The SMU women's basketball team host Nicholls Friday at 11:30 a.m. in Moody Coliseum to start the 2017-18 season. The game kicks off the second season under the direction of head coach
Travis Mays, who guided the Mustangs to a 19-15 record and a pair of postseason wins in his first campaign. The halftime show will feature an exotic animals on SM-Zoo day, and Mays is buying lunch from Rudy's for faculty, staff and students. Fans can watch the game online on PonyUp TV, or listen to the game in the Dallas area on KAAM 770 AM.
ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs roster features six seniors, including four starters, and SMU has seven returning letterwinners, including all six seniors.
Alicia Froling was the only player in the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double last season, scoring a team-high 13.3 points per game with a league-best 10.0 rebounds. She was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Preseason team. SMU ranked third in The American in scoring defense, holding opponents to 58.5 points per game, and second in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.2 percent shooting.Â
SEASON OPENERS
SMU is 24-17 in season openers, but the Mustangs are 17-8 when opening the season at home. SMU has won five of its last six season openers, all at home, including a 64-56 victory against Texas State last season in Mays' head coaching debut.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Colonels return seven letterwinners, including two starters, from a squad that went 10-20 last season. Cassidy Barrios led the team as a sophomore with 15.4 points per game, but of five players to average at least 10 points last season, Barrios is the only one returning. Nicholls shot 37.9 percent from the field a year ago, averaging 67.4 points, while opponents scored 70.9 per game with a 46.5 shooting percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting between the two programs.
UP NEXT
The Mustangs host TCU Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum before playing five of the next six games on the road.Â
SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 42-19 all-time against TCU, including a 23-7 record at home. The Mustangs won two of the last three home contest, but haven't won against the Horned Frogs in Moody Coliseum since a 47-38 victory on Nov. 17, 2011. SMU won the 2013 matchup in the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. SMU won the first game played between the two programs, 58-52, in November 1976.
POSTSEASON IN FIRST SEASON
In his first season as head coach,
Travis Mays guided the Mustangs to a 19-13 record, including a pair of WNIT wins. SMU advanced to the round of 16 in the tournament with wins at home against Louisiana Tech and Abilene Christian. It was the first time since 1993 that an SMU team won twice in a postseason tournament.Â
DEFEND YOUR HOUSE
SMU went 13-3 in Moody Coliseum last season, just two wins shy of the program-record 15 home wins during the 2012-13 season. The win total included a victory over then-No. 19 Texas A&M, while the three losses came against then-No. 1 Connecticut, then-No. 23 USF and a Tulane team that was receiving votes at the time of the matchup.
INCREASED ATTENDANCE
SMU had the seventh largest increase in attendance, averaging an additional 1,028 fans per game in Moody Coliseum than the previous year.Â
SENIOR CLASS
The SMU roster features six seniors this season, including four returning starters.
Alicia Froling started all 34 games, leading the team in points (14.3) and rebounds (10.0).
McKenzie Adams started 34 games, averaging 12.2 points with a 36.6 shooting percentage.
Kiara Perry started every game after missing the previous season due to a back injury, and
Stephanie Collins started 19 games.
Klara Bradshaw saw action in 33 games, and
Mikayla Reese played in 30 games last season.
BROKEN RECORD
For the third straight season, SMU set a program record in blocked shots, recording 187 as a team.
Alicia Froling led the way with 51 blocks, climbing to second all-time at SMU with 147 career blocks.
Stephanie Collins finished with 36 blocks as a junior and ranks fourth all-time with 134 career blocks. She is also the SMU single-season record holder with 73 blocks in 2015-16.
Dai'ja Thomas was second on the team last year with 40 blocks, and
Klara Bradshaw posted 33. SMU also set the single-season rebounds record with 1,409 boards last season. It was the second straight season in which the rebounds record was broken. The Mustangs finished with 1,331 rebounds in 2015-16, which was the most since the 1981-82 season.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.
ALICIA FROLING
As a junior last season,
Alicia Froling was the only player in the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double, scoring a team-high 14.3 points per game with a league-best 10.0 rebounds. With 486 points, she climbed to 14th on the all-time scoring list at SMU with 1,213 career points. Froling is sixth all-time in rebounds with 884 after grabbing 339 to reset her own program record. She also has 147 career blocks, second all-time at SMU. She posted a program-record 17 double-doubles, and scored a season-high 28 points in the win against Louisiana Tech.Â
McKENZIE ADAMS
After leading the Mustangs in scoring as a sophomore,
McKenzie Adams was second on the team with 12.2 points per game last season. She increased her shooting percentage from 30.3 as a sophomore to 36.6 during Mays' first season, and had 56 assists and 35 steals. Adams scored a career-high 32 points at Cincinnati, and scored 11 points with a career-high 10 rebounds at Colorado for her first double-double.
KIARA PERRY
After missing the 2015-16 season with a back injury,
Kiara Perry returned to average 7.3 points, third on the team, and 5.4 rebounds. The shooting guard matched point guard
Morgan Bolton with a team-high 84 assists and led the team with 58 steals. Perry reached double figures scoring 11 times, including four of the last five games, and posted a career-high 19 points against Prairie View A&M.Â
STEPHANIE COLLINS
Stephanie Collins is fourth on the all-time blocks list at SMU with 134 career blocks after knocking away 36 shots as a junior. She set the SMU single-season record with 73 as a sophomore. The post player averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds last season. She scored a season-high 10 points at Temple, and increased her scoring average to 6.5 in conference games.
DAI'JA THOMAS
As a sophomore,
Dai'ja Thomas was second on the team with 40 blocks, and the Dallas native averaged 6.2 points, fourth on the team, and 5.1 rebounds, third on the team. She scored a career-high 18 points at Temple, and reached double figures seven times. Thomas had two double-doubles, and blocked four shots against TCU, matching her career high.
KLARA BRADSHAW
Working with her fourth coach in as many seasons,
Klara Bradshaw played in 33 games after sitting out the previous season due to NCAA transfer rules. The tallest player on the roster at 6-6, Bradshaw recorded 33 blocks, and averaged 2.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game. She scored a season-high 10 points against Seattle and had a season-high nine rebounds against Texas State.
MIKAYLA REESE
Mikayla Reese had 35 assists and 16 steals while averaging 2.5 points in 13.9 minutes per game as the backup point guard last season. She scored a career-high 11 points against Texas State and finished with a career-high four assists against Houston.
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