, Texas, 8.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F          12        Ariona Gill, 6-0, Sr., Las Vegas, Nev., 8.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg
G         15        Avery Crouse, 6-0, Fr., Sachse, Texas, 6.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg
G         44        Katarina Zec, 5-11, Sr., Belgrade, Serbia, 12.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg

In the Last Game

Kendrian Elliott, Kayla Moutry and Alexis Gaulden all scored in double figures to lead Tulsa to a 61-55 win over Colorado State
Elliott's 19 points mark the 33rd double-digit scoring game of her career and 11th this season, while Kayla Moutry scored a career-high 13 points in the contest, and Gaulden earned her second career double-double with 12 points and a team-best and career-tying 12 rebounds.
Tulsa shot a solid 43-percent from the field, including 52-percent from three-point range, and was 6-of-10 from the free throw line, while Colorado State was 34-percent from the field, 25-percent from behind the arc and 12-of-16 from the free throw line.
The Golden Hurricane had a 35-33 edge in rebounds, a 17-11 advantage in assists and a 3-0 lead in blocks, while both teams had seven steals. TU also had a 16-3 lead in points off the bench and an 11-0 advantage in fast break points.

Facing UTEP

UTEP is 7-3 on the season, including a 6-2 mark at home, but have lost both of their last two games against SMU (60-56) and Arizona (54-43)
Katarina Zec is the only Miner averaging double-digit points with 12.7 ppg, while Katia Gallegos adds 8.8 ppg and Ariona Gill 8.3 ppg
Gill pulls down a team-high 9.1 rebounds per game, while Gallegos has 39 assists and 19 steals
UTEP has a 21-11 lead in the all-time series with TU, but the Golden Hurricane earned a 66-45 win in Tulsa last season

In the Nation

Tulsa ranks 117th in turnovers per game (15.5), 130th in turnover margin (1.45), 137th in assists (146) and 139th in steals (89)
Kendrian Elliott ranks 25th in double-doubles (5), 25th in field goal percentage (.595), 42nd in rebounds (100), 57th in field goals made (69), 64th in blocked shots (18), 72nd in rebounds per game (9.1), 80th in blocked shots per game (1.64), 91st in minutes played (376:07) and 97th in points (175)
Rebecca Lescay ranks 77th in steals (24)
Alexis Gaulden ranks 105th in assists per game (4.2) and 116th in assists (42)
NOTE: Above numbers through NCAA Rankings 12/20/19.

An Accurate Shot

Kendrian Elliott ranks fifth (.505 = 266-527) among the school's-best field goal shooters
Maddie Bittle ranks among the best in free throw percentage, coming in at fourth with a 85.2-percent clip (23-27)

Double-Doubles, Rebounds and Blocks

Kendrian Elliott has recorded 11 double-doubles in her career, including five this season, to rank fourth in school history
Elliott has 554 rebounds, ranking eighth in school history
Elliott has 69 blocks, ranking eighth in school history

Knocking Down Three's and Getting Assists

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 154 three-pointers in her career, which ranks in fifth place on the school's all-time list
Gaulden needs five more to tie current assistant coach Taleya Mayberry (2009-13), who is in fourth place with 159 three-pointers made
Gaulden also ranks among the schools' top 10 in assists with 284 for seventh place, tying current director of player development Kelsee Grovey (2012-16)

Seniors Stepping Up

Kendrian Elliott and Addison Richards have really stepped up their game for their senior seasons
Elliott entered the season averaging 6.8 points per game in her first three seasons combined, but this year is netting 16.2 points per game
Elliott's 194 points this season is already her second-highest in her career with 17 regular season games to play
Richards entered the season averaging 1.6 points per game in her first three seasons combined, but this year is netting 9.3 points per game
Richards' 112 points this season is already more than any other single season of her career with 17 regular season games to play

Record-Setting Game

Kendrian Elliott registered 38 points against Arkansas State (11-9-19), which tied the school record for points in a game set by Jillian Robbins against Nevada on February 19, 2005.
Elliott's 16 field goals made in the game was a school record, topping Robbins and Ashley Clark who both had 14 field goals made in a game

Back-to-Back-to-Back

Desiree Lewis and Kendrian Elliott have both had back-to-back-to-back double-doubles in their careers, making them the fifth and sixth player in school history to reach this milestone, respectively
Lewis is just the third to do it in her freshman year, while Elliott achieved this as a senior
Kendrian Elliott had back-to-back-to-back double-doubles to start the 2019-20 season against Stephen F. Austin (13p, 12r), Arkansas State (38p, 12r) and Oklahoma State (16p, 10r)
Desiree Lewis hit back-to-back-to-back double-doubles against Wichita State (12p, 10r), Memphis (10p, 12r) and ECU (16p, 13r) in the 2018-19 season
This feat has been accomplished just 16 times in school history

Mossman Has 256 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 256 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and 109 wins at TU
Mossman has the most wins by a TU women's basketball coach
Mossman earned her 100th career win at TU in a 46-39 win over Memphis on January 9, 2019

Thirteen 2019 Postseason Teams Highlight 2019-20 Schedule

TU will take on 13 postseason teams from the 2018-19 season, including NCAA Tournament teams Abilene Christian, Little Rock, Marquette, UCF and UConn, and WNIT teams Arkansas, Cincinnati, Houston, Loyola Marymount, Stephen F. Austin, Stetson, USF and Western Kentucky.
Additionally, 23 teams posted double-digit wins last season, including nine teams with 20-or-more victories.

2018-19 Single Season Marks

Morgan Brady and Alexis Gaulden earned their way onto the Tulsa Single-Season Leaders list a year ago
Brady ranked seventh in three-point field goal percentage on the year, shooting at a 39.2-percent clip
Gaulden ranked third with 142 assists and fifth with 63 three-pointers made

Freshmen Made Marks Last Year

Maddie Bittle shot 82.4-percent from the free throw line, making her the second-best freshman free throw shooter in school history (tying Morgan Brady) a year ago
Desiree Lewis played in 31 games, ranking third, had 163 rebounds, ranking fourth, and shot a .450 field goal percentage, ranking fifth, among the programs' freshmen

Tulsa Picked 10th in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll

In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 10th by the league's coaches
A year ago, TU ended the year ranked seventh in the league standings, a five-place jump from the predicted 12th-place finish
The 2019-20 predicted order of finish is UConn, USF, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Temple, Tulane, Memphis, Wichita State, Tulsa, ECU and SMU

Tulsa in The American Championship

Tulsa has a 4-5 mark in The American Championship
TU earned wins in the first round in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
The Golden Hurricane lost matches in the quarterfinals in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

The 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 through 2020
The 2020 championship will mark the seventh consecutive year the tournament has been played at the Uncasville, Conn. arena

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.

Tulsa vs. UTEP Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Ashley Clark

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Kelsee Grovey

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Kayla Moutry

Addison Richards

Tulsa vs. UTEP Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Ashley Clark

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Kelsee Grovey

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Kayla Moutry

Addison Richards

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