Tulane Continues Road Trip at Georgia Tech Thursday

Thursday, December 3

Atlanta, Ga.

5 p.m.

Tulane University

Georgia Tech

Tulane Continues Road Trip at Georgia Tech Thursday

Dec 2, 2020 | Women's Basketball

By: Pierce Feltner

When:	Thursday, Dec. 3 \| 5 p.m.
Where:	Atlanta, Ga. \| McCamish Pavilion
Watch:	ACC Network Extra
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Notes:	Tulane (PDF) \| Georgia Tech (PDF)
Live Stats:	Stat Broadcast
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane women's basketball team will finish up its two-game road trip at Georgia Tech on Thursday, Dec. 3. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT at McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.

STARTING FIVE
1.            Senior Krystal Freeman earned Second Team All-American Athletic Conference honors last season. She was named preseason first team in the conference as an unanimous selection headed into the 2020-21 season. She averaged 15.0 points and 7.7 rebounds to lead the Green Wave last season.
2.            Senior Arsula Clark earned Preseason Second Team All-AAC after averaging 12.7 points, 4.9 rebound and 2.7 assists last season.
3.            Freshman Jerkaila Jordan made a splash in her collegiate debut. She opened her career with the Green Wave with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. She was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week after the performance.
4.            The Green Wave had four different players score in double-figures in the season opener vs. Nicholls with Freeman (23), Jerkaila Jordan (17), Sierra Cheatham (12) and Dynah Jones (11).
5.            Jordan followed up her first collegiate performance with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals at South Alabama, while Clark added 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in her season debut.

SERIES HISTORY – GEORGIA TECH
• The Green Wave and the Yellow Jackets have met five times in program history with Georgia Tech holding a 4-1 edge.
• Tulane took the last meeting between the two teams in the 2016 WNIT. Under head coach Lisa Stockton, the Olive and Blue are 1-2 against the Yellow Jackets.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
• The Yellow Jackets opened the 2020-21 season with a win over Georgia State and a loss to Georgia. All of Georgia Tech's games have been played at home this season.
• Georgia Tech was picked to finish fifth out of 15 teams in the ACC by the coaches.
• The Yellow Jackets have held their opponents to 56.5 points per game this season. They kept Georgia State in check only allowing the Panthers to score 38 points in the 2020-21 season opener.
• Georgia Tech has put an emphasis on stopping the three this year only allowing opponents to shoot 17.9 percent from behind the arc through two games this season.
• The Yellow Jackets have averaged 50 rebounds per game thus far this season.
• Senior Lorela Cubaj currently leads the ACC with 13.5 rebounds per game. She adds 14.0 points per game.
• Junior Lotta-Maj Lahtinen adds 10.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for Georgia Tech this season.
• The Yellow Jackets have two other double-digits scorers this season in freshman Loyal McQueen (12.0) and redshirt junior Sarah Bates (10.5).
• Redshirt senior Savannah Jones was tabbed for first team all-conference honors as well. She added five points and 13 rebounds in the win over Mobile.
• Head coach Nell Fortner holds an all-time record of 21-12 record during her two seasons in Midtown Atlanta.
• Fortner previously made stops at Auburn and Purdue. He holds 183-129 overall record.

AGAINST THE ACC
• Tulane is 35-52 all-time against teams from the ACC and 17-18 against ACC teams under Lisa Stockton.
• The Green Wave have collected an 5-31 record against teams from the Sun Belt on the road.
• The Olive and Blue's last win against an ACC team came on Dec. 17, 2016, when Tulane beat NC State, 63-58.

CARDIAC WAVE
• The Olive and Blue have had 25 of their last 33 games decided by 10 points or less dating back to last season. The Green Wave are 12-13 in those games.
• Within those 25 games, 17 were decided by five points or less. Tulane is 11-6 in games decided by five points or less dating back to last season, including going 2-1 in games that finished with the exact final score of 64-62.
• Although the Wave have played many close games in the last two seasons, Tulane has only played two overtime games in that time. The Olive and Blue beat Tulsa Jan. 8 and fell to Houston Feb. 1 in overtime last season.
• The Green Wave also had a knack for mounting double-digit comebacks last season. Tulane started the trend in the second game of the season as it overcame an 18-point deficit at Washington to take a 64-62 win over the Huskies.
• The Green Wave mounted 17-point comebacks at both Southern Miss and SMU as well.

