Tulsa vs. Temple Preview

Saturday, January 4

Reynolds Center

2:00 pm

Tulsa

Temple

Tulsa vs. Temple Preview

1/2/2020 3:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Saturday, January 4 ~ 2:00 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:
Dads & Daughters Night - We invite all dads and daughters out for our conference opener! There will be BOGO tickets for all dads and their daughters.

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.

Live Audio: Listen Here

Live Video: Watch Here

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ Temple

2019-20 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Temple

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 9th Year
Career Record: 257-242 (17 years)
Record at Tulsa: 110-149 (9 years)

Temple: Tonya Cardoza (Virginia, 1991), 12^th Year
Career Record: 218-153 (12 years)
Record at Temple: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          00        Kendrian Elliott, 6-2, Sr., Wichita, Kan., 16.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg
F          4          Addison Richards, 6-2, Sr., Bixby, Okla., 8.8 ppg, 2.7 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., 6.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Jr., Plano, Texas, 7.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Temple's Probable Starters
G         00        Ashley Jones, 5-7, So., Philadelphia, Pa., 17.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg
F          1          Lena Niang, 6-2, Gr., Dakar, Senegal, 6.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg
G         2          Asonah Alexander, 5-10, Fr., Prospect Park, N.J., 6.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg
G         5          Marissa Mackins, 5-8, So., Durham, N.C., 13.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg
C         11        Shannen Atkinson, 6-4, Sr., Smithfield, Va., 3.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg

In the Last Game

Kendrian Elliott and Maddie Bittle both scored in double figures to lead Tulsa to a 58-51 win over UTEP in the final non-conference game of the regular season
Elliott had her 12th career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, leading TU in both categories, while Bittle added 10 points, Alexis Gaulden posted eight and Desiree Lewis had seven. Elliott also recorded four blocks, while Gaulden and Morgan Brady both had four steals.
Tulsa had a 9-6 lead in blocks and a 15-6 advantage in steals, while UTEP had a 43-41 edge in rebounds and a 12-10 lead in assists.
TU finished the game shooting 31-percent, including just 22-percent from behind the arc and 60-percent from the free throw line

Facing Temple

Temple is 7-6 on the season, including a 3-1 mark on the road
Mia Davis (19.0), Ashley Jones (17.7) and Marissa Mackins (13.2) all average double-digit points
Davis also has a team-best 10.1 rebounds per game, Asonah Alexander has 63 assists and 14 steals, and Shannen Atkinson has 18 blocks
Temple has a 6-2 lead in the all-time series with Tulsa, but the Golden Hurricane earned a 64-61 win in Philadelphia in the last meeting

In the Nation

Tulsa ranks 104th in steals (111) and blocked shots (47), 129th in blocked shots per game (3.6), 135th in assists (173), 139th in turnover margin (1.31), 143rd in steals per game (8.5) and three-point field goals attempted (240), and 149th in turnovers forced (17.31)
Kendrian Elliott ranks 21st in double-doubles (6) and in field goal percentage (.597), 37th in rebounds (118), 42nd in blocked shots (24), 45th in field goals made (83), 57th in blocked shots per game (1.85) and in minutes played (454:07), 61st in rebounds per game (9.1), 66th in points (212), 84th in minutes played per game (34.93), 104th in points per game (16.3), 144th in free throw attempts (54), and 146th in free throws made (39)
Rebecca Lescay ranks 98th in steals (26) and 156th in steals per game (2.0)
Alexis Gaulden ranks 104th in assists (50), 109th in assists per game (4.2) and 197th in steals per game (1.92)
NOTE: Above numbers through NCAA Rankings 1/1/20.

An Accurate Shot

Kendrian Elliott ranks fifth (.505 = 273-541) among the school's-best field goal shooters
Maddie Bittle ranks among the best in free throw percentage, coming in at third with a 87.1-percent clip (27-31)

Double-Doubles, Rebounds and Blocks

Kendrian Elliott has recorded 12 double-doubles in her career, including six this season, to rank fourth in school history
Elliott has 566 rebounds, ranking eighth in school history
Elliott has 73 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 288 for seventh place

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 16.3 points per game
Elliott's 212 points this season is already her second-highest in her career with 16 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 8.8 points per game
Richards' 115 points this season equals her previous three years combined with 16 regular season games to play

2019-20 Single Season Marks

Kendrian Elliott and Maddie Bittle have already earned their way onto the Tulsa Single-Season Leaders list this season
Kendrian Elliott ranks third in field goal percentage (.597), ninth in points per game (16.3) and 10th in double-doubles (6)
Bittle ranks second in free throw percentage (.929)

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 257 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 257 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and 110 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.

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.