Women's Hoops to Face No. 2 UConn in New Orleans Wednesday Night

Wednesday, January 16

New Orleans

7 p.m.

Tulane University

UConn

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Women's Hoops to Face No. 2 UConn in New Orleans Wednesday Night

Jan 15, 2019 | Women's Basketball

GAME 17: TULANE GREEN WAVE (13-3, 3-0) vs. #2 UCONN HUSKIES (14-1, 3-0)
When:	Wednesday, January 15 \| 7 p.m. CST
Where:	New Orleans \| Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse
Watch:	TV: SNY \| Online: ESPN3
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Live Scoring:	Statbroadcast
Notes:	Tulane \| UConn
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The biggest home game of the season has arrived. Tulane will look to extend its winning streak to seven games when No. 2 UConn comes to Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Tickets are still available through TulaneTix.com. Fans can also bundle any remaining game with the UConn game for just $23 with a mini plan.

The first 200 fans through the gate will receive a Tulane beanie, and students get in for free as always with a valid Splash Card.

STARTING FIVE

Tulane has the longest active winning streak among American Athletic Conference teams right now as it enters Wednesday with six straight wins. Tulane is on a six -game winning streak for the first time since November-December 2015.
The Green Wave are receiving five points in last week's USA Today Coaches Poll and have the third-highest RPI in The American.
Tulane went on a 14-0 run in the middle of its game against SMU on Saturday including 9 consecutive points on three 3-pointers from Kayla Manuirirangi. The junior tied her career high with five 3-pointers made total in the win.
Sophomore Kaila Anderson is leading the conference with 26 total assists through three league games and was named to the American Athletic Conference Honor Roll on Monday for the first time in her career.
No team from The American has come as close to defeating UConn as Tulane did in 2017 in a 63-60 loss in New Orleans. The Huskies are 104-0 all-time in American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament games.

SERIES HISTORY – UCONN

The Green Wave and Huskies have faced off 10 times since Tulane joined the AAC in 2014-15, and UConn has swept Tulane in all of those meetings.
The teams have met at least twice every year since 2015 including in the league tournament twice. UConn ended Tulane's season last year in the tournament quarterfinals.
Tulane is the team that has come the closest to beating Connecticut in The American, losing by a narrow 63-60 margin in February 2017 that remains the Huskies' narrowest margin of victory in any American Athletic Conference game. UConn has never lost a regular season or tournament game against an American Athletic Conference foe.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES

The Huskies, based out of Storrs, Connecticut, are one of the dominant programs in women's college basketball. Coach Geno Auriemma has taken the Huskies to 11 national championships since 1995 including four straight from 2013-16.
UConn is ranked No. 3 in the nation in the latest AP and USA Today Coaches Polls prior to publication, as the Huskies have a 14-1 record and a 3-0 mark in league play. The team's only loss was on the road at now-No. 4 Baylor in early January
Two-time All-American Katie Lou Samuelson leads Connecticut with 19.6 points per game but is one of just five players on the team averaging double figures. Napheesa Collier is the team's best rebounder with 10.1 boards per game.
UConn ranks in the top 10 nationally in assists per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, fewest fouls, fewest turnovers, field goal percentage and scoring margin.

A QUARTER CENTURY WITH COACH
Now in her 25th year with the Green Wave women's basketball program in 2018-19, it's hard to imagine anyone else at the helm besides Coach Lisa Stockton. Her numbers are staggering: three different conferences, four conference tournament championships, two conference regular-season championships, six All-Americans, 11 NCAA Tournament berths, seven WNIT spots and a boatload of wins. No one in the history of Tulane women's basketball is even close to Stockton's career numbers.

STOCKTON GETS 500
With a victory over Nicholls on December 4, Coach Lisa Stockton recorded her 500th victory at Tulane. In her 25 years with the Green Wave, Stockton is averaging 20 wins per season – and rising. She is currently the nation's 10th-longest tenured coach at a D1 school. She has more than eight times as many wins as the second-place coach in program history (Joline Matsunami, 1985-90, 60 wins).

TULANE VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
The Green Wave's game against UConn on Wednesday marks its second against a ranked team this year. Tulane is 13-80 against AP ranked teams all time. The Green Wave's last win against a ranked team came on Nov. 19, 2011 against LSU in overtime. Tulane is 0-2 lifetime against the nation's No. 3-ranked team.