FREEMAN FROM DEEP
• Senior Krystal Freeman made a big jump from behind the 3-point line last season. In her first two seasons Uptown, Freeman made three total shots behind the arc. The Pineville, La., native upped that number to 39 last season.
• The 1,300 percent increase was the highest percentage jump in the nation from behind the arc.
• She also returns as the highest percentage shooter from three for the Green Wave at .351. The Pineville, La., native also made the second-most threes among returning players.
• Freeman opened the 2020-21 season going 3-6 from behind the arc against Nicholls. She continued the good shooting from three going 3-8 at South Alabama.

RETURNING THE OFFENSE
• Tulane will bring back 89.3 percent of its scoring and 95.2 percent of its rebounding from the 2019-20 season. This is the second-highest percentage of any team in the American behind SMU.
• The four seniors (Krystal Freeman, Arsula Clark, Sierra Cheatham and Kaila Anderson) on the roster for the Olive Blue are tied for second with Memphis and Temple for the second-most in the American Athletic Conference. ECU boasts six for the most in the league.
• The Green Wave graduated two seniors last season, Kayla Manuirirangi and Maddison Wells.
• Tulane opened the season with an 88-point outburst. This was the most points the Green Wave have scored since they beat FAU, 88-45, on Nov. 28, 2018.

FREEMAN IS BACK
• Senior Krystal Freeman returns for her senior season after leading the Green Wave in points and rebounds in the past two seasons.
• Freeman scored 15.0 points and grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game last season.
• Last season, the Pineville, La., native ranked sixth in The American in field goal percentage (.454), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (.351), eighth in scoring (15.0), ninth in rebounding (7.7) and 12th in steals (1.7).
• Freeman opened the season with the 18th double-double of her career as she scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Nicholls.
• She continued to be one of the top players for the Green Wave, as she logged 19 points, eight rebounds and two steals at South Alabama.

AMBASSADOR CHEATHAM
• Senior Sierra Cheatham was named the Ambassador Award winner by the American Athletic Conference the past two seasons.
• Cheatham is the only person to win the award twice in conference history.
• The award is given annually to the student-athlete who most exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court – ethical behavior, fair play and integrity – along with community service off the court.

CLARK STEPS UP
• Clark stepped up last season for the Green Wave as a transfer from Louisiana Monroe. She led the team with 84 assists, 129 free throws made and 190 free throws attempted.
• She was second on the team with 12.7 points per game and added 4.9 rebounds.
• The Miami native was named Preseason All-AAC Second team after dropping 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the AAC Tournament against Tulsa.
• Clark narrowly missed recording the first triple-double in program history when she logged 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the win over Cincinnati on Jan. 18, 2020.
• She opened her 2020-21 season right where she left off posting 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals at South Alabama.

LOUISIANA TALENT
• Freshman Jerkaila Jordan comes to Tulane after winning four straight Louisiana High School State Championships at John Curtis. She was named the MVP of each championship game.
• Jordan was named the Gatorade Player of the Year and Miss Basketball in the state of Louisiana in 2020. She was also the No. 45 recruit in the nation coming out of high school.
• She opened her collegiate career with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals against Nicholls.
• Jordan earned AAC Freshman of the Week honors for her efforts against Nicholls.
• She followed that performance up with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals at South Alabama. The freshman guard shot 2-3 from behind the arc and 4-4 from the charity stripe in Mobile, Ala.

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, 2019. The Green Wave also held Temple to four points in the third quarter March 3,2020.
• The Olive and Blue have held opponents to five or fewer points in a quarter 17 times 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 on Dec. 30, 2019.
• Tulane held opponents to single-digits in a quarter 15 times last season.
• The Green Wave picked up right where they left off on the defensive side of the ball and only allowed Nicholls to put up four points in the third quarter in the 2020-21 season opener.

STOCKTON THE LEGEND
• Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton has amassed 587 NCAA wins in her 30-year coaching career. This number currently ranks 19th among all active Division I coaches. Stockton has the most wins of any coach in the American Athletic Conference.

WINS AMONG ACTIVE COACHES
1. Tara VanDerveer, Stanford - 1,095
...
T-17. Mike McLaughlin, Penn - 606
T-17. Kim Maulkey, Baylor - 606
19. Lisa Stockton, Tulane – 587

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Coming up soon:
• Krystal Freeman is 21 points from 1,000 and 77 rebounds from 600.
• Sierra Cheatham is 80 points from 700.
• Kaila Anderson is 40 assists from 300.
• Arsula Clark is 62 rebounds from 600.

UP NEXT
The Green Wave will return home on Sunday, Dec. 6, to play Southeastern Louisiana. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane women's basketball (@GreenWaveWBB) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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