Tuesday, January 31
Dallas
7 p.m.
SMU
vs
Memphis
SMU Hosts Memphis Tuesday On American Digital Network
Jan 30 | Women's Basketball
| SMU (11-10, 2-6 The American) vs. Memphis (10-11, 3-5 The American) | |
| Date & Tip Time | Tues., Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. |
| Location | Moody Coliseum - Dallas, Texas |
| Tickets | 214-768-4263 or smumustangs.com/tickets |
| Live Video | American Digital Network |
| Radio | KAAM 770 AM – Dallas |
| Live Stats | Sidearm Stats |
| Game Info | Game Notes (.pdf) |
| SMU Basketball on Social Media | |
| /SMUMustangs | /SMUBasketballW | |
| @SMUMustangs | @SMUBasketballW | |
| SMU.Mustangs | SMUBasketballW | |
The SMU women's basketball team hosts Memphis Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the first of back-to-back home games in Moody Coliseum. The game will be streamed online on the American Digital Network with Lincoln Rose and Angela Beck on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on KAAM 770 AM in the Dallas area.
ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs fell to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in the American Athletic Conference after a road loss at Tulsa, but SMU is 7-3 in Moody Coliseum this season. Alicia Froling has 14 double-doubles, needing one to match the SMU single-season record set by Shasta Smothers-Johnson in 1984-85. The junior is the only AAC player averaging a double-double with 14.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. SMU is second in the league in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.4 percent from the floor. The Mustangs also lead the league with 129 blocks, averaging 6.1 per game (8th – NCAA). SMU is second in the conference with 43.1 rebounds per game, 22nd in the NCAA.
SCOUTING MEMPHIS
The Tigers are 10-11 overall, 3-5 in The American after winning their last two games. Memphis is 2-7 on the road, including a 1-3 mark against conference opponents. Cheyenne Creighton leads the team with 14.5 points per game, and Brea Elmore (13.5) and Taylor Williams (11.7) also average double figures. Opponents are outscoring Memphis 63.0-60.1, despite a 40.4 shooting percentage as a team.Â
SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 10-5 all-time against Memphis, including a 4-1 record in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs won five of the last six matchups, including a 58-49 victory at home on Jan. 16 last season. The only loss during the stretch was a 71-59 defeat in the first round of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship. The first meeting between the two teams was a 99-77 Memphis win in Memphis on Dec. 10, 1994. The programs have been members of the same conference since the 2005-06 season, playing at least once each year.
LAST TIME OUT
The SMU women's basketball team fell to Tulsa, 66-59, Saturday night at the Reynolds Center. Three Mustangs scored in double figures for the ninth time this season, but it wasn't enough for SMU to complete the comeback. With the loss, SMU dropped to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in the American Athletic Conference, while Tulsa improved to 7-14, 3-5 in The American.
SMU scored 19 points in the final six minutes, but was unable to retake the lead. Alicia Froling finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two assists, going 4-for-9 from the field. McKenzie Adams led the Mustangs with 14 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, and had eight rebounds. Kiara Perry added 10 points with four rebounds and two steals. Dai'ja Thomas grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and scored eight points.
LOOKING AHEAD
SMU hosts UCF Saturday at 2 p.m. on the American Digital Network before playing four of the next five games on the road.Â
MOODY MAGIC
SMU went 6-0 at home in non-conference games, and opened conference play with a 64-47 win against Cincinnati to improve to 7-0 in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs are 7-3 at home. The SMU men's basketball team also went undefeated at home in non-conference play and won its first four conference home games, improving to 13-0 in Moody Coliseum. The SMU volleyball team went 11-2 in Moody Coliseum on its way to a second straight conference championship. Overall, the tenants of Moody Coliseum are 31-5 this year, an 86.1 win percentage.Â
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 last season. She scored a season-high 24 points against Kansas, and reached double figures in 25 of 31 games. Alicia Froling was named to the All-American Athletic Conference Third Team, finishing the year averaging 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.
ACADEMIC SUCCESS
SMU's football, men's basketball and women's basketball programs had a record-setting fall semester in the classroom. The football and women's basketball teams set program-best cumulative grade-point-averages while men's basketball reached its highest cumulative GPA since 2004.
