Jan. 4, 2013

Ole Miss Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (7-7, 0-1 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 7-7 (1 yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same

VANDERBILT COMMODORES (11-3, 1-0 SEC)
Head coach: Melanie Balcomb (Trenton State, 1984)
Career record: 412-202 (19th yr.) Record at Vanderbilt: 249-98 (11th yr.)

Date/Time: Sun., Jan. 6/ 2:35 p.m. CT
Site: Oxford, Miss. |Tad Smith Coliseum (8,867)
TV: ESPNU (Melissa Lee, Maria Taylor)
Radio: Q93.7/105.5FM
    Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: OleMissSports.com
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: VU, 25-15     
    Oxford: UM, 12-6
    Nashville: VU,14-3
    Neutral: VU, 5-0
    Last meeting: VU, 68-52, 1/8/12, at Nashville
     Frank vs. Vanderbilt: 0-0

NOTES:
• Ole Miss will host Vanderbilt Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
• Sunday’s game will be televised on ESPNU and digitally available on WatchESPN.com.
• Thursday’s game marks the 41st meeting between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. The Commodores lead the all-time series, 25-15.
• Ole Miss ended its six-game road trip with a hard-fought 84-79 loss at LSU. The game featured 12 ties and seven lead changes.
• Tia Faleru recorded her third career double-double against LSU with a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• Valencia McFarland recorded her 12th career 20-point game with 20 points against McNeese State.  She is the third player this season to score at least 20 points, joining teammates Diara Moore (25 points) and Gracie Frizzell (21 points).
• Valencia McFarland leads the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game followed by Diara Moore who is averaging 11.1 points per game.
• Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.4 rebounds per game. Kenyotta Jenkins is second, averaging 5.8 rpg.   
• Junior point guard Valencia McFarland has recorded 934 career points and is looking to become the 25th player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points.

UP NEXT:
Ole Miss will travel to Auburn on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. followed by a pair of home games on Jan. 13 against Alabama at 1:30 p.m. (SPSO) and on Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. vs. Missouri (Cox Sports TV).

SCOUTING VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt is 11-3 overall and 1-0 in SEC play after opening the conference season with a 92-41 win over Mississippi State Thursday night. The Commodores are led by Christina Foggie (15.8 points per game) who leads three Vanderbilt players in double figures.  Tiffany Clarke leads the team in reboudning, averaging 7.9 rebounds per game. The Commodores enter Sunday’s game on an eight-game winning streak.

Vanderbilt leads the all-time series between the two schools, 25-15. Ole Miss leads the all-time series in games played in Oxford with a 12-6 record. The Rebels’ last win over the Commodores was a 72-67 win in Oxford on Jan. 2, 2011.  

ABOUT OLE MISS
Ole Miss is coming off a hard-fought 84-79 loss at LSU Thursday. After six games on the road, the Rebels will return home to host Vanderbilt Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU).  Ole Miss is led by Valencia McFarland, who is averaging 11.3 points per game, Diara Moore (11.1 points per game) and Tia Faleru (10.3 points per game).  Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.4 rebounds per game followed by Kenyotta Jenkins who is averaging 5.8 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 7-7 overall and 0-1 in the SEC.

FOLLOW THE REBELS
Ole Miss’ regular-season games can be heard on WTNM Supertalk Mississippi (105.5 FM) or Q93.7 FM with the pregame show starting 15 minutes before tipoff.  Graham Doty, in his second season calling Ole Miss women’s basketball games, will be on the call.

Game updates via Twitter will be available all season at @OleMissWBB. All home games that are not on TV will be streamed online through the subscription-based RebelVision.

PROMOTIONAL CORNER
Sunday’s game against Vanderbilt is Faith and Family Day - Get in FREE with your church bulletin. It’s the SEC home opener for the Rebels and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC STATS (AS OF 1/6/13)
As a team, Ole Miss is fifth in free throw percentage (70.4), second in rebounding offense (43.5 rpg), third in offensive rebounds (18.6), eighth in steals (10.7 spg) and eighth in three pointers made (4.9).  Individually, Valencia McFarland is fifth in assists (5.0 apg), second in assist to turnover ratio (3.0), tied for fifth in steals (2.9 spg), and ninth in free throw percentage (.729).  Gracie Frizzell is fifth in three pointers made (1.9) and Diara Moore is fourth in free throw percentage (76.4).

