Texas Women’s Basketball Preview vs. Baylor – Big 12 Championship Final | Horns Illustrated
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,