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. Froling is third in school history in blocks with 127, while Collins has 120, fourth at SMU. The duo is 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.
TEXAS TIES
SMU's roster includes 10 of 14 student-athletes from the state of Texas, with nine who have hometowns in the DFW metroplex. Three of the Mustangs four coaches also have roots in Texas with head coach Travis Mays, assistant coaches Edwina Brown and Amie Smith Bradley all attending the University of Texas. The trio all spent time on staff at Texas, and Brown also coached at TCU before coming to the Hilltop.Â
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.
DEFENSE LEADS THE WAY
SMU is second in the conference and 17th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a 35.4 shooting percentage, trailing No. 1 Connecticut's 34.9 percent. The Mustangs lead the league with 906 rebounds, averaging 43.1 per game, 22nd in the NCAA. SMU has a league-best 633 defensive rebounds, ranking ninth in the NCAA with 30.0 per game. SMU leads The American with 129 blocks, ahead of No. 1 Connecticut's 90 and Cincinnati's 87. Alicia Froling is fourth in the conference with 31 blocks, while Dai'ja Thomas has 32 and is tied for the league lead with 1.7 per game.
ALICIA FROLING
Alicia Froling became the 23rd player in SMU history with 20 points in a win at Houston, and now has 1,040 in her career. The junior is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double with 14.9 points per game (9th - AAC) and a league-best 10.6 rebounds per game (15th - NCAA). She has scored at least 20 points five times this season and 12 times in her career, including a career-high 33 points at Cincinnati last season (Jan. 27). She is third all-time at SMU with 127 blocks, and ninth at SMU with  768 career rebounds. Froling also set an SMU single-game record with 22 rebounds against the Bearcats last season, the third highest in conference history (24 by UCF's Brittni Montgomery twice). Froling has 33 double-doubles in her career, third in program history.Â
McKENZIE ADAMS
McKenzie Adams has scored in double figures 14 times this season, including a career-high 32 points at Cincinnati. She finished with 17 at Houston, earning a mention on the league's Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 24.5 points in the two games. Adams is second on the team with 11.9 points per game, and averages 4.7 rebounds per game. She had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Colorado.Â
KIARA PERRY
After missing last season due to a back injury, Kiara Perry is averaging 7.9 points per game with 6.1 rebounds. She has reached double figures six times, including a career-high 19 points against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 22). The junior leads the team in assists, 51, steals, 35, and also has 12 blocks. She has two double-doubles this season, scoring 17 points with a career-high 14 rebounds at Kansas (Nov. 16) and grabbing 10 rebounds against Prairie View.Â
STEPHANIE COLLINS
Stephanie Collins was second in The American and 36th in the NCAA with 73 blocks last season, 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. She has 118 blocks in her career, ranking fourth at SMU. The junior has blocked at least one shot in 11 of the last 13 games, with 20 this season. Over the past six games, Collins is averaging 6.7 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting, second on the team during the stretch. She scored a season-high nine points at Tulsa, scoring at least seven in each of the last three games.
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. 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 48 assists this season, and is averaging 5.2 points per game, scoring 12 against Tulane on a career-high four made 3-pointers to reach double figures for the fourth time this season. Bolton leads the team with 24 made 3-pointers, shooting 30.4 percent from behind the arc.
DAI'JA THOMAS
Dai'ja Thomas has scored at least 10 points five times this season, averaging 6.8 points per game. The sophomore has 32 blocks, tied for the league lead with 1.7 per game, and is averaging 5.9 rebounds. She recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Texas State in the season opener, and had 15 points with 11 rebounds against Grambling State.Â
RANKED OPPONENTS
SMU defeated No. 19 Texas A&M 54-53 at home on Dec. 3, beating a top-25 opponent for the first time since March 9, 2008, when the Mustangs upset No. 18 UTEP in the Conference USA championship game. The Mustangs have played four top-25 opponents this season, including two in the top five (Connecticut and Mississippi State). SMU still has a game at No. 1 UConn on the schedule, as well as a game at Temple, a team currently receiving votes.Â
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Players Mentioned
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