Tulsa vs. SMU Preview

Wednesday, February 6 ~ 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).

Promotions:
Greek Night - All fraternities, sororities and student groups are invited out for a night of contests and prizes! Rep your letters and the group with the most in attendance will receive a special prize.

Game Notes: Tulsa

Radio: TU's 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

Video: Watch Live

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ SMU

2018-19 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ SMU

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 8th Year
Career Record: 248-228 (16 years)
Record at Tulsa: 101-135 (8 years)

SMU: Travis Mays (Texas, 1990), 3rd Year
Career Record: 37-48 (3 years)
Record at SMU: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          10       Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Jr., Broken Arrow, Okla., 12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
G          11       Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Fr., Bixby, Okla., 5.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg
G          21       Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, So., Plano, Texas, 5.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F          32       Desiree Lewis, 5-10, Fr., Converse, Texas, 6.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg
F          33       Crystal Polk, 6-2, Sr., Lawton, Okla., 13.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg

SMU's Probable Starters
G          2          Ariana Whitfield, 5-6, So., Houston, Texas, 6.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg
F          10       Alicia Froling, 6-3, Sr., Queensland, Australia, 11.6 ppg, 10.0 rpg
F          22       Marie Olson, 6-2, Fr., El Dorado Hills, Calif., 2.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg
G          32       Kayla White, 5-10, Fr., DeSoto, Texas, 11.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F          33       Johnasia Cash, 6-2, So., McKeesport, Pa., 6.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg

In the Last Game

Memphis outscored Tulsa, 20-11, in the fourth quarter for a 59-56 comeback win
Alexis Gaulden had a team-leading 16 points and nine assists, while Maddie Bittle added 14 points, and Crystal Polk totaled 11 points and a team-best nine rebounds
Memphis had a 38-32 lead in rebounds, a 9-2 advantage in blocks and a 5-4 edge in steals, while Tulsa had an 18-7 lead in assists.
There were five lead changes and three tied scores in the final six minutes of the game, but a layup by Alana Davis with 28-seconds remaining gave the Tigers the lead and they held onto it for the remainder of the game.

Facing SMU

SMU has an 8-13 overall record, including a 2-6 mark in league play
The Mustangs lost to Houston in overtime in their last game, 69-68
Kayla White and Alicia Froling both average double-digit points for SMU with 11.8 and 11.6 points per game, respectively
Froling also has a team-high 10.0 rebounds per game and 44 blocks, while White has a team-best of 30 steals, and Ariana Whitfield has 71 assists
SMU has a 28-17 lead in the series over Tulsa, including wins the last two years in Dallas

Good Start

Tulsa's 9-7 start (now 9-12) marked the first winning record after 16 games since starting 9-7 in the 2013-14 season
TU started 3-0 in league play. The last time they started out 3-0 was during the 2007-08 season.
The Golden Hurricane already has six wins at home this season. The last time Tulsa had six or more wins at home in a season was during the 2013-14 season when TU had nine victories in the Reynolds Center.

Back-to-Back-to-Back

Freshman Desiree Lewis hit back-to-back-to-back double-doubles against Wichita State (12p, 10r), Memphis (10p, 12r) and ECU (16p, 13r)
Lewis is just the sixth player in school history to reach this milestone, and just the third to do it in her freshman year, but it marks the 16th time it has happened.
Lewis has had a double-double in 3-of-5 conference games so far this season

An Accurate Shot

Crystal Polk is in fifth place with a .494 (307-620) field goal percentage in her career

Knocking Down Three's

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 121 three-pointers in her career, which ranks ninth in school history
Gaulden needs one more to tie Carla Morrow (1998-2002) who has 122 in eighth place

Mossman Has 248 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 248 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 101 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

Twelve 2018 Postseason Teams Highlight 2018-19 Schedule

TU will take on 12 postseason teams from the 2017-18 season this year
NCAA Tournament teams include American, Arizona State, Belmont, Little Rock, UConn and USF
WNIT teams include Alabama, Cincinnati, Houston, Saint Louis, Stephen F. Austin and UCF

Freshmen Made Marks

Morgan Brady and Rebecca Lescay concluded their freshmen season's on the Tulsa Freshman Single-Season Records list
Brady ranked second in free throw percentage (.824)
Lescay ranked fifth in games played (31)

Tulsa Picked 12th in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll

In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 12th by the league's coaches
Tulsa finished tied for 11th in the league in 2017-18

The 2019 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 2019 championship will mark the sixth consecutive year the tournament has been played at the Uncasville, Conn. arena
The 2019 tournament is set for March 8-11

Tulsa in The American Championship

TU has a 3-4 mark in American Athletic Conference Championship play
TU earned wins in the first round of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 tournaments
The Golden Hurricane lost matches in the quarterfinals in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018

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. SMU Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

Tulsa vs. SMU Preview

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

Related Videos