Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship – Final
Game 32: TEXAS (22-9, 9-9) vs. #6/7 Baylor (29-3, 16-2)
Date/Time: Monday, March 9 | 8 p.m. Central
Site: Dallas, Texas | American Airlines Arena (10,487)
TV: FOX Sports 1 – Ron Thulin (play-by-play), Brenda VanLengen (analyst)
Radio: KVET AM-1300 The Zone or TexasSports.com – Craig Way (play-by-play), Fran Harris (analyst)
Live Stats: Big12Sports.com
Game Notes
Championship Central [Big12Sports.com]
TEXAS-BAYLOR SERIES
• Texas and Baylor meet for the 89th time in series history to decide the 2015 Big 12 Championship title on Monday (8 p.m. Central, FOX Sports 1).
• The Longhorns and Lady Bears have only faced three previous times in Big 12 or Southwest Conference postseason play, with Texas winning all three in 1992 (SWC quarterfinal, 84-56), 2004 (Big 12 semifinal, 63-59), and 2008 (Big 12 quarterfinal, 76-61).
• Texas leads the all-time series with Baylor, 57-31, but Baylor enters Monday having won the last 10 meetings. The last Texas victory in the series was by a score of 70-54 on March 7, 2010 in Waco.
• Texas has a 7-2 series advantage at neutral site locations.
TEXAS IN THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
• Texas will play in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship final for the fourth time in program history. The Longhorns are 1-2 in the previous three appearances in the Championship final. In 2000, UT made its first appearance in a Big 12 Championship final as a No. 6 seed. Texas also advanced to the finals in 2003 and 2004 as a No. 1 seed.
• The Longhorns’ only Big 12 postseason title was in 2003, featuring Karen Aston as an assistant under hall-of-fame coach Jody Conradt. Texas went on to advance to the Final Four in 2003.
• In the Big 12 Championship, Texas is 21-17 overall, 13-12 against current Big 12 members, 8-4 as a No. 6 seed, 1-2 in the final round, and 3-2 under Head Coach Karen Aston.
• Texas is 5-10 as the lower seed in the Big 12 Championship.
• In the 19th year of the Big 12 Championship, Texas is making its fifth appearance as a No. 6 seed. Texas has more wins as a No. 6 seed (8-4) than any other seeding, including No. 1 (5-1).
LAST EIGHT GAMES
• Since starting the conference season 4-8, Texas has won seven of its last eight seven games entering Monday’s contest against Baylor.
• During the last eight games, the Longhorns are averaging 68.1 points and holding opponents to 56.2 points per game — an +11.9 scoring margin.
• Texas began its first 12 games of conference play shooting 26 percent from 3-point range. The Longhorns are now shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc in the last eight games.
• Freshman guard Ariel Atkins and junior center Imani McGee-Stafford are the team’s co-leading scorers during this period, averaging 10.5 points.
• McGee-Stafford also has team-highs of 8.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.3 steals, and a .509 field goal percentage in just 19.5 minutes off the bench during this period.
• Atkins (18-20 FT) is shooting 90 percent from the free throw line in the last eight games.
• Junior guard Brady Sanders has 24 assists on just 12 turnovers during this run. Sanders also averages 9.4 points with a team-high 13 3-pointers (.448 3FG%) in the last eight games.
DEEP BENCH
• In the last six games, UT’s bench has out-scored the opponent’s bench by a total of 162-34 (an average of 276).
• 11 Longhorns average more than 10 minutes per game.
• Texas’ bench out-scores its counterpart by an average of 25-to-13, including a 30-to-8 advantage during postseason play.
TOP 10 TOPPERS
• The Longhorns are facing their fourth top-10 opponent this season in No. 6/7 Baylor.
• Texas is 3-0 against top-10 teams this season with wins at then-No. 6/1 Stanford (Nov. 20), against then-No. 4/5 Tennessee (Nov. 30) in Austin against then-No. 4/5 Texas A&M in Little Rock, Arkansas.
CRASHING THE BOARDS
• Texas has out-rebounded 29 of 31 opponents this season.
• UT’s +10.2 rebounding margin ranks 11th in the nation.
• The Horns are averaging 42.8 rebounds per game and holding opponents to 32.7 rebounds per game.
20 WINS
• Texas (22-9, 9-9 Big 12) reached 20 wins for the 32nd time in program history this season.
• For the second consecutive season, Texas won its 20th game in the regular season finale — needing 30 games to reach 20 wins last season, and 29 games to reach 20 wins this season.
• Last season’s 22-win campaign broke a three-season drought of reaching 20 wins.
• All of UT’s 20-win teams have earned a berth in the NCAA Championship, since joining the Association in the 1982-83 season.
• Karen Aston has been apart of eight 20-win teams at Texas — six as an assistant coach (1998-2006) and two as a head coach (2012-present).
POINTS IN THE PAINT
• Texas is out-scoring its opponents in the paint by an average of 33-to-20, a +13 point margin.
• Texas has scored 40+ points in the paint in six games this season, including Saturday’s Big 12 quarterfinal game against TCU (40).
• During non-conference play, Texas had a 41-19 scoring advantage in the paint.
POSTSEASON PLAY
In two postseason games:
• Texas has held its opponents to 53.5 points per game on 28.9 percent shooting from the field,
• Texas has a +10.0 rebound margin,
• opponents are making just 10.5 two-point field goals per game,
• Texas has 44 field goals (22.0 fg/game) on 35 assists (17.5 ast/game),
• guards Celina Rodrigo and Krystle Henderson have come off the bench to combine for a 14-to-2 (7.0) assist-to-turnover ratio,
• junior center Imani McGee-Stafford averages 10.0 points on 61.5 percent shooting with 9.5 rebounds in just 19.0 minutes per game,
Discover more from Horns Illustrated
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.