Tulsa vs. East Carolina Preview

Tuesday, January 11

Reynolds Center

6:30 pm

Tulsa

East Carolina

Tulsa vs. East Carolina Preview

1/10/2022 5:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 ~ 6:30 pm Central ~ Donald W. Reynolds Center ~ Tulsa, Okla.

Game Notes: Tulsa

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

Live Audio: Listen Here

Live Video: The Tulsa-East Carolina game will be broadcast on ESPN+. TU fans can subscribe to ESPN+ to watch Golden Hurricane basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball this year. ESPN+ is offered at $6.99/month or $69.99/year. To subscribe, go to plus.espn.com. Fans will be able to access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed.

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ East Carolina

2021-22 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ East Carolina

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricaneAthletics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State, 2002), 1st Year
Career Record: 11-2 (1^st year)
Record at Tulsa: Same

East Carolina: Kim McNeill (Richmond, 2000), 3rd Year
Record: 83-80 (6 years)
Record at East Carolina: 24-42 (3 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          2          Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Fr-HS, Sapulpa, Okla., 11.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg
G         5          Delanie Crawford, 5-10, Fr-HS, Piedmont, Okla., 9.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg
G         11        Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Sr-3L, Bixby, Okla., 10.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg
G         12        Wyvette Mayberry, 5-7, So-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 13.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Sr-4L, Plano, Texas, 9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg

East Carolina's Probable Starters
G         1          Taniyah Thompson, 5-11, Jr, Hamden, Ct., 17.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F          11        Raven Johnson, 6-0, Gr, Lilburn, Ga., 4.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg
F          12        Morgan Moseley, 5-11, So, Centreville, Md., 4.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
G         35        Da'Ja Green, 5-6, Gr, Ellenwood, Ga., 5.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg
C         55        Tylar Bennett, 6-4, Gr, Redford, Mich., 3.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg

Facing East Carolina

East Carolina has a 7-7 overall record, including a 52-43 loss against UCF in their only conference contest
Taniyah Thompson has a team-best 17.5 points per game, while Danae McNeal is just shy of double digits with 9.5 ppg
Tiara Chambers has a team-leading 4.9 rebounds per game and 21 blocks, while Alexsia Rose has a team-best 58 assists
Tulsa has a 14-12 lead in the all-time series with East Carolina, including wins in both games last season

Great Start

Tulsa had a 10-0 start, topping the previous best of 7-0 during the 2004-05 season.
The 10-game win streak was the longest in school history, beating a nine-game streak during the 2005-06 campaign

In the Nation

Tulsa ranks first in three-point field goal percentage (41.5), second in assist-turnover ratio (1.54), second in turnovers per game (10.6), 10th in fewest turnovers (138), 25th in won-lost percentage (84.6), 25th in turnover margin (5.77), 25th in three-point field goals made (117), 33rd in field goal percentage (45.4), 45th in scoring offense (74.3), 48th in assists (212), 52nd in scoring margin (13.5), 53rd in free throw percentage (75.1), 91st in three-point field goals attempted (282), 95th in steals (119), 133rd in fewest fouls (200), 133rd in scoring defense (60.8) and 145th in blocked shots (43) in the nation.
Maddie Bittle ranks 137th in steals (25)
Rebecca Lescay ranks 92nd in assist-turnover ratio (1.93) and 105th in assists (52)
Maya Mayberry ranks sixth in three-point field goal percentage (49.1), 30th in three-point field goals made per game (2.80), 107th in three-point field goals made (28) and 173rd in points per game (14.8)
Wyvette Mayberry ranks 42nd in assist-turnover ratio (2.33)
Temira Poindexter ranks 52nd in blocked shots (23)

Leading the Way

Four Tulsa players average double-digit points, including Maya Mayberry with a team-best 14.8 points per game, while Wyvette Mayberry adds 13.3 ppg, Temira Poindexter has 11.8 ppg, and Maddie Bittle posts 10.0 ppg
Delanie Crawford has a team-best 4.8 rebounds per game, while Rebecca Lescay has 52 assists, Bittle has 25 steals and Poindexter has 23 blocks

An Accurate Career Shooter

Maya Mayberry ranks first (.434 = 75-173) in program history for three-point field goal percentage, while Temira Poindexter is fourth (.381 = 16-42)
Temira Poindexter ranks first (.944 = 17-18) in free throw percentage in school history

Scoring

Maya Mayberry ranks ninth in school history with a 14.4 points per game average

Lescay Among Tulsa's Top-10

Rebecca Lescay ranks second in games played (124) on Tulsa's all-time list, and is fifth in steals (199), 10th in assists (275) and 19th in points (835)

Among the Freshmen

Temira Poindexter is only 13 games into her career and already on the Tulsa Freshmen Single-Season Records list in multiple categories, including first in free throw percentage (.944), and third in three-point field goal percentage (.381), blocks (23) and field goal percentage (.480).

