Jan. 22, 2013

Ole Miss Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (7-11, 0-5 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 7-11 (1 yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same

FLORIDA GATORS (13-6, 2-3 SEC)
Head coach: Amanda Butler (Florida, 1995)
Career record: 152-94 (8th yr.) Record at Florida: 112-72 (6th yr.)

Date/Time: Thurs., Jan. 24/ 6 p.m. CT
Site: Gainesville, Fla. | Stephen C. O’Connell Center (12,000)
TV: CSS/ESPN3
    Talent: Bernie Guenther & Mark Wise  
Radio: Q93.7/105.5FM
    Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: N/A
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: UF, 18-13    
    Oxford: UM, 10-5
    Gainesville: UF, 8-7
    Neutral: UM, 1-0
    Last meeting: 2/5/12, UF, 84-55, at Gainesville
       Frank vs. Florida: 0-0

NOTES:
• Ole Miss will open a two-game road trip Thursday night at Florida.
• Thursday’s game marks the 32nd all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Florida. The Gators lead the all-time series, 18-13.
• Ole Miss is coming off a 73-72 overtime loss to Missouri Sunday afternoon.
• Valencia McFarland and Diara Moore have each scored in double figures a team-leading 12 times this season.   
• Tia Faleru leads the team in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game, followed by Valencia McFarland, 11.3 points per game and Diara Moore, 11.0 points per game.
• In SEC games only, Faleru is averaging a team-best 16.6 points per game.
• Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.1 rebounds per game. Danielle McCray is second, averaging 5.2 rebounds per game.
• Valencia McFarland has recorded a team-leading 90 assists this season and is 10 assists away from recording at least 100 assists for the third consecutive season.
• Valencia McFarland, who has scored in every career game she has played in, has recorded 979 career points and is looking to become the 25th player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points.
• Tia Faleru scored a career-high 24 points against Alabama for her first career 20-point game.  She is the fourth player to record a 20-point game this season joining Valencia McFarland (20 points vs. McNeese State), Diara Moore (25 points vs. SELA) and Gracie Frizzell (21 points vs. Lamar).  

UP NEXT:
Ole Miss will play at Mississippi State on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. followed by a home game against Arkansas on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.  
SCOUTING FLORIDA
Florida is 13-6 and 2-3 in SEC play. The Gators are coming off a 52-44 loss against South Carolina on Sunday. Florida is led by Jennifer George who averages 13.4 points per game and Jaterra Bonds who is averaging 12.2 points per game. George also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 8.5 boards per game. The Gators are 9-2 at home this season with its two home losses coming in its last two games against South Carolina and Tennessee.

Florida leads the all-time series between the two schools, 18-13. The Gators have won the last two meetings and five of the last six but Ole Miss’ last win over Florida was a 61-59 win in Gainesville on February 3, 2011.

ABOUT OLE MISS
Ole Miss is coming off a 73-72 overtime loss to Missouri Sunday afternoon.  Thursday night’s game at Florida will be televised by CSS. Ole Miss is led by Tia Faleru (11.7 points per game), Valencia McFarland (11.3 points per game) and Diara Moore (11.0 points per game). Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.1 rebounds per game followed by Danielle McCray who is averaging 5.2 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 7-11 overall and 0-5 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.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC STATS (AS OF 1/20/13)
As a team, Ole Miss is fifth in free throw percentage (.669), fourth in rebounding offense (41.7 rpg), second in offensive rebounds (17.9), fifth in steals (10.3 spg) and ninth in three pointers made (4.8). Individually, Valencia McFarland is fourth in assists (5.0 apg), third in assist to turnover ratio (2.8), second in minutes played (33.7), sixth in free throw percentage (.774) and tied for sixth in steals (2.6 spg).  Gracie Frizzell is ninth in three pointers made (1.7), Diara Moore is seventh in free throw percentage (.772) and Courtney Marbra is seventh in offensive rebounds (3.2).

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 10 games, including the last five, and pulled down double-digit rebounds in two games.  She scored a career-high 24 points against Alabama and has recorded two double-doubles.  Over the last 12 games, Faleru is averaging 13.6 points per game.  For the season, she is averaging a team-best 11.7 points per game and is averaging a team-leading 16.6 points per game in SEC games only.

McFARLAND LOOKS TO LEAD TEAM IN ASSISTS FOR THE THIRD YEAR
If Valencia McFarland, who led the team in assists as a freshman and sophomore, keeps this pace and ends the season leading the team in assists, it would be the first time since Carletta Brown (2003-06) that a player led the team in assists three consecutive seasons. McFarland would become just the fourth player in program history to lead the team in assists three consecutive seasons. No player in school history has led the team in assists all four years.

As of Jan. 20, McFarland is fourth in the SEC in assists per game, averaging 5.0 and she leads Ole Miss with 90 assists. In the last 10 games, McFarland is averaging 6.1 assists per game.  She has recorded 36 career games with at least five assists per game, including 12 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 979 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 979 points, 355 assists and 151 steals.  She’s looking to join Carol Ross (1977-81) and Glenda Springfield (1975-79).

McFARLAND LEADS THE TEAM IN STEALS
Valencia McFarland, who has recorded a team-leading 47 steals this year, is looking to become just the third player in school history to lead her team in assists three years times during her career.  If McFarland, who led the team in steals as a freshman and sophomore, ends this season leading the team in steals, she would be the first player to lead her team in steals three years in a row since Armintie Price led the team all four years (2003-06).

FALERU RECORDS FIRST CAREER 20-POINT GAME
Tia Faleru recorded her first career 20-point game with a career-high 24 points against Alabama on Jan. 13. She is the fourth player this season to record at least 20 points in a game. Valencia McFarland leads all active Ole Miss players with 12 career 20-point games.  McFarland’s most recent 20-point game was on Dec. 29, 2012 when she scored 20 points against McNeese State.  Redshirt freshman Gracie Frizzell scored a career-high 21 points in Ole Miss’ loss to Lamar on Nov. 19 while Diara Moore scored a career-high 25 points against SELA on Nov. 9.

Active Players With 20-Point Games
                                        Season    Career
Tia Faleru                       1                1
Gracie Frizzell                 1                 1
Diara Moore                   1                 1
Valencia McFarland        1               12

McFARLAND TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
Ole Miss point guard Valencia McFarland is third in the SEC in assist to turnover ratio (2.8). In SEC play, McFarland has recorded 29 assists to 10 turnovers and for the season, she has recorded 90 assists to 39 turnovers in 18 games. McFarland has recorded 12 games this season with five or more assists including the eight of the last nine games. For her career, McFarland has 36 games with five or more assists and has recorded 355 career assists.

McFARLAND IN THE NCAA STATS
In the latest set of NCAA stats released on Monday, Jan. 21, Valencia McFarland is ranked sixth in assist to turnover ratio (2.81), and is 49th in the nation in assists per game (5.0).  NCAA stats are released every Monday and Friday.

MOORE HOT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE OVER THE LAST FOUR GAMES
In the team’s last four games against Vanderbilt, Auburn, Alabama and Missouri, Diara Moore has gone 19-24 from the free throw line. She went 6-6 against Vanderbilt, 4-4 against Auburn and 8-10 against Alabama but just 1-4 against Missouri.  For the season, she leads the team in free throw attempts and makes (61-79) and is seventh in the SEC in free throw percentage, shooting 72 percent.

MOORE, McFARLAND LEAD TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through 18 games this season, Diara Moore and Valencia McFarland lead the team in double figure scoring games with 12 each.  Tia Faleru is third having scored in double figures 10 times and Gracie Frizzell who has scored in double figures in five games.