Tulane Travels to Middle Tennessee State Wednesday

Wednesday, December 9

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

MTSU

Tulane Travels to Middle Tennessee State Wednesday

Dec 8, 2020 | Women's Basketball

By: Pierce Feltner

When:	Wednesday, Dec. 9 \| 6:30 p.m.
Where:	Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Watch:	CUSA.TV
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Notes:	Tulane (PDF) \| MTSU (PDF)
Live Stats:	Stat Broadcast
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane women's basketball team will hit the road to take on Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Murphy Center on MTSU's campus in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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.            Freeman leads the Green Wave and ranks fourth in the AAC in rebounds per game at 9.3.
4.            Freshman Jerkaila Jordan has made a splash early in her collegiate career. She has been named the AAC Freshman of the Week in both of the first two weeks of the 2020 season. She has led the Green Wave in scoring two of the three games this season.
5.            Jordan currently ranks in the top 10 in the American Athletic Conference in scoring (18.3), rebounding (6.7), field goal percentage (.426), free throw percentage (.923) and blocked shots (1.3). She is sixth among freshman in the NCAA in scoring at 18.3 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY – MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
• The Green Wave and the Blue Raiders have met four times in program history with Middle Tennessee State holding a 3-1 edge.
• The Blue Raiders took the last meeting between the two teams early last season, 64-62.

SCOUTING THE BLUE RAIDERS
• The Blue Raiders opened the 2020-21 season with a loss to Belmont.
• Middle Tennessee was picked to win Conference USA prior to the 2020-21 season.
• The Blue Raiders opened the season with 64 points on 34.0 (18-53) percent shooting from the floor.
• Middle Tennessee forced Belmont into 18 turnovers, while only giving the ball away nine times.
• Redshirt junior Anastasia Hayes was tabbed as the Preseason C-USA Player of the year, after being named C-USA Newcomer of the Year and all-conference first team last season.
• Anastasia Hayes led the team with 25 points, four rebounds, one assist, and four steals against Belmont.
• Sophomore Aislynn Hayes, sister of Anastasia, earned preseason all-conference honors, after earning Freshman All-American honors and C-USA Freshman of the Year honors last season.
• Sophomore Courtney Whitson grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds against Belmont.
• Last season, The Blue Raiders beat the Green Wave, 64-62, on a last second three from Aislynn Hayes. Her sister, Anastasia, led the returners for MTSU with 19 points, four assists and three steals.
• Head coach Rick Insell holds an all-time record of 361-131 record during his 16 seasons at Middle Tennessee State.

AGAINST THE C-USA
• Tulane is 123-96 all-time against teams from Conference USA and 104-54 against C-USA teams under Lisa Stockton.
• The Green Wave have collected an 49-53 record against teams from C-USA on the road.
• The Olive and Blue's last win against a C-USA team came on Dec. 4, 2019, when Tulane beat Southern Miss, 62-58, on the road.

CARDIAC WAVE
• The Olive and Blue have had 26 of their last 34 games decided by 10 points or less dating back to last season. The Green Wave are 12-14 in those games.
• Within those 26 games, 18 were decided by five points or less. Tulane is 11-7 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.

HOMETOWN CONNECTION
• The 2020-21 Tulane roster boasts three graduates of John Curtis Christian. Junior Dynah Jones, sophomore Salma Bates and freshman Jerkaila Jordan all played at John Curtis under Tulane alum Barbara Farris, who now serves as an assistant coach at Stetson University.
• During their time at John Curtis, Jones won two Louisiana State Championships, Bates captured three state titles and Jordan took home four. Jordan was named MVP of all four title games.
• They all join 2018 Kolby Morgan as graduates of John Curtis to play at Tulane.

FRESHMAN LEADS THE WAY
• Freshman Jerkaila Jordan currently leads the Green Wave with 18.3 points per game, 20 field goals made, 55 total points, 12 made free throws, four blocked shots and a .923 free throw percentage.
• Jordan ranks sixth nationally among freshman in points per game.

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.

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.

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 - 1,097
...
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 14 points from 1,000 and 67 rebounds from 600.
• Sierra Cheatham is 78 points from 700.
• Kaila Anderson is 40 assists from 300.
• Arsula Clark is 58 rebounds from 600.

UP NEXT
The Green Wave will finish up the five-game road trip as they open conference play at UCF. Tulane will travel to Orlando to play the Knights on Dec. 15.

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