Jan. 29, 2013

Ole Miss Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (8-12, 1-6 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 8-12 (1st yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (14-6, 2-5 SEC)
Head coach: Tom Collen (Bowling Green State, 1977)
Career record: 324-142 (15th yr.) Record at Arkansas: 107-72 (6th yr.)

Date/Time: Thurs., Jan. 31/ 7 p.m. CT
Site: Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (8,867)
TV: None
Radio: Q93.7
    Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: RebelVision
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: UM, 23-11    
    Oxford: UM, 13-2    
    Fayetteville: UA, 8-5
    Neutral: UM, 4-2    
    Last meeting: UA, 67-47, 3/1/12 - at Nashville
       Frank vs. Arkansas: 0-0

NOTES:
• Ole Miss will host Arkansas Thursday night at 7 p.m.
• Thursday's game marks the 35th all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Arkansas. The Rebels lead the all-time series, 23-11.
• Ole Miss is coming off a 72-57 loss at Mississippi State Sunday afternoon.
• Valencia McFarland, who has scored in every career game she has played in, recorded her 1,000th career point with 24 points at Florida. She is the 25th player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points.
• Diara Moore has scored in double figures a team-leading 14 times this season, most recently 12 points at MSU on Jan. 27.   
• Tia Faleru leads the team in scoring, averaging 11.9 points per game, followed by Valencia McFarland, 11.7 points per game and Diara Moore, 11.2 points per game.
• Valencia McFarland recorded her second career double-double with 24 points and 10 assists at Florida.
• Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game.
• Monique Jackson recorded a career-best 13 rebounds at Florida.
• Valencia McFarland has recorded a team-leading 106 assists this season has recorded at least 100 assists for the third consecutive season.
• Valencia McFarland recorded the team's fifth 20-point game this season: Valencia McFarland (24 points at Florida, 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 Vanderbilt on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. followed by a game at Tennessee on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. CT.   

SCOUTING ARKANSAS
Arkansas is 14-6 overall and 2-5 in the SEC. The team is coming off a 43-40 loss to No. 14 South Carolina on Sunday. The Razorbacks are led by Sarah Watkins who is averaging a team-leading 12.2 points per game followed by Keira Peak who is averaging 11.0 points per game.  Quistelle Williams leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.9 rebounds per game. As a team, Arkansas has lost four games to ranked teams, three of those losses have been by one point.     

Ole Miss leads the all-time series, 23-11.  Arkansas has won the last three meetings, most recently a 67-47 win over Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament on March 1, 2012.

ABOUT OLE MISS
Ole Miss is coming off a 72-57 loss at Mississippi State Sunday. Tia Faleru led the team with 16 points in the loss while Diara Moore added 12 points and Danielle McCray scored 10. Ole Miss is led by Tia Faleru (11.9 points per game), Valencia McFarland (11.7 points per game) and Diara Moore (11.2 points per game). Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game followed by Danielle McCray who is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 8-12 overall and 1-6 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.

THURSDAY NIGHT PROMOTIONS
Thursday night's game is Military Appreciation Night and current and former military personnel will receive FREE admission. The first 500 fans will get a FREE camo koozie.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC STATS (AS OF 1/29/13)
As a team, Ole Miss is fourth in free throw percentage (.695), fourth in rebounding offense (41.8 rpg), first in offensive rebounds (18.0), seventh in steals (10.2 spg) and tied for fifth pointers made (5.1). Individually, Valencia McFarland is fourth in assists (5.3 apg), third in assist to turnover ratio (2.7), third in minutes played (33.9), seventh in free throw percentage (.737) and fourth in steals (2.7 spg).  Gracie Frizzell is ninth in three pointers made (1.8), Diara Moore is fifth in free throw percentage (.758), while Tia Faleru is seventh (.691). Courtney Marbra is ninth in offensive rebounds (3.1).

FALERU CONTINUES TO LEAD TEAM
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 12 games, including the last seven, 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 seven games, Faleru is averaging 15.9 points per game. For the season, she is averaging a team-leading 11.9 points per game and is averaging a team-leading 15.9 points per game in SEC games only.

McFARLAND SCORES 1,000TH CAREER POINT
Junior point guard Valencia McFarland scored her 1,000th career point on Jan. 24 with a 24-point effort at Florida.  She is the 25th player in school history to record at least 1,000 career points and is 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 1,010 points, 371 assists and 158 steals.  She's looking to join Carol Ross (1977-81) and Glenda Springfield (1975-79).

MOORE LEADS TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through 20 games this season, Diara Moore is leading the team in double figure scoring games with 14 followed by Valencia McFarland with 13.  Tia Faleru is third having scored in double figures 12 times followed Gracie Frizzell who has scored in double figures in six games.

JACKSON RECORDS CAREER-HIGH 13 BOARDS
Monique Jackson recorded a career-best 13 rebounds in Ole Miss' win over Florida on Jan. 24.  She pulled down 11 defensive rebounds and two offensive boards. Her previous career high was eight rebounds. She is the first Ole Miss player to grab at least 10 defensive rebounds in a game since Nikki Byrd pulled down 10 against SELA on Dec. 29, 2011.

MCFARLAND RECORDS SECOND CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Valencia McFarland recorded her second career double-double, and first of the year, with a season-high 24 points and 10 assists at Florida on Jan. 24. Both of McFarland's double-doubles are with points and assists.

McFarland is the fourth player this year to record a double-double. Tia Faleru became Ole Miss' active career leader in double-doubles with three when she recorded 18 points and added 10 rebounds at LSU on Jan. 3.  Earlier this year Faleru scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds against McNeese State on Dec. 29.  Danielle McCray recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 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
Valencia McFarland         1           2
Tia Faleru                      2           3
Kenyotta Jenkins           1             2
Danielle McCray             1            1
Courtney Marbra            0            2

McFARLAND RECORDS 13 CAREER 20-POINT GAME
Valencia McFarland leads all active Ole Miss players with 13 career 20-point games.  McFarland's most recent 20-point game was on Jan. 24, 2013 when she scored 24 points at Florida. 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.  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
Valencia McFarland     2           13
Tia Faleru                 1           1
Gracie Frizzell           1            1
Diara Moore             1             1

REBELS RECORD SEASON-HIGH FROM THREE-POINT RANGE
Ole Miss recorded a season-high 11 threes in the team's win at Florida on Jan. 24.  The Rebels went 9-10 from three-point range in the first half and ended the game 11-16 from beyond the arc.  Two times this year team recorded 10 threes in a game, at LSU on Jan. 3 and against Northwestern on December 22.

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. 28, McFarland is fourth in the SEC in assists per game, averaging 5.3 and she leads Ole Miss with 106 assists. In the last 11 games, McFarland is averaging 6.63 assists per game.  She has recorded 38 career games with at least five assists per game, including 14 games this year.  McFarland recorded a season-high 10 assists at Florida on Jan. 24.  

McFARLAND LEADS THE TEAM IN STEALS
Valencia McFarland, who has recorded a team-leading 54 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).