Tulsa vs. South Florida Preview

Wednesday, January 19

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 pm

Tulsa

South Florida

Tulsa vs. South Florida Preview

1/18/2022 12:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Wednesday, January 19, 2022 ~ 6:00 pm Central ~ Yuengling Center ~ Tampa, Fla.

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-South Florida 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 ~ South Florida

2021-22 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ South Florida

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricaneAthletics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State, 2002), 1st Year
Career Record: 12-2 (1^st year)
Record at Tulsa: Same

South Florida: Jose Fernandez (FIU, 1994), 22nd Year
Record: 404-281 (22 years)
Record at South Florida: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          2          Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Fr-HS, Sapulpa, Okla., 11.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg
G         5          Delanie Crawford, 5-10, Fr-HS, Piedmont, Okla., 9.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg
G         11        Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Sr-3L, Bixby, Okla., 9.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
G         12        Wyvette Mayberry, 5-7, So-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 14.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Sr-4L, Plano, Texas, 10.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg

South Florida's Probable Starters
G         3          Sydni Harvey, 5-10, Jr, Nashville, Tenn., 10.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg
G         4          Elisa Pinzan, 5-8, Jr, Murano, Italy, 8.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg
G         5          Elena Tsineke, 5-7, So, Thessaloniki, Greece, 13.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg
F          20        Bethy Mununga, 6-0, Sr, Zellik, Belgium, 10.9 ppg, 11.8 rpg
F          32        Dulcy Mendjiadeu Frankam, 6-4, Sr, 10.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg

Facing South Florida

South Florida is receiving votes in the Associated Press poll
The Bulls have a 12-5 overall record, including a 2-1 mark in The American
Four players average double-digit points, including Elena Tsineke (13.7), Bethy Mununga (10.9), Dulcy Mendjiadeu Fankam (10.8) and Sydni Harvey (10.1)
Mununga has a team-high 11.8 rebounds per game average, 21 steals and 16 blocks, while Elisa Pinzan has 91 assists
South Florida has won all nine previous meetings with the Golden Hurricane

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 second in three-point field goal percentage (40.7), third in turnovers per game (11.2), fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.45), 15th in fewest turnovers (157), 20th in three-point field goals made per game (8.9), 20th in won-lost percentage (85.7), 30th in three-point field goals made (124), 32nd in field goal percentage (45.1), 35th in free throw percentage (76.3), 37th in turnover margin (4.79), 43rd in scoring offense (74.1), 49th in scoring margin (13.4), 56th in assists (227), 90th in three-point field goals attempted (305), 99th in steals (128), 116th in fewest fouls (213), 130th in scoring defense (60.7) and 152nd in blocked shots (45) in the nation.
Maddie Bittle ranks 210th in steals per game (1.86)
Rebecca Lescay ranks 68th in assist-turnover ratio (2.04) and 117th in assists (55)
Maya Mayberry ranks 131st in three-point field goals made (28)
Wyvette Mayberry ranks 59th in assist-turnover ratio (2.09), 160th in free throw percentage (76.9), 198th in points (197), 212th in points per game (14.1)
Temira Poindexter ranks 52nd in blocked shots (25)

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 14.1 ppg, Temira Poindexter has 11.9 ppg, and Rebecca Lescay posts 10.0 ppg
Bittle has a team-best 5.1 rebounds per game and 26 steals, while Rebecca Lescay has 55 assists and Poindexter has 25 blocks

An Accurate Career Shooter

Maya Mayberry ranks first (.434 = 75-173) in program history for three-point field goal percentage
Temira Poindexter ranks first (.917 = 22-24) 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 first in games played (125) on Tulsa's all-time list, and is fifth in steals (200), ninth in assists (278) and 18th in points (847)

Among the Freshmen

Temira Poindexter is only 14 games into her career and already on the Tulsa Freshmen Single-Season Records list in multiple categories, including first in free throw percentage (.917), second in blocks (25) and fifth field goal percentage (.478).

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 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 14.1 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 23 times and assists in 17 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 15.4 points (77) with a career-high 22 points at Memphis, while also averaging 5.8 rebounds (29) and 2.4 assists (12).
Bittle shot .577 (26-of-45) from the field, .590 (13-of-22) from 3-point range and .750 (12-of-16) from the free throw line in the last five 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 .467 percent of her field goals and .429 percent from behind the arc.

Freshmen Tandem

The tandem of true freshmen Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford have combined to average 19.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
The 6'1" forward Poindexter averages 11.9 points and 4.8 rebounds, while the 5'10" guard Crawford averages 9.0 points and 5.0 boards.
The duo has combined for 15 double-figure scoring games … Poindexter with nine and Crawford with six.
Poindexter had season-highs of 23 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks 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 11.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game.
She is shooting .478 percent from the field, .356 from 3-point range and .917 from the free throw line.
Poindexter leads The American in blocked shots with 25 for a 1.79 average and had a career-high 5 in the AAC opener at Memphis.
Poindexter has 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 seven of 21 statistical categories. Tulsa leads in Scoring Offense – 74.07 (1037); Scoring Margin – +13.36 (74.1-60.7); Field Goal % – .451 (381-844); 3-Point FG % – .407 (124-305); 3-Point FG Made – 8.86 (124); Assists – 16.21 (227); Assist/Turnover Ratio – 1.45 (16.2-11.2).
Individually, Temira Poindexter leads the AAC in blocked shots at 1.79
See full chart below.

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.