Tulsa vs. Wichita State Preview

Friday, March 8 ~ 5:00 pm Central ~ Mohegan Sun Arena ~ Uncasville, Conn.

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 on ESPN3

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ Wichita State

2018-19 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Wichita State

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 8th Year
Career Record: 251-233 (16 years)
Record at Tulsa: 104-140 (8 years)

Wichita State: Keitha Adams (Southwestern, 1989), 2nd Year
Career Record: 437-280 (22 years)
Record at Wichita State: 26-34 (2 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          10       Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Jr., Broken Arrow, Okla., 11.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg
G          21       Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, So., Plano, Texas, 6.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg
G          22       Morgan Brady, 5-7, So., Hensley, Ark., 8.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg
F          32       Desiree Lewis, 5-10, Fr., Converse, Texas, 5.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg
F          33       Crystal Polk, 6-2, Sr., Lawton, Okla., 13.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg

Wichita State's Probable Starters
F          11       Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage, 6-2, Sr., Santa Fe, N.M., 8.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg
G          12       Carla Bermaud, 5-11, Fr., Angers, France, 9.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg
F          13       Raven Prince, 6-1, Jr., Oklahoma City, Okla., 5.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg
G          23       Seraphine Bastin, 5-8, Fr., Dinant, Belgium, 6.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg
G          30       Cesaria Ambrosio, 6-0, Sr., Fully, Switzerland, 2.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg

In the Last Game

Crystal Polk had a team-best 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Tulsa dropped a 71-49 decision at Wichita State.
Alexis Gaulden added eight points and three steals, while Rebecca Lescay tallied seven points and a team-leading five assists. Polk also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.
Tulsa shot 35-percent from the field, but just 15-percent (3-of-20) from behind the arc and 37-percent (6-of-16) from the free throw line, while Wichita State shot 46-percent from the field, 38-percent from three-point range and 50-percent (11-of-22) from the line.
TU had a 13-8 lead in assists and an 8-6 edge in steals, while WSU had a 35-29 lead in rebounds and a 6-1 advantage in blocks.

Facing Wichita State

Wichita State has a 12-17 overall record, including a 5-11 mark in league play
Carla Bremaud has a team-high 9.9 points per game, while Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage adds 8.8 ppg
Lozada-Cabbage pulls down a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game and has 25 blocks, while Seraphine Bastin has 93 assists and 38 steals
The Shockers have a 17-3 lead in the all-time series. The Golden Hurricane picked up a 63-49 win in Tulsa, while the Shockers captured a 71-49 win in Wichita during the regular season.

Good Start

Tulsa's 9-7 start (now 12-17) 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 had eight 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.
TU reached 10-wins with seven regular season games remaining, which equaled the win total for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons

An Accurate Shot

Crystal Polk is in fifth place among the school's all-time best with a .495 (354-715) field goal percentage in her career
Morgan Brady ranks third (.379 = 53-140) among the program's best three-point field goal shooters
Maddie Bittle ranks among the best in free throw percentage, coming in at 10th with a 80-percent clip (12-15)

Knocking Down Three's

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 137 three-pointers in her career, which ranks in sixth place on the school's all-time list
Gaulden needs five more to tie Tatum Beer (2007-11), who is in fifth place with 142 three-pointers made

Double-Doubles

Crystal Polk ranks eighth in program history with nine double-doubles. She just needs one more to move into fourth-place, tied with Lila Osceola, Carla Morrow, Allison Curtin and Tiffani Couisnard.

Single Season Marks

Morgan Brady, Alexis Gaulden and Crystal Polk have all earned their way onto the Tulsa Single-Season Leaders list
Brady ranks fifth in three-point field goal percentage on the year, shooting at a 41.9-percent clip
Gaulden ranks fourth with 131 assists and eighth with 57 three-pointers made this season
Polk ranks 10th in double-doubles with six double-doubles on the year

Freshman Making Marks

Maddie Bittle is shooting 80-percent from the free throw line, making her the third-best freshman free throw shooter in school history

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.

Mossman Has 251 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 251 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 104 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

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
TU ended the year ranked seventh in the league standings, a five-place jump from the predicted finish

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

Twelve 2018 Postseason Teams Highlighted 2018-19 Schedule

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

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. Wichita State Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

Tulsa vs. Wichita State Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

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