Friday, March 3
Uncasville, Conn.
7 p.m.
SMU
vs
East Carolina (No. 11 seed)
6-Seed SMU Faces 11-Seed ECU In First Round Of The American Championship
Mar 1 | Women's Basketball
Game time slated for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN3
| 2017 Frontier Communications American Athletic Conference Championship No. 6 Seed SMU (16-13, 7-9 The American) vs. No. 11 Seed East Carolina (11-18, 2-14 The American) |
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| Date & Tip Time | Fri., March 3 at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT |
| Location | Mohegan Sun Arena - Uncasville, Conn. |
| Tickets | www.TheAmerican.org (ticketmaster.com) |
| Live Video | ESPN3 |
| Radio | KAAM 770 AM – Dallas |
| Live Stats | Statbroadcast |
| Game Info | Game Notes (.pdf) |
| Tournament Bracket | AAC Women's Championship Bracket |
| SMU Basketball on Social Media | |
| /SMUMustangs | /SMUBasketballW | |
| @SMUMustangs | @SMUBasketballW | |
| SMU.Mustangs | SMUBasketballW | |
Sixth-seeded SMU plays 11th-seeded East Carolina in the first round of the 2017 Frontier Communications American Athletic Conference Championship Friday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ESPN3. Fans in the Dallas area can listen to the game on KAAM 770 AM. This is just the second meeting between the sixth-seeded Mustangs and the Pirates this season. ECU held on for a 58-57 win in Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 7 in the second conference game of the year for SMU.
ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs finished the regular season 16-13 overall, 7-9 in the American Athletic Conference, securing the first winning season in three years under first-year head coach Travis Mays. SMU finished tied for fifth in the league standings, matching its best finish in The American. SMU was fifth in the inaugural season of the conference, posting an 8-8 record in league play during the 2013-14 season.
Alicia Froling finished the regular season as the only player in the conference averaging a double-double, scoring 13.9 points with 10.0 rebounds per game. McKenzie Adams averaged 11.9 points, reaching double figures in seven of the last nine games. Defensively, SMU was second in the league and 12th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.0 percent from the field. The Mustangs lead the league with 175 blocks, second in a season at SMU, and rank seventh in the NCAA with 6.0 per game. Â
SMU IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
SMU is 25-28 all-time in conference tournament games, including a 1-3 record in the American Athletic Conference Championship. SMU defeated UCF 83-74 in overtime in the first round as the No. 7 seed last season. SMU won the 2008 Conference USA tournament with a 73-57 win against No. 18 UTEP, and won the 1999 WAC tournament with a 65-49 win against Colorado State. The Mustangs are 1-5 all-time as the No. 6 seed, going 1-1 in 2007 with a loss to East Carolina in the second round of the C-USA tournament after beating UCF. This is the first time SMU has been the six seed in The American tournament.Â
MOODY MAGIC
SMU went 11-3 at home, including a win against then-No. 19 Texas A&M. All three home losses were to teams ranked or receiving votes (No. 1 UConn, No. 23 USF and [RV] Tulane). The SMU men's basketball team also went undefeated at home in non-conference play and won seven straight conference home games for a 16-0 record 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 38-5 this year, an 88.4 win percentage.Â
AGAINST EAST CAROLINA
The Mustangs are 6-9 all-time against the Pirates, losing four of five American Athletic Conference matchups. The two teams split the season series last year, with SMU winning 74-67 in overtime at home before losing 78-61 on the road. ECU won the only matchup this season, a 58-57 victory in Greenville, N.C., on Jan. 7. The 2013-14 season is the only year since the 2005-06 season in which the programs did not square off, as ECU was not yet in the American Athletic Conference. SMU is 1-1 against East Carolina in conference tournaments, winning 77-69 in the first round of the 2009 C-USA tournament after a 76-62 second-round defeat in the 2007 C-USA tournament.Â
LOOKING AHEAD
The winner between SMU and East Carolina will advance to play No. 3-seed USF in the second round Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. The Bulls eliminated SMU last season with a 73-60 victory as the No. 2 seed. SMU fell 52-51 to then-No. 23 USF at home on Jan. 25, one of just three home losses this season. The Mustangs are 0-10 all-time against the Bulls. The two teams first played on Nov. 18, 2001, in Boston, Mass., with USF winning 79-64. USF won a second neutral-site matchup, 61-55, in Las Vegas on Dec. 19, 2010. The other seven meetings all took place after the two schools joined the American Athletic Conference in 2013.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. The Mustangs finished tied for fifth with a 7-9 league record.
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 second in school history in blocks with 140, while Collins has 131, 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 12th in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a 35.0 shooting percentage, trailing No. 1 Connecticut's 34.4 percent. The Mustangs are second in the league with 1,222 rebounds, averaging 42.1 per game, 27th in the NCAA. SMU has 859 defensive rebounds, ranking ninth in the NCAA with 30.0 per game. SMU leads The American with 175 blocks, ranking seventh in the nation with 6.0 per game. Alicia Froling is second in the conference with 44 blocks, averaging 1.5 per game, and Dai'ja Thomas has 40 blocks, tied for second in the league with 1.5 per game.
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ALICIA FROLING
Alicia Froling became the 23rd player in SMU history with 20 points in a win at Houston, and now has 1,130 in her career. The junior is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double with 13.9 points per game (14th - AAC) and a league-best 10.0 rebounds per game (26th - 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 second all-time at SMU with 140 blocks, and seventh at SMU with  832 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 20 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 4.3 rebounds per game. She had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Colorado. The junior has scored at least 10 points in nine of the last 12 games, averaging a team-high 13.8 points and shooting 40.3 percent during the stretch.
KIARA PERRY
After missing last season due to a back injury, Kiara Perry is averaging 6.9 points per game with 5.5 rebounds. She has reached double figures seven times, including a career-high 19 points against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 22). The junior leads the team with 48 steals, Â and is second with 75 assists. 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. Perry led the team with 11 points at UConn.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. She has 131 blocks in her career, ranking fourth at SMU. The junior has blocked at least one shot in 19 of the last 22 games, with 33 this season. Over the past 11 games, Collins is averaging 7.4 points per game on 55.7 percent shooting (34-of-61), a team high during the stretch. She scored a season-high 10 points at Temple, and finished with nine three times during the stretch. The 6-5 post player also has 17 blocks in the last 10 games.
MORGAN BOLTON
Morgan Bolton scored what was a career-high 15 points at home against Memphis, going 5-for-6 on 3-point attempts. The senior point guard went 6-for-7 from behind the arc against Houston in her final regular-season game, scoring a career-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Six 3-pointers in a game is tied for fifth all-time at SMU. Bolton is averaging 5.8 points per game, reaching double figures seven times this season, including three of the last eight games. She leads the team with 37 made 3-pointers, shooting 33.3 percent from behind the arc, and has a team-high 78 assists this season. She set career highs at Temple with nine rebounds and eight assists, and had seven assists against Tulsa.
DAI'JA THOMAS
Dai'ja Thomas has scored at least 10 points seven times this season, averaging 6.4 points per game. The sophomore scored a career-high 18 points at then-No. 25 Temple. She has 40 blocks, ranking second in the league with 1.5 per game, and is averaging 5.3 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
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Players Mentioned
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