Protecting the Ball

Tulsa set a school record low of five turnovers against FAU on Nov. 26, and then bested that with just four turnovers against Missouri S&T on Dec. 8

Defensive Rebounding

Tulsa didn't allow an offensive rebound by Missouri S&T on Dec. 8

College Graduates

Tulsa senior Rebecca Lescay earned her bachelor's degree in marketing in 2020 and her master's degree in business analytics in December 2021, while classmate Madi Washington earned her degree in psychology in 2020 and is working on her MBA.

The Sisters Mayberry

Sisters Maya and Wyvette Mayberry are both in their second seasons at TU
The pair are just one of three Division I sisters that play for the same team and both average over 10.0 ppg (the other pairs are at Purdue-Fort Wayne and Fresno State)
Maya averages 14.8 points and Wyvette 13.3 points to rank 1-2. The sisters were also Tulsa's top two scorers during the 2020-21 season as Maya averaged a team-high 14.3 points and Wyvette scored at a 12.3 clip.
The pair scored 46.1 percent (493 of 1,068) of Tulsa's total points during the 2020-21 season
In their two seasons, the sisters have combined to lead Tulsa in scoring 22 times and assists in 16 games
Their older sister, Taleya, also played at Tulsa (2009-13) and was an assistant coach for three seasons (2018-21)

Maddie 'B' Has Hit Her Stride

Senior Maddie Bittle has been on fire in the last four games.
She has averaged 17.25 points with a career-high 22 points at Memphis, while also averaging 4.25 rebounds (17) and 2.5 assists (10).
Bittle shot .638 (23-of-36) from the field, .611 (11-of-18) from 3-point range and .750 (12-of-16) from the free throw line in the last four games
In her nine previous games, Bittle shot just .383 (23-of-60) from the field and .250 (5-of-20) from 3-point range for the season.
Now, on the season, Bittle is knocking down .479 percent of her field goals and .421 percent from behind the arc.

Freshmen Tandem

The tandem of true freshmen Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford have combined to average 20.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
The 6'1" forward Poindexter averages 11.8 points and 4.4 rebounds, while the 5'10" guard Crawford averages 9.0 points and 4.8 boards.
The duo has combined for 14 double-figure scoring games … Poindexter with eight and Crawford with six.
Poindexter had season-highs of 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Crawford's season-highs reached 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Top Freshman

Freshman Temira Poindexter is staking her claim to be in the running for the Top Freshman in the American Athletic Conference.
The 6'1" Poindexter has done a little bit of everything for the Hurricane this year while averaging 11.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
She is shooting .480 percent from the field, .381 from 3-point range and .944 from the free throw line.
Poindexter has converted on her last 11 free throws.
Poindexter leads The American in blocked shots with 23 for a 1.77 average and had a career-high 5 in the AAC opener at Memphis.
Through the first eight weeks of the season Poindexter was named the AAC's Freshman of the Week four times.
Poindexter's father, Ray, was a member of Tulsa's men's basketball NCAA Tournament teams in 1994-95 and 1995-96 … at 6'11", he averaged 6.5 points and 5.6 rebounds in his two seasons.

Leading the AAC

As a team, the Hurricane leads the American Athletic Conference in nine of 21 statistical categories. Tulsa leads in Scoring Offense – 74.31 (966); Scoring Margin – +13.46 (74.3-60.8); Field Goal % – .454 (358-788); 3-Point FG % – .415 (117-282); Free Throw % - .751 (133-177); 3-Point FG Made – 9.0 (117); Assists – 16.31 (212); Turnover Margin – +5.77 (10.6-16.4); Assist/Turnover Ratio – 1.54 (16.3-10.6).
Individually, three Tulsa players lead the league in certain categories – Maya Mayberry has a AAC leading 3-point field goal percentage of .491 … Wyvette Mayberry leads in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.33 … Temira Poindexter leads the AAC in blocked shots at 1.77

A Native American

According to an NCAA Division I women's basketball survey, Maddie Bittle is just one of 18 Native Americans playing collegiate basketball at the D1 level. Bittle is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.

Double Digit Wins

In Angie Nelp's first season as the Hurricane head coach, Tulsa reached double-digit wins in the first 10 games of the season.
Tulsa didn't reach double-digit wins in either of the past two seasons, winning just five games in a 19-game schedule a year ago and nine wins in 2019-20.

Tulsa 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
The 2021-22 predicted order of finish was South Florida, UCF, Houston, Tulane, Temple, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Wichita State, Tulsa, SMU and Memphis

Tulsa in The American Championship

Tulsa has a 4-7 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, and lost in the first round in 2020 and 2021

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 in 2006 (W, North Carolina State; L, DePaul) 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.