Tulsa vs. East Carolina Preview

Thursday, February 24, 2022 ~ 5:00 pm Central ~ Minges Coliseum ~ Greenville, N.C.

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: 14-8 (1^st year)
Record at Tulsa: Same

East Carolina: Kim McNeill (Richmond, 2000), 3rd Year
Record: 87-88 (6 years)
Record at ECU: 28-50 (3 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          2          Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Fr-HS, Sapulpa, Okla., 11.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg
G         10        Maya Mayberry, 5-8, Sr-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 12.9 ppg, 2.2 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., 13.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Sr-4L, Plano, Texas, 10.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg

East Carolina's Probable Starters
G         1          Taniyah Thompson, 5-11, Jr., Hamden, Ct., 18.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg
G         4          Synia Johnson, 5-9, So., Waldorf, Md., 5.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F          20        Iycez Adams, 5-11, Fr., Kernersville, N.C., 2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg
G         35        Da'Ja Green, 5-6, Gr., Ellenwood, Ga., 7.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg
F          55        Tylar Bennett, 6-4, Gr., Redford, Mich., 3.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg

Facing East Carolina

East Carolina has an 11-15 overall record, including a 4-9 mark in The American
Taniyah Thompson has a team-best 18.3 points per game
Tylar Bennett has a team-leading 5.0 rebounds per game and 52 blocks, while Alexsia Rose has a team-best 103 assists and 45 steals
TU has a 15-12 lead in the all-time series with ECU, including a 71-59 win earlier this season in Tulsa

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
After 19 games, Tulsa reached its most wins (14) in the last eight years … the most in a season since finishing 18-14 in the 2014-15 season.

In the Nation

Tulsa ranks second in the nation in fewest turnovers (263), 10th in turnovers per game (12.0), 13th in assist-turnover ratio (1.23), 20th in three-point field goal percentage (36.2), 32nd in three-point field goals made per game (8.1), 40th in turnover margin (3.68), 50th in fewest fouls (356), 59th in free throw percentage (74.8), 67th in three-point field goals made (178), 69th in assists per game (14.7), 86th in scoring offense (69.5), 89th in field goal percentage (42.1), 98th in scoring margin (6.3), 108th in won-lost percentage (63.6), 132nd in three-point field goals attempted (492) and 140th in three-point field goal defense (29.9).
Maddie Bittle ranks 244th in steals per game (1.68)
Rebecca Lescay ranks 120th in assist-turnover ratio (1.64), 164th in assists per game (3.7) and 244th in steals per game (1.68)
Maya Mayberry ranks 46th in three-point field goal percentage (39.8) and 59th in three-point field goals made per game (2.39)
Wyvette Mayberry ranks 177th in free throw percentage (76.7)
Temira Poindexter ranks 40th in blocked shots per game (1.86) and 55th in blocked shots (41)

Leading the Way

Five Tulsa players average double-digit points, including Wyvette Mayberry with a team-best 13.7 points per game, as well as Maya Mayberry (12.9), Temira Poindexter (11.5), Rebecca Lescay (10.0) and Maddie Bittle (10.0)
Poindexter has a team-best 5.1 rebounds per game and 41 blocks, Lescay has 82 assists, and Lescay and Bittle both have 37 steals.

An Accurate Career Shooter

Maya Mayberry ranks second (.402 = 90-224) in program history for three-point field goal percentage
Temira Poindexter ranks ninth (.809 = 38-47) in free throw percentage in school history

Lescay Among Tulsa's Top-10

Rebecca Lescay ranks first in games played (133) on Tulsa's all-time list, and is fourth in steals (216), eighth in assists (305) and 16th in points (927)

Among the Freshmen

Temira Poindexter is already on the Tulsa Freshmen Single-Season Records list, ranking second in blocks (41) and fourth in free throw percentage (.809)

Out of the Ordinary

Tulsa has been among the nation's leaders for three-point field goal percentage most of the season.
The Hurricane had eight 40-percent plus shooting games from 3-point range in the first 17 games, but in the last four games, Tulsa recorded its only games under 30-percent from behind the arc.
In the first 17 games of the season, Tulsa shot 40.2 percent (146-363), but in the last four contests has shot just 24.8 percent from 3-point range (32-129).

Road Wins

Tulsa has posted five road wins this year – Oral Roberts, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Memphis and Wichita State – and has just three road losses.
The five wins is the most road victories for a Tulsa team since the 2015-16 season when the Hurricane captured six road wins … the most road wins for Tulsa before that was a year earlier with seven in 2014-15.

Common Factor

In two AAC losses this season to Houston, a 13-point road loss (80-67) and a 65-64 home loss, there was a common factor ... Tulsa was without one of its starters in each game due to injury
The Hurricane was without Maya Mayberry in the road game and at home was without Mayberry's younger sister, Wyvette

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 Most 3's

Tulsa set a new school record high of 39 three-point field goal attempts against Wichita State (2-6-22)
The previous best was 34 attempts against No. 1 UConn (1-17-17)

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 13.7 points and Maya 12.9 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 last season
In their two seasons, the sisters have combined to lead Tulsa in scoring 27 times and assists in 22 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 13 games, posting double digits in nine of those contests
She has averaged 12.3 points (160) with a career-high 22 points at Memphis, while also averaging 4.4 rebounds (58) and 1.7 assists (23).
Bittle has shot .524 (54-of-103) from the field and .510 (24-of-47) from 3-point range in the last 13 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 47.2 percent of her field goals and 43.3 percent from behind the arc.

Freshmen Tandem

The tandem of true freshmen Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford have combined to average 18.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
The 6'1" forward Poindexter averages 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds, while the 5'10" guard Crawford averages 7.1 points and 4.2 boards.
The duo has combined for 21 double-figure scoring games … Poindexter with 14 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.

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 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.9 blocks and 0.8 steals per game.
She is shooting 41.9 percent from the field, 27.0 from 3-point range and 80.9 from the free throw line.
Poindexter is second in The American in blocked shots with 41 for a 1.9 average and had a career-high six against Cincinnati
Poindexter has named the AAC's Freshman of the Week seven 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 four statistical categories. Tulsa leads in Field Goal % – .421 (563-1336); 3-Point FG % – .362 (178-492); 3-Point FG Made – 8.09 (178) and Assist/Turnover Ratio – 1.23 (324/263).
See full chart below.

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.

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.

Maddie's Big Threes on the Road

Maddie Bittle has hit some big three-pointers in her senior season, but perhaps none more important than a couple treys in the final minutes of two Tulsa AAC road wins.
On the road at Wichita State and the game tied at 56-56 with 2:08 to play, Bittle's three-pointer put the Hurricane up for good in a seven-point victory.
In an earlier road game at Memphis, Bittle knocked down a trey with 0:12 remaining to break a 67-67 tie and propel the Hurricane to a 72-69 victory.

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. East Carolina Preview

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Delanie Crawford

Rebecca Lescay

Maya Mayberry

Wyvette Mayberry

Temira Poindexter

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