Feb. 26, 2013

Ole Miss Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (9-18, 2-12 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 9-18 (1st yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same

No. 10 KENTUCKY WILDCATS (23-4, 11-3 SEC)
Head coach: Matthew Mitchell (Mississippi State, 1995)
Career record: 167-89 (8th yr.) Record at Kentucky: 137-60 (6th yr.)

Date/Time: Thursday, Feb. 28/ 7 p.m. CT
Site: Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum | (8,867)
Radio: Q93.7
  Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: OleMissSports.com
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: UM, 20-13    
      Oxford: UM 10-5    
      Lexington: UM, 9-7
      Neutral: Tied, 1-1        
      Last meeting: UK, 82-41, @Lexington, 2/2/12     
      Frank vs. Kentucky: 0-0

NOTES:
• Ole Miss will host No. 10 Kentucky Thursday at 7 p.m. on Senior Night. Ole Miss’ two seniors, Courtney Marbra and Maggie McFerrin, will be honored before the game.
• Thursday’s game marks the 33rd all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Kentucky. The Rebels lead the all-time series, 20-13.  
• Ole Miss is coming off a 73-54 loss to No. 12 Georgia Sunday afternoon.  
• Five of Ole Miss’ final seven games of this season have been against top-25 teams, with the final game against a ranked team coming on Thursday against No. 10 Kentucky.  All the teams have been ranked in the top-14 in the national rankings.
• Twice in the last four games, Valencia McFarland has neared a triple-double. She recorded nine points, nine assists and seven steals against No. 12 Georgia and she recorded 19 points, eight assists and eight rebounds versus Mississippi State.
• Tia Faleru recorded her fourth career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds against MSU. Faleru is Ole Miss’ active career leader in double-doubles.
• Diara Moore has scored in double figures a team-leading 17 times this season, most recently 16 points at No. 12 Tennessee on Feb. 10.
• Tia Faleru and Valencia McFarland have each scored in double figures 16 times this season.
• Tia Faleru leads the team in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game, followed by Valencia McFarland, 11.4 points per game Diara Moore, 10.6 points per game.
• Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.4 rebounds per game.
• Valencia McFarland, who has scored in every career game she has played in, recorded her 1,000th career point with 24 points at Florida.

UP NEXT:
Ole Miss will close-out the 2012-13 season at Arkansas on Sunday at 2 p.m.

SCOUTING NO. 10 KENTUCKY
No. 10/10 Kentucky enters Thursday night’s game with a 23-4 overall record and an 11-3 record in SEC play. The Wildcats are coming off a 77-72 loss to LSU Sunday afternoon. Kentucky is led by A’dia Mathies who averages 15.9 points per game and DeNesha Stallworth who averages 12.6 points per game. The Wildcats are led in rebounding by Samarie Walker who averages 8.6 rebounds per game. As a team, Kentucky leads the SEC in scoring margin (+20.6) and is second in the conference in scoring offense (76.9 ppg).
 
Ole Miss leads the all-time series between the two schools, 20-13. Kentucky has won the last three meetings between the two schools and has won eight of the last 10. The Rebels’ last win over the Wildcats was a 69-60 win in Oxford on Feb. 1, 2009.  

ABOUT OLE MISS
Ole Miss is coming off a 73-54 loss to No. 12 Georgia Sunday afternoon. Valencia McFarland led Ole Miss with nine points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Diara Moore and Gracie Frizzell each added nine points.  For the year, Ole Miss is led by Tia Faleru (11.7 points per game), Valencia McFarland (11.4 points per game) and Diara Moore (10.6 points per game). Courtney Marbra leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.4 rebounds per game followed by Danielle McCray who is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 9-18 overall and 2-12 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 PROMOTIONS
Thursday’s game is Senior Night and Ole Miss’ two seniors Maggie McFerrin and Courtney Marbra, will be honored pre-game at 6:40 p.m.  In addition, Thursday night is Dollar