FALERU BECOMES ACTIVE CAREER LEADER IN DOUBLE-DOUBLES
With her third career double-double, and second of the season, Tia Faleru, became Ole Miss’ active career leader in double-doubles with three.  Most recently, she recorded a career-high 18 points and added 10 rebounds at LSU on Jan. 3.  Earlier this year she became the third player this season to record a double-double as she scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds against McNeese State on Dec. 29.  

Joining Faleru with a double-double this season is Danielle McCray who recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and tied her then career high with 12 rebounds in a win over MVSU while Kenyotta Jenkins recorded her second career double-double against SELA on Nov. 9 when she scored a career-high 13 points and added 10 rebounds.  Valencia McFarland is the only current player to record a double-double in something other than points and rebounds (points and assists.)

Active Players With Double-Doubles
        Season    Career
Tia Faleru    2    3
Kenyotta Jenkins    1    2
Danielle McCray    1    1
Courtney Marbra    0    2
Valencia McFarland     0    1

HONORS ROLL IN FOR McFARLAND
Valencia McFarland was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 31 after posting impressive numbers and leading the Rebels to a third-place finish at the Tulane DoubleTree Classic.  For the two games she recorded a combined triple double with 36 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.  It is the first SEC Player of the Week honor for an Ole Miss player since Jan. 18, 2010.  

McFarland was named to the All-Tournament team for the Tulane DoubleTree Classic and was also named to the New York Life Holiday Invitational All-Tournament Team on Dec. 22 at Hofstra. For that tournament, she averaged 9.5 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game.  Since McFarland has been at Ole Miss, Ole Miss has played in four regular-season tournaments that have released an All-Tournament team and McFarland has been selected to each of those four All-Tournament teams.

She was also named the women’s SEC NetScouts Basketball player of the Week for the week of Dec. 31 for her performance at the Tulane DoubleTree Classic.

FALERU BREAKING OUT
Entering her sophomore season, Tia Faleru had scored in double figures in three games and grabbed double-digit rebounds in two games.  This season, she has scored in double figures in six games and pulled down double-digit rebounds in two games.  She scored a career-high 18 points against LSU, has recorded two double-doubles.  Over the last eight games, Faleru is averaging 12.3 points per game.  For the season, she is averaging 10.3 points per game.

McFARLAND DISHING OUT ASSISTS
As of Jan. 3, Valencia McFarland is fifth in the SEC in assists per game, averaging 5.0 and she leads Ole Miss with 70 assists. In the last six games, McFarland is averaging 6.8 assists per game.  She has recorded 33 career games with at least five assists per game, including eight games this year.  McFarland recorded a season-high nine assists on two occasions this year.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Junior point guard Valencia McFarland has recorded 934 career points.  She is aiming to become the 25th player in school history to record at least 1,000 career points. If she accomplishes the feat this season as a junior, she would be the 14th player in school history to hit 1,000 career points as a junior.

McFarland also has another program milestone to keep her eye on during her career, as she aims to become just the third person in Ole Miss history to score at least 1,000 point, 500 assists and 250 steals. McFarland currently has 934 points, 335 assists and 144 steals.  She’s looking to join Carol Ross (1977-81) and Glenda Springfield (1975-79).

McFARLAND LEADS THE TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through 14 games this season, Valencia McFarland leads the team in double-figure scoring games with 10, followed by Diara Moore with nine, Tia Faleru with six and Gracie Frizzell with five.

REBELS RECORD SEASON-HIGH FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
Ole Miss tied its season high when the team recorded 10 threes against LSU on Jan. 3. Gracie Frizzell made five of the team’s threes.

Earlier this season, Ole Miss recorded a season-high 10 three pointers against Northwestern on December 22. Amber Singletary recorded a team-high four while Gracie Frizzell added three. The 10 threes marks the most threes by an Ole Miss team since the 2009-10 season with the team recorded 10 against South Carolina on March 4, 2010.

McFARLAND IN THE NCAA STATS
In the latest set of NCAA stats released on Friday Jan. 4, Valencia McFarland is ranked fourth in assist to turnover ratio (3.04), and is 53rd in the nation in assists per game (5.0).  NCAA stats are released every Monday and Friday.