Women’s Basketball Travels to Cincinnati Saturday

Saturday, January 9

Cincinnati Ohio

1 PM

Tulane University

Cincinnati

Women’s Basketball Travels to Cincinnati Saturday

Jan 8, 2021 | Women's Basketball

By: Pierce Feltner

When:	Saturday, Jan. 9 \| 1 p.m. CT
Where:	Cincinnati, Ohio \| Fifth Third Arena
Watch:	ESPN+
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Notes:	Tulane (PDF) \| Cincinnati (PDF)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women's basketball team will return to the court Saturday, Jan. 9, as it travels to take on Cincinnati. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CT at Fifth Third Arena on Cincinnati's campus.

STARTING FIVE
1.            Freshman Jerkaila Jordan has made a splash early in her collegiate career. She has been honored by the AAC four times. Back on Dec. 14 she was named Conference Player of the Week. She has led the Green Wave in scoring in five of the team's nine games this season.
2.            Jordan leads the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game.
3.            Jordan currently ranks in the top 10 in the American Athletic Conference in scoring (15.2) and field goal percentage (.459). She leads all freshman in The American in scoring and ranks 15th nationally among first-year players.
4.            Senior Arsula Clark earned Preseason Second Team All-AAC honors. She currently ranks third on the team in scoring with a 13.5 points per game average. At ECU, she led the team in scoring with a season-high 28 points.
5.            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 heading into the 2020-21 season. She currently ranks second on the team, averaging 14.6 points per game. Freeman leads the team and ranks fourth in the AAC with 9.1 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY – CINCINNATI
• The Green Wave and the Bearcats have met 34 times in program history with Cincinnati holding a 18-16 edge.
• The two teams split the season series last year with Tulane taking a 64-59 victory in New Orleans and Cincinnati winning, 87-63, in the Ohio.
• Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton holds a 14-9 all-time record against Cincinnati in her career at Tulane.
• Tulane has a 5-4 record under Stockton when playing at Cincinnati.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
• Cincinnati enters its matchup with Tulane carrying a 2-6 overall record and a 1-3 conference mark.
• The Bearcats return to the hardwood after suffering a 62-57 setback against Tulsa on Jan. 6.
• Cincinnati leads the AAC in blocked shots (5.3) and ranks second AAC in field goal percentage (.426). The Bearcats also average 35.5 rebounds and 13.0 assists per game as a team.
• Senior forward IImar'I Thomas leads the way for Cincinnati with 27.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. She is third in the nation and leads the conference in points per game.
• Thomas has scored a minimum of 23 points in every game this season for the Bearcats. She had a season-high of 34 points in the season opener against Northern Kentucky. Thomas has eclipsed the 30-point mark three times this season.
• Thomas also leads the conference in field goal percentage at .594 and ranks second in free throw percentage (.825), fifth in rebounds (8.6) and seventh in assists (3.5).
• Redshirt senior forward Arame Niang ranks second on the team in most categories, including points (8.5), rebounds (5.4) and steals (1.3).
• Cincinnati head coach Michelle Clark-Heard is in his third season on the bench for the Bearcats and has posted a 48-27 mark since arriving at Cincinnati.
• She previously made stops at Kentucky State and Western Kentucky and holds a 226-107 all-time record.

CARDIAC WAVE
• The Olive and Blue have had 28 of their last 38 games decided by 10 points or less dating back to last season. The Green Wave are 12-16 in those games.
• Within those 28 games, 19 were decided by five points or less. Tulane is 11-8 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.

AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS
• Tulane ranks among the league's top five in 19 different statistical categories.
• The Green Wave lead the conference in scoring (72.1) and field goal percentage (.429), while ranking second in assists (16.1). Tulane is third in scoring defense (60.8) and field goal percentage defense (.372), three-point percentage defense (.278) and steals (10.0).

FRESHMAN LEADS THE WAY
• Freshman Jerkaila Jordan currently leads the Green Wave with 15.2 points per game, 137 total points, 28 assists and nine blocked shots.
• Among freshmen, Jordan leads The American in points per game and ranks 15th nationally.

RETURNING THE OFFENSE
• Tulane brings 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.
• The Olive and Blue topped the 80-point mark for the third time this season with the 80-44 win over Memphis on Jan. 2.
• The 80 points were the most the Green Wave had scored against an American Athletic Conference team in regulation since beating Houston 82-56 on Jan. 14, 2017.
• The 36-point margin of victory was the largest against a conference opponent since the Olive and Blue topped Tulsa by 37 points, 78-41, on Jan. 24, 2009.

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.
• Jordan was named player of the week from the AAC on Dec. 14.
• The standout freshman earned her third AAC Freshman of the Week Award on Jan. 4, after logging 15 points, three rebounds and three steals in the win over Memphis.

STOCKTON THE LEGEND
• Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton has amassed 591 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 - 1,103
...
17. Kim Maulkey, Baylor - 612
18. Mike McLaughlin, Penn - 606
19. Lisa Stockton, Tulane - 591

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Coming up soon:
• Krystal Freeman is 13 rebounds from 600.
• Sierra Cheatham is 47 points from 700.
• Kaila Anderson is 26 assists from 300.
• Arsula Clark is 33 rebounds from 600.

UP NEXT
The Green Wave will return to Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Jan. 13, as they take on South Florida. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in New Orleans.

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

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 at NolaBuilt.com.