RECEIVING VOTES
For the fifth time this year, the Green Wave are in the receiving votes category of the USA Today Coaches Poll. In the poll released January 8 following a win over ECU, Tulane is earning a season-best three points in the poll. Tulane last received two points in the poll on Jan. 2, 2017. The Green Wave had earned two points in last week's poll and one point in three previous polls this season.

SIX IN A ROW
The Green Wave are now on a six-game winning streak overall dating back to the December 22 win over Texas State. Tulane's last six-game winning streak was on Nov. 28-Dec. 30, 2015, a seven-game streak.

FAST START
With its victory over SMU, the Green Wave are now 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2010-11. Tulane was last 4-0 to start conference play also in 2010-11 but has not been 5-0 in its league slate since 2002-03.

MANU'S BIG DAY
Kayla Manuirirangi was a huge part of the Green Wave's victory at SMU on Saturday as she tied for the team high with a season-best 17 points. The junior knocked down five 3-pointers, her highest total of the year and equaling her career best while coming two points away from tying her career high. The game saw Manuirirangi reach double-figure scoring for the fifth time this season.

ANDERSON HONORED
Sophomore guard Kaila Anderson has been on fire lately, as she is currently leading The American in assists in league games with 26. Anderson's 8.7 assists per conference game tops the league, and her assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3 is second in the league. For her excellent passing last week, Anderson earned a spot on the league's Honor Roll on Monday. In three conference games, she has nine, nine and eight assists. Her career high for assists in a game is nine. Her 81 total assists this year ranks second in The American and 40th nationally.

WYATT UP TO EIGHTH
With four blocks at SMU on Saturday, senior Harlyn Wyatt rocketed up the Tulane record book to eighth all-time in program history. Wyatt now has 91 total blocks in her four-year career, and she moved past Angela Rust and her 90 career blocks with her final swat against the Mustangs.

UNDERCLASSMEN OVERPERFORMING
Tulane's roster is seeing a youth movement this year 2018-19 with underclassmen getting a supermajority of minutes played, points scored and assists. Freshmen and sophomores have combined for 66 percent of Green Wave scoring, 64 percent of Tulane minutes and 75 percent of Tulane's assists. Tulane's underclassmen have also contributed 55 percent of the team rebounding.

RUNNING AWAY WITH IT
Huge scoring runs have become a trademark of the Tulane women's basketball team in the last month. On December 29, the Green Wave went on a 19-0 run to close the first quarter against Central Michigan. On December 30 against Florida A&M, Tulane went on an 18-0 run in the first half. On January 5 against ECU, Tulane outscored the Pirates 21-4 during a stretch that spanned the end of the second quarter and start of the third. On January 8 at Temple, Tulane scored 15 consecutive points in the third quarter. And on Saturday at SMU, the Green Wave used an 14-0 run in the second quarter to permanently take the lead from the Mustangs.

HOME SWEET HOME
Tulane is 7-1 so far at home in 2018-19. The Green Wave have never posted a single-season home record below .500 in Lisa Stockton's 24 full years as the coach.

HOLDING THE LEAD
Tulane has done a tremendous job this season of getting out front and staying there. The team is a perfect 12-0 when it leads games with five minutes left, 11-0 when it leads after the third quarter, 11-0 when it leads at halftime and 9-0 when it leads after the first quarter.

DEFENSE DOES IT
The Green Wave defense has been remarkable through 16 games this season, giving up fewer than 60 points 12 times and fewer than 50 points four times. On December 30 against FAMU, Tulane allowed just 34 points. Tulane opponents' .236 shooting percentage from the 3-point line ranks sixth in the nation, opponents' .340 field goal percentage ranks 11th in the nation and the team's scoring defense of 54.8 points per game ranks 13th nationally.

SPREADING THE BALL AROUND
On the 2017-18 roster, only six players averaged at least 4.0 points per game. This season so far, eight players are averaging at least 4.0 points per game.

ROLLING DEEP
Through 14 games this year, the Green Wave bench has been a huge part of the offense. Green Wave bench players have combined 24.6 points per game in 2018-19, and Tulane opponents have averaged just 13.4 points per game off the bench.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against SMU:

Kayla Manuirirangi scored her 400th point.
Erin Gutierrez racked up her 50th assist.
Krystal Freeman recorded her 150th rebound.

Coming up soon:

Tatyana Lofton needs 15 more points for 200 at Tulane.

NEXT UP
After a brief stop in their home arena, the Green Wave are back on the road Saturday against the league's No. 2 team from last season. Tulane will take on USF in Tampa, Florida, at Yuengling Center at 12 p.m.