Feb. 8, 2013

Ole Miss Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (8-14, 1-8 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 8-14 (1st yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same

No. 12 TENNESSEE LADY VOLS (18-5, 9-1 SEC)
Head coach: Holly Warlick (Tennessee, 1981)
Career record: 18-5 (1st yr.) Record at Tennessee: Same

Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 10/ 1 p.m. CT
Site: Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Arena
(21,678)
TV: None
Radio: Q93.7/105.5 FM
    Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: UTSports.com
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: UT, 39-7    
    Oxford: UT, 17-3    
    Knoxville: UT, 17-2
    Neutral: UT, 5-2    
    Last meeting: 2/19/12, UT, 66-56, at Oxford
       Frank vs. Tennessee: 0-0

NOTES:
• Ole Miss will travel to No. 12 Tennessee Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. CT tip.
• Sunday’s game marks the 47th all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Lady Vols lead the all-time series, 39-7.
• Ole Miss is coming off a 79-53 loss at Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon.
• Five of the Rebels’ final seven games of the year will be against ranked teams.
• Diara Moore has scored in double figures a team-leading 16 times this season, most recently 11 points at Vanderbilt on Feb. 3.
• Tia Faleru has scored in double figures 14 times this season, including the last nine games, the longest streak of any player on the team this season.
• 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.
 • Tia Faleru leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.2 points per game, followed by Diara Moore, 11.3 points per game and Valencia McFarland, 11.2 points per game.
• Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Valencia McFarland has recorded a team-leading 113 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 host Mississippi State on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. followed by a game against South Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. (SEC Network).

SCOUTING TENNESSEE
Tennessee is 18-5 overall and 9-1 in SEC play. The Lady Vols beat LSU on the road Thursday night, 64-62. Prior to Thursday, Tennessee fell at Missouri, 80-53, on Feb. 3.  Meighan Simmons leads three Lady Vol players in double figures, averaging 17.3 points per game.  Bashaara Graves is second on the team in scoring (14.4 points per game) and leads the team in rebounding, averaging 8.6 rebounds per game. As a team, Tennessee is 13-1 in its last 14 SEC games, dating back to last season.

Tennessee leads the all-time series with Ole Miss, 39-7. The Lady Vols are 17-2 all-time against the Rebels in Knoxville.  Ole Miss’ last win over Tennessee was 78-72 win in Oxford on February 4, 1996.

ABOUT OLE MISS
Ole Miss is coming off a 79-53 loss at Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon.  Tia Faleru led Ole Miss with 15 points in just 13 minutes of play while Diara Moore and Courtney Marbra each scored 11 points against the Commodores.  Ole Miss is led by Tia Faleru (12.2 points per game), Diara Moore (11.3 points per game) and Valencia McFarland (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 5.2 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 8-14 overall and 1-8 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 2/7/13)
As a team, Ole Miss is third in free throw percentage (.702), fourth in rebounding offense (41.4 rpg), second in offensive rebounds (17.5), ninth in steals (9.7 spg) and fifth pointers made (5.0). Individually, Valencia McFarland is fourth in assists (5.1 apg), third in assist to turnover ratio (2.6), fourth in minutes played (33.9), eighth in free throw percentage (.738) and fifth in steals (2.6 spg). Gracie Frizzell is ninth in three pointers made (1.6), Diara Moore is sixth in free throw percentage (.750), while Tia Faleru is tenth (.725). Courtney Marbra is ninth in offensive rebounds (3.1).

MOORE LEADS TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through 22 games this season, Diara Moore is leading the team in double figure scoring games with 16 followed by Tia Faleru who has recorded 14 double figure scoring games. Valencia McFarland is third on the team with 13 followed by Gracie Frizzell who has scored in double figures in six games.

REBELS MAKING THE MOST FROM FREE THROW CHANCES
Through 22 games this season, Ole Miss is shooting 70 percent from the free throw line while in six games this year, Ole Miss has made at least 20 free throws per game.  Ole Miss went 20-24 from the line against Arkansas on Jan. 31, 22-32 from the line against Alabama on Jan. 13, 24-31 against McNeese State on Dec. 29, 20-27 from the line in a win over Belmont on Dec. 16 and 23-41 in a win over SELA and 23-27 from the line in a win over MVSU.  

Ole Miss players have made at least five free throws in a game on 20 occasions.  Diara Moore has made nine, eight two times, seven and six two times. Danielle McCray has made seven, Valencia McFarland has made five three times, six three times and seven, Tia Faleru has made five three times and seven, Gracie Frizzell has made five once and Kenyotta Jenkins has made eight once and five once.

OLE MISS RECORDS SEASON LOW IN TURNOVERS
Ole Miss recorded a season-low eight turnovers in the team’s loss to Arkansas on Jan. 31. The Rebels recorded just two turnovers in the first half. The eight turnovers in game are the fewest turnovers for a Rebel team since Ole Miss recorded seven turnovers against South Carolina on Jan. 16, 2011.
 
MOORE HOT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
Diara Moore leads the team in free throw attempts and makes this season (75-100). In a seven-game span from Jan. 6-31, Moore went 33-42 from the free throw line. She went 6-6 against Vanderbilt, 4-4 against Auburn and 8-10 against Alabama, just 1-4 against Missouri, 4-6 at Florida, 4-6 at Mississippi State and 6-8 against Arkansas.  For the season, she leads the team in free throw attempts and makes (75-100) and is sixth in the SEC in free throw percentage, shooting .750 percent.

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 14 games, including the last nine, and pulled down double-digit rebounds in two games.  She scored a career-high 24 points against Alabama and has recorded two double-doubles.  For the season, she is averaging a team-leading 12.2 points per game and is averaging a team-leading 15.6 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 1,023 points, 378 assists and 161 steals.  She’s looking to join Carol Ross (1977-81) and Glenda Springfield (1975-79).

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 Feb. 7, McFarland is fourth in the SEC in assists per game, averaging 5.1 and she leads Ole Miss with 113 assists. In a 12-game span from Dec. 21-Jan. 31, McFarland averaged 6.58 assists per game.  She has recorded 39 career games with at least five assists per game, including 15 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 57 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).

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.