Green Wave Start Conference Play at Wichita State Sunday

Sunday, January 5

Wichita, Kan.

2 p.m.

Tulane University

Wichita State

Green Wave Start Conference Play at Wichita State Sunday

Jan 4, 2020 | Women's Basketball

By: Pierce Feltner

When:	Sunday, Jan. 5 \| 2 p.m.
Where:	Wichita, Kan. \| Charles Koch Arena
Watch:	American Digital Network
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Notes:	Tulane (PDF)
Live Stats:	Stat Broadcast
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women's basketball team will travel to take on Wichita State to begin American Athletic Conference play on Sunday, Jan. 5. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena.

STARTING FIVE
1.            Tulane has made two 17-plus-point comeback wins on the road this season. The Green Wave rallied back from down 18 points in the third quarter at Washington. The Olive and Blue trailed by 17 in the third quarter at Southern Miss and came back to win.
2.            Junior Krystal Freeman was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Tuesday, Dec. 31, after collecting her fifth double-double in six games against Georgia Southern on Dec. 30. She joins junior Arsula Clark as the only two Green Wave players to earn the honor this season.
3.            Tulane has collected a 4-1 record in American Athletic Conference season openers and a 3-2 record in AAC road starters.
4.            Tulane leads the American Athletic Conference in 3-point field goal defense as it has held opponents to 26.3 percent from behind the arc.
5.            The Green Wave held Georgia Southern to 10.0 (1-10) percent shooting from three, which is the lowest percentage since the Olive and Blue kept SMU to 6.7 (1-15) percent on Jan. 12, 2019.

SERIES HISTORY – WICHITA STATE
• The Shockers lead the all-time series 3-1 against the Green Wave with Tulane taking the first meeting and Wichita State grabbing the last three.

SCOUTING THE SHOCKERS
• Wichita State comes into the game with a 8-6 record. The Shockers fell to No. 1 UConn in their last game.
• The Shockers score 67.5 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting from the field, which ranks fourth in the AAC.
• Wichita State has averaged 35.6 rebounds per game this season.
• The Shockers force opponents to turn the ball over 20.6 times per game and score 20.6 points off said turnovers.
• Mariah McCully leads the Shockers with 12.9 points per game.
• DJ McCarty is the second-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game.
• Shyia Smith is the team leader in rebounds with 5.9 per game.
• Seraphine Bastin is the team's facilitator with 3.2 assists per game. Bastin adds 8.1 points a match.
• Head coach Keitha Adams holds an all-time record of 318-250 and a 34-41 record during her time in Wichita, Kansas.
• Adams previously had a stint of 16 seasons at UTEP.

AGAINST THE AMERICAN
• Tulane is 39-45 in American Conference play. The Green Wave has collected a 4-1 record in AAC season openers and a 3-2 record in American road starters.
• Under coach Stockton, Tulane is 228-161 in conference games during her career in New Orleans.
• The Green Wave are 14-11 in conference openers and 16-9 in road conference openers under coach Stockton.
• Under Stockton, the Olive and Blue are 6-5 when the conference schedule begins on the road.

LAST MATCHUP
• The Shockers took the last matchup 62-44 last season in New Orleans on Jan. 26, 2019.
• Wichita State jumped out to an 11-4 lead after the first quarter. Tulane cut the lead to 26-20 at halftime, but the Shockers outscored the Green Wave 36-24 in the second half.
• Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage led Wichita State with 16 points, while Krystal Freeman scored a team-high 12 points for Tulane.
• The Green Wave logged 26 rebounds, 13 assists and seven steals, while the Shockers registered 36 rebounds, 13 assists and seven stelas.

COMEBACK KIDS
• The Olive and Blue 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 made another comeback as they 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.

DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
• Juniors Arsula Clark and Krystal Freeman both logged double-doubles against South Alabama. Clark recorded 14 points and 15 rebounds, while Freeman added 12 points and 12 boards.
• This was the first time two Tulane players registered double-doubles in the same game since Tiffany Dale (12 points and 12 rebounds) and Chinwe Duru (13 points and 11 rebounds) achieved the feat on Dec. 28, 2013 against Northeastern.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Coming up soon:
• Sierra Cheatham is 21 points from 500.
• Krystal Freeman is 48 points from 700.
• Arsula Clark is 123 points from 1,000.

ANDERSON DISHING DIMES
• Kaila Anderson dished out a career-high 10 assists against MTSU. She logged seven of the 10 in the first half.
• Anderson started the season with high assist numbers as she logged six assists against Jackson State Nov. 5.
• The Kenner, Louisiana, native ranks ninth in the AAC in assists per game at 3.7.

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 the last six games.

MANUIRIRANGI GETS 500
• After scoring a combined 21 points at the Puerto Rico Clasico, senior Kayla Manuirirangi scored the 500th point of her career. She currently has 550 points in her career.
• She led the team with a season-high 16 points in the win over Georgia Southern on Dec. 30.

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.

THREE-POINT DEFENSE
• Green Wave opponents are shooting 26.3 percent from behind the arc this season. This figure ranks first in the AAC.
• 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.

DEFENSE DOES IT
• The Green Wave defense was strong last season, giving up fewer than 60 points 15 times and fewer than 50 points four times. On December 30, 2018, against FAMU, Tulane allowed just 34 points. The team's scoring defense of 59.9 points per game ranked 67th nationally, and opponents' .367 field goal percentage ranked 34th in the nation.
• The good defense continued this season as the Green Wave held Jackson State to 46 points on 22.7 percent shooting. Tulane's opponents are averaging 60.5 points per game this season.
• The Green Wave held LSU to 59 points and 39.6 percent shooting. This included holding the Tigers to two points in the second quarter, 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.
• Tulane has held opponents to 9.0 points during the second quarter of home games this season.
• 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. They only allowed the Eagles to score in double-digits in the third quarter.

STRONG FIRST HALVES
• The Olive and Blue held Central Arkansas to 13 points in the first half on Nov. 22. This was the fewest points scored by a Tulane opponent in the first half since FAMU scored 11 in the first two periods on Dec. 30, 2018.
• Tulane has outscored opponents 398-358 in first halves this season and 300-210 in the first half at home.

HOLDING THE LEAD
• Tulane has done a tremendous job of getting out front and staying there since last season. The team is 18-1 when it leads games with five minutes left, 15-5 when it leads after the third quarter, 15-5 when it leads at halftime and 13-4 when it leads after the first quarter stretching over the last two seasons.

ROLLING DEEP
• Through the regular season, the Green Wave bench played a huge part of the offense. Tulane bench players combined for 21.2 points per game in 2018-19, and Green Wave opponents averaged just 14.1 points per game off the bench.
• The bench is averaging 21.9 points per game through the first 13 games of the season.
• Arsula Clark was a spark off the bench scoring 15 and 18 points in the first two games of the season, respectively. She scored 13 of her game-high 18 in the fourth quarter at Washington. Clark started her first game of the season against MTSU.
• Dynah Jones provided 11 points off the bench against Central Arkansas. Mia Heide scored 12 and added five blocks off the bench against Alabama.
• The team scored a season-high 56 points off the bench on Nov. 28 against Boston College.
• Kayla Manuirirangi led the team in scoring with 16 points off the bench against Georgia Southern Dec. 30.

SPREADING THE BALL AROUND
• On the 2017-18 roster, only six players averaged at least 4.0 points per game. Last season, eight players averaged at least 4.0 points per game.
• Through game 13 this season, six players are averaging at least 4.0 points per game and two players are averaging double-figures.

UP NEXT
The Green Wave will continue American Athletic Conference play as they host Tulsa on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

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.

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