Tulsa vs. Houston Preview

Wednesday, February 2, 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-Houston 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 ~ Houston

2021-22 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Houston

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricaneAthletics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State, 2002), 1st Year
Career Record: 13-4 (1^st year)
Record at Tulsa: Same

Houston: Ronald Hughey (Limestone College, 2006), 8th Year
Record: 97-134 (8 years)
Record at Houston: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          2          Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Fr-HS, Sapulpa, Okla., 11.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg
G         10        Maya Mayberry, 5-8, Sr-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 14.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg
G         11        Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Sr-3L, Bixby, Okla., 9.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg
G         12        Wyvette Mayberry, 5-7, So-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 14.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Sr-4L, Plano, Texas, 10.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg

Houston's Probable Starters
G         10        Britney Onyeje, 5-9, Jr, Pflugerville, Texas, 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg
G         14        Laila Blair, 5-8, So, Houston, Texas, 12.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg
G         23        Julia Blackshell-Fair, 5-9, Gr, Fairfield, Calif., 4.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg
F          30        Tatyana Hill, 6-2, Sr, Houston, Texas, 7.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg
F          32        Tamara Nard, Jr, Chicago, Ill., 2.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Facing Houston

Houston has a 9-11 overall record, including a 2-6 mark in The American, but have dropped their last six contests. Their last win came against Tulsa (80-67) on Jan. 8
Laila Blair has a team-best 12.1 points per game, while Britney Onyeje adds 9.0 ppg
Tatyana Hill has a team-leading 7.5 rebounds per game and 26 steals, while Onyeje has 32 steals and Julia Blackshell-Fair has 51 assists
Tulsa has an 18-12 lead in the all-time series with Houston, but the Cougars have won the last three contests

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 the nation in three-point field goal percentage (40.2), fourth in fewest turnovers (201), eighth in assist-turnover ratio (1.35), ninth in turnovers per game (11.8), 25th in three-point field goals made per game (8.6), 36th in field goal percentage (44.8), 42nd in turnover margin (4.00), 45th in scoring offense (72.9), 48th in won-lost percentage (76.5), 53rd in free throw percentage (74.9), 54th in three-point field goals made (146), 56th in scoring margin (11.2), 63rd in fewest fouls (265), 107th in assists (271) and 139th in scoring defense (61.8).
Rebecca Lescay ranks 139th in assist-turnover ratio (1.60) and 164th in assists per game (3.8)
Maya Mayberry ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (47.9), 27th in three-point field goals made per game (2.69) and 231st in points per game (14.0)
Wyvette Mayberry ranks 62nd in assist-turnover ratio (1.96), 109th in field goal percentage (46.5), 189th in points per game (14.0), 197th in free throw percentage (74.6) and 209th in steals per game (1.82)
Temira Poindexter ranks 36th in blocked shots per game (1.94) and 51st in blocked shots (33)

Leading the Way

Four Tulsa players average double-digit points, including Wyvette Mayberry with a team-best 14.6 points per game, while Maya Mayberry adds 14.0 ppg, Temira Poindexter has 11.4 ppg and Rebecca Lescay averages 10.5 ppg
Lescay has a team-best 4.9 rebounds per game and 64 assists, Wyvette Mayberry has 31 steals and Poindexter has 33 blocks

An Accurate Career Shooter

Maya Mayberry ranks first (.434 = 82-189) in program history for three-point field goal percentage
Temira Poindexter ranks fifth (.844 = 27-32) in free throw percentage in school history

Scoring

Maya Mayberry ranks ninth in school history with a 14.2 points per game average

Lescay Among Tulsa's Top-10

Rebecca Lescay ranks first in games played (128) on Tulsa's all-time list, and is fourth in steals (204), eighth in assists (287) and 17th in points (886)

Among the Freshmen

Temira Poindexter is already on the Tulsa Freshmen Single-Season Records list in multiple categories, including first in free throw percentage (.844), second in blocks (33) and fifth field goal percentage (.460).

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
Tulsa had 24 defensive rebounds in the game and added 19 offensive boards.

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)
Wyvette averages 14.6 points and Maya 14.0 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 26 times and assists in 19 games
Their older sister, Taleya, also played at Tulsa (2009-13) and was an assistant coach for three seasons (2018-21)

Freshmen Tandem

The tandem of true freshmen Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford have combined to average 19.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
The 6'1" forward Poindexter averages 11.4 points and 4.7 rebounds, while the 5'10" guard Crawford averages 8.3 points and 4.6 boards.
The duo has combined for 18 double-figure scoring games … Poindexter with 11 and Crawford with seven.
Poindexter had season-highs of 23 points, 10 rebounds, six blocks and five assists, while Crawford's season-highs reached 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Maddie 'B' Has Hit Her Stride

Senior Maddie Bittle has been on fire in the last eight games, posting double digits in six of those contests
She has averaged 13.5 points (108) with a career-high 22 points at Memphis, while also averaging 4.5 rebounds (36) and 2.6 assists (21).
Bittle shot .528 (37-of-70) from the field and .468 (15-of-32) from 3-point range in the last eight 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 46.2 percent of her field goals and 38.5 percent from behind the arc.

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 11.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.0 steals per game.
She is shooting 46.0 percent from the field, 32.8 from 3-point range and 84.4 from the free throw line.
Poindexter is first in The American in blocked shots with 33 for a 1.9 average and had a career-high six against Cincinnati
Poindexter has named the AAC's Freshman of the Week six 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.

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, and Maya Mayberry earned her degree in organizational studies in December 2021 and is working on her MBA.

Leading the AAC

As a team, the Hurricane leads the American Athletic Conference in eight of 21 statistical categories. Tulsa leads in Scoring Offense – 72.94 (1240); Scoring Margin – +11.18 (72.9-61.8); Free Throw % – .749 (176-235); Field Goal % – .448 (459-1025); 3-Point FG % – .402 (146-363); 3-Point FG Made – 8.59 (146); Assists – 15.94 (271); Assist/Turnover Ratio – 1.35 (15.94-11.8).
Individually, Maya Mayberry leads the AAC in three-point field goal percentage and Temira Poindexter is first in blocked shots per game (1.94)

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 (Times Two)

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.
TU has 10 double-digit wins among Tulsa's 13 victories this season. TU had just nine double-figure wins in the previous three seasons combined.

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.

Tulsa vs. Houston Preview

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Delanie Crawford

Rebecca Lescay

Maya Mayberry

Wyvette Mayberry

Temira Poindexter

Tulsa vs. Houston Preview

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Delanie Crawford

Rebecca Lescay

Maya Mayberry

Wyvette Mayberry

Temira Poindexter

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