Tulane Hosts UCF Wednesday in Conference Tilt

When:	Wednesday, Jan. 22 \| 7 p.m.
Where:	New Orleans \| Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse
Watch:	CST/ESPN3
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Notes:	Tulane (PDF) \| UCF (PDF)
Live Stats:	Stat Broadcast
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women's basketball team will continue American Athletic Conference play as it hosts UCF on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

This game will serve as the We Back Pat game and fans are encouraged to wear purple in support of the cause.

STARTING FIVE
1.            Tulane has made three 17-plus-point comeback wins on the road this season. The Green Wave got their third big comeback win with an 18-point come-from-behind win at SMU.
2.            The Green Wave made the biggest comeback in the American Athletic Conference play this season when they fought back from down 18 at SMU on Jan. 15. Wichita State has the second-largest at 13 points against Tulsa.
3.            Junior Krystal Freeman scored a career-high 30 points in the 67-66 win at SMU on Jan. 15. This eclipsed her previous career-high of 27 at Houston on Feb. 20, 2019.
4.            Tulane leads the American Athletic Conference and ranks 20th in the NCAA in 3-point field goal defense as it has held opponents to 26.1 percent from behind the arc.
5.            Tulane has started league play 5-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season and tied for the best start to a conference season in Stockton's tenure. A sixth straight conference win would mark the best start to conference play in program history.

SERIES HISTORY – UCF
• Tulane leads the all-time series with UCF 13-10. UCF took the last meeting between the two teams, 52-42, in Orlando.
• The Olive and Blue are 7-2 against the Knights in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
• The Green Wave have collected an 11-8 overall record against UCF under head coach Lisa Stockton.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
• The Knights come into the game in New Orleans with a 10-6 overall record and a 2-2 conference mark.
• UCF has averaged 63.4 points on 40.8 percent shooting from the field.
• UCF leads the AAC in free throw percentage at .753 and rebounding defense at 32.3. The Knights are second in the conference in 3-point perecentage at 33.2 percent.
• UCF has forced opponents into 20.1 turnovers per game and scored 19.1 points off said turnovers.
• Kay Kay Wright has led the Knights with 16.0 points and 3.9 assists per game. She is fifth in the conference in points per game.
• Masseny Kaba has grabbed a team-high
6.6 rebounds per game this season. She has added 8.2 points per game.
• Brittany Smith has averaged 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
• Head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has collected a 79-36 record during her four seasons at UCF.
• She previously made stops at Albany and Missouri State. Smith has amassed a 320-144 career record.

AGAINST THE AMERICAN
• Tulane is 44-45 in American Athletic Conference play.
• Under coach Stockton, Tulane is 233-161 in conference games.
LAST MATCHUP
• The Knights took the last matchup between the two teams, 52-42, on March 2, 2019.
• UCF opened up with an early lead, but the Green Wave fought back to take a two-point lead going into the fourth. The Knights outscored Tulane 19-7 in the final quarter.
• Kay Kay Wright led UCF with 16 points, while Nyala Shuler grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
• Krystal Freeman added 11 points and seven rebounds for Tulane.

COMEBACK KIDS
• Tulane trailed by 18 points with 1:24 remaining in the third quarter at Washington. Tulane then went on a 31-11 run to close the game and take a 64-62 win.
• Junior Arsula Clark knocked down the game winner with 0.5 seconds remaining to cap off the comeback. She scored 14 of her game-high 18 points in the second half.
• The Green Wave rallied from down 17 in the third at Southern Miss. on Dec. 4 and pulled out the win.
• Tulane went on a 23-3 run from the six-minute mark in the third to the 8:19 mark in the fourth quarter to take the lead over the Lady Eagles and finish the game with a win.
• Clark scored 17 of her 20 points in the second half to lead the charge.
• The Green Wave fell behind 55-37 with 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter at SMU.
• Tulane reeled off runs of 8-2, 6-0 and 10-1 to tie the game at 64 with a minute left. After two free throws from SMU, junior Krystal Freeman knocked down a three to win the game.
• Freeman scored eight points, sophomore Dynah Jones added seven and Clark logged five during the run.

FREEMAN DROPS 30
• Junior Krystal Freeman scored 30 points in the win at SMU. She was the first Tulane player to score 30 points since Kolby Morgan dropped 30 against Houston on Jan. 6, 2018.
• With her first three of the game at SMU, Freeman logged the 700th point of her career. She scored the first 14 points for the Green Wave against the Mustangs.

FAST CONFERENCE START
• Tulane has started the American Athletic Conference slate with a 5-0 record. This is the first time the Green Wave have started 5-0 in conference play since the 2002-03 season in C-USA.
• A sixth straight win would make it the best start conference play under coach Stockton.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Coming up soon:
• Krystal Freeman is three rebounds from 400.
• Kayla Manuirirangi is 13 points from 600.
• Arsula Clark is 16 rebounds from 500.
• Arsula Clark is 50 points from 1,000.
• Krystal Freeman is 68 points from 800.

800 GAMES COACHED
• The game with Cincinnati on Jan. 18 marked the 800th game Lisa Stockton has coached at Tulane and the 890th game of her career.

CLARK EARNS HONORS
• Junior Arsula Clark was named College Sports Madness AAC Player of the Week on Jan. 20. She has been named to the American Honor Roll three times (Nov. 11; Nov. 18; Jan. 13) this season.

GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
• Junior Sierra Cheatham gets it done on and off the court. She is currently averaging 5.7 points and 4.3 rebounds on the court. The Houston native registered at 4.0 GPA while majoring in neuroscience in the fall semester.

FREEMAN EARNS AAC HONORS
• Freeman was named to the AAC Honor Roll on Dec. 30 after logging a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia Southern. This marked her fifth double-double in six games.
• She earned the honor a second time this season on Dec. 20 after 30 points at SMU and recording nine rebounds, four assists and three steals against Cincinnati.

IT'S A BLOCK PARTY
• Tulane blocked a season-high 12 shots against Georgia Southern on Dec. 30. This was the most blocked shots by a Green Wave team since the Olive and Blue swatted 12 shots on Dec. 9, 2002 against Drake.
• The Olive and Blue rank second in the AAC in the category with 4.8 blocks per game.
• Sophomore Mia Heide ranks second in the American and 30th in the NCAA in blocked shots per game at 2.2.

THREE-POINT DEFENSE
• Green Wave opponents are shooting 26.1 percent from behind the arc this season. This figure ranks first in the AAC and 20th in the NCAA.
• The good 3-point defense started the 2019-20 season as Jackson State shot 15.8 percent from behind the arc. This was the lowest 3-point percentage by a Tulane opponent since Memphis shot 11.1 percent on 2/2/2019.
• Tulane held Central Arkansas to 17.6 percent from 3-point range.
• The Wave held Charlotte to 16.7 percent shooting from behind the arc on Nov. 29.
• The Olive and Blue continued the good defense holding Colorado to 16.7 percent shooting from three on Dec. 21.
• The Green Wave added Georgia Southern to the list of under 20 percent shooting when they held the Eagles to 10.0 percent shooting from behind the arc. This was the lowest mark by a Tulane opponent since SMU shot 6.7 (1-15) percent from behind the arc on Jan. 12, 2019.

KEEPING OPPONENTS UNDER 60
• Tulane has held strong on the defensive end, holding eight opponents under sixty points thus far this season. The Green Wave are 7-2 when their opponent scores 60 points or fewer.
• Tulane's opponents are averaging 59.8 points per game this season.
• The Green Wave held Jackson State to 46 points on 22.7 percent shooting.
• Central Arkansas' 38 total points were the fewest points allowed by the Green Wave since FAMU scored 32 in 2018.
• The Green Wave held Georgia Southern to 40 points on Dec. 30 and Wichita State to 56 points on Jan. 5.

SINGLE-DIGIT QUARTERS
• The Olive and Blue have made a point to be strong defensively under coach Stockton. Tulane held LSU to two points in the second quarter on Nov. 17, which marked the 15th time Tulane has held an opponent to five or fewer points in a quarter since the NCAA moved to the four quarters format in the 2015-16 season.
• The Green Wave only allowed Georgia Southern to score in double-digits in the third quarter.

HOLDING THE LEAD
• Tulane has done a tremendous job of getting out front and staying there since last season. The team is 21-1 when it leads games with five minutes left, 17-5 when it leads after the third quarter, 18-5 when it leads at halftime and 16-4 when it leads after the first quarter stretching over the last two seasons.

UP NEXT
• The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 25, as they travel to USF. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. in Tampa, Fla.

TICKETS
Tickets for the 2019-20 season can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.

Tulane Hosts UCF Wednesday in Conference Tilt

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Players Mentioned

Sierra Cheatham

Arsula Clark

Krystal Freeman

Mia Heide

Dynah Jones

Kayla Manuirirangi

Kolby Morgan

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