The SMU women's basketball team takes on Boston College Friday at 2:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. MT in the first round of the Omni Hotel Classic, hosted by the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. The Mustangs will play either Colorado or St. Francis Brooklyn Saturday at either 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT or 2:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. MT. The games can be heard on KAAM 770 AM in the Dallas area.
ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs are 3-1 under first-year head coach
Travis Mays.
Alicia Froling has posted double-doubles in each of the first four games, leading the team in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounds (13.3 rpg).
Kiara Perry has double-doubles in two of the last three games, and led the Mustangs with a career-high 19 points against Prairie View A&M while pulling down 10 rebounds. SMU's lone loss came at TCU, falling 76-67 as the Horned Frogs knocked down 15 3-pointers in 25 attempts.
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
The Eagles are 1-3, and are averaging 60.8 points per game entering the tournament. Mariella Fasoula leads the team with 15.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, and Kelly Hughes is scoring 14.5 points per game. Boston College has given up more than 70 points just once thus far, falling 71-66 at Seton Hall. Opponents have outscored the Eagles by just one point, 61.8-60.8.
SCOUTING COLORADO
The Buffaloes are 4-0, including a win against then-No. 15/19 Kentucky. Kennedy Leonard leads the team with 19.3 points per game, while Alexis Robinson is scoring 15.3 points per game. Haley Smith is also averaging double figures, scoring 11.0 per game. Colorado is scoring 83.2 points per game, while holding opponents to 64.5 points per game.
SCOUTING ST. FRANCIS
The Terriers are 1-2 coming into the tournament, losing both games on the road. Olivia Levey leads the team with 14.3 points per game, and is one of three players averaging double figures scoring. As a team, St. Francis is scoring 68.0 points per game, but opponents are averaging 76.7 points.
SERIES HISTORIES
BOSTON COLLEGE
SMU is 0-2 all-time against Boston College, losing 69-68 is the championship game of the 2009 SMU Thanksgiving Classic. The Eagles won the first meeting, 67-57, on Dec. 28, 2002, in New Orleans at the Tulane Classic. Boston College was ranked No. 20 at the time.
COLORADO
SMU lost the only game it has play against Colorado, 74-56, in Boulder on Nov. 30, 1996.
ST. FRANCIS (New York)
This would be the first meeting between the Mustangs and the Terriers.
LOOKING AHEAD
SMU returns home for two of its next three games before a 10-day break for final exams. The stretch starts in Moody Coliseum on Nov. 20 against North Texas at 7 p.m. The Mustangs play at New Mexico on Dec. 3 before a home game against [RV/25] Texas A&M on Dec. 5.
UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
For the first time since 1991, SMU has a new head coach on the sidelines.
Travis Mays was announced as the fourth head coach in program history on April 7, 2016, after the retirement of Rhonda Rompola, who spent 25 seasons as the head coach of the Mustangs. Mays worked for three Hall of Fame coaches during 12 seasons as a collegiate assistant, helping guide teams to eight NCAA Tournament appearances with a trip to the Final Four with LSU in 2008. A 1990 second-round NBA draft pick out of Texas, Mays' staff includes fellow Longhorns
Edwina Brown and
Amie Smith Bradley, and associate head coach
Mike Brandt, who spent 14 seasons as the head coach at USC Aiken.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
McKenzie Adams was named American Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year after leading the Mustangs in scoring with 13.4 points per game during the 2015-16 season. She scored a season-high 24 points against Kansas, and reached double figures in 25 of 31 games, including 17 conference games.
Alicia Froling was named to the All-American Athletic Conference Third Team, finishing the year as one of three conference players to average a double-double with 12.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. She set a school record with 22 rebounds at Cincinnati, and also scored a career-high 33 points against the Bearcats. Froling was also named to the All-American Athletic Conference Preseason Team.
THE AMERICAN PRESEASON RANKINGS
SMU was picked to finish fifth in the conference by the league's coaches, behind four-time defending national champion Connecticut, Temple, USF and Tulane, respectively. SMU returns two all-conference honorees among nine returning letterwinners.
ANNUAL BLOCK PARTY
As a freshman,
Alicia Froling recorded 54 blocks, surpassing Sarah Davis' mark of 53 blocks during the 2005-06 season. After breaking a record that stood for nine seasons, the Australian's name stayed at the top of the list for only one year. Fellow Australian and sophomore
Stephanie Collins posted 73 blocks in her first full season. Collins enters the 2016-17 campaign with 98 career blocks, while Froling has 99 after blocking three shots at Kansas. The duo would become the first pair of teammates of the same class to each record 100 blocks in program history. The last player to eclipse the century mark was Janielle Dodds who finished with 109 blocks from 2004-08. Sarah Davis holds the school record with 180 blocks from 2003-06.
NATIONALLY RANKED
Stephanie Collins ranked 36th in the nation with 73 blocks last season, setting an SMU single-season record. The sophomore averaged 2.43 blocks per game, 34th in the country. The Australian needs 83 blocks to become the career leader at SMU.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Alicia Froling represented Australia at the 2015 FIBA U19 Women's World Championships in Russia, winning a Bronze medal with the team, her second career medal at the World Championships with Australia. A native of Queensland, Australia, Froling averaged 8.1 points per game, reaching double-figures twice, including a tournament-high 19 points during group play. She also averaged 6.9 rebounds, and shot just under 70 percent from the free throw line.
Stephanie Collins also represented Australia at the 2012 World University Games.
ALICIA FROLING
Alicia Froling was one of three players in the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double last season, scoring 12.3 points with 10.6 rebounds per game, and set an SMU single-season record with 328 rebounds. As a sophomore, Froling finished with 14 double-doubles, the most since Shasta Smothers-Johnson had 15 in the 1984-85 season, and the second most recorded in a season. Froling reached double figures in points 21 times, scoring a career-high 33 points against Cincinnati, becoming the 14th player in SMU history to score 30 points in a game. A Mustang has scored at least 30 points 25 times. She also set an SMU single-game record with 22 rebounds against the Bearcats, the third highest in conference history (24 by UCF's Brittni Montgomery twice). Froling has 23 double-doubles in her career, starting the season with double-doubles in all four games. She scored a season-high 20 points at TCU.
McKENZIE ADAMS
McKenzie Adams led the team and ranked 12th in The American, scoring 13.4 points per game last season, earning conference Newcomer of the Year accolades. She scored a season-high 24 points against Kansas last season, and reached double figures 25 times, including a streak of 11 straight games. The transfer from Arkansas was 11th in the conference, shooting 78.3 percent from the free-throw line, making 94 of 120 attempts. She also had a team-high 76 assists with 28 steals. Adams is averaging 13.0 points this season, and led SMU with 21 points at TCU.
STEPHANIE COLLINS
Stephanie Collins was second in The American and 36th in the NCAA with 73 blocks, breaking the SMU single-season record
Alicia Froling set with 54 blocks as a freshman in 2014-15. Collins posted 25 blocks in 20 games as a freshman, and with 98 total, is fifth in a career at SMU. She was third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.5 points per game with 5.9 rebounds, second on the team. Collins shot 47.9 percent from the floor, ninth in the league, and scored at least 10 points 17 times.
MORGAN BOLTON
Morgan Bolton was second on the team with 62 assists and averaged 5.7 points per game as the starting point guard in 2015-16. She banked in a three as time expired in regulation against East Carolina, helping the Mustangs to an overtime victory. The junior scored at least 10 points seven times, including a career-high 15 points against then-No. 20 USF in the conference tournament. Bolton has a team-high 17 assists this season, and is averaging 4.5 points per game.
DAI'JA THOMAS
Dai'ja Thomas averaged 5.0 points with 4.1 rebounds per game as a freshman, averaging 16.4 minutes per game. She scored 12 points three times, against Northwestern State, at Temple and against UCF in the conference tournament. Thomas scored 11 points with 10 rebounds against Texas State for the first double-double of her career, and is averaging 8.3 points and 6.0 rebounds.
VOLUME SCORING
In three of the first four games, SMU has had at least three players in double figures scoring. At TCU, the only game only two Mustangs reached double digits, it was
McKenzie Adams scoring 21 points and
Alicia Froling finishing with 20. Six different players have scored at least 10 points in a game this season, and SMU has three players averaging double figures, led by Froling who has four double-doubles in four games this season.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
In three of the first four games, multiple Mustangs finished with a double-double.
Alicia Froling posted four straight double-doubles to start the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds against Texas State followed by a 16-point, 10-rebound performance at Kansas. The junior then scored a season-high 20 points with 12 rebounds at TCU, and had 16 points and 16 rebounds against Prairie View A&M.
Dai'ja Thomas got the first double-double of her career with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds against Texas State.
Kiara Perry posted new career highs in both points (17) and rebounds (14) at Kansas for her third career double-double, and fished with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds against Prairie View A&M.
REBOUND THE BASKETBALL
SMU ranks 46th in the NCAA and second in the conference with 45.8 rebounds per game. The Mustangs are out-rebounding opponents by 8.3 rebounds per game, ranking 49th in the nation.
Alicia Froling leads the team and is 2nd in the country with a conference-high 13.3 rebounds per game, trailing only Washington's Chantel Osahor, who is averaging 13.6 rebounds per game.
Kiara Perry is third in the league with 9.3 rebounds per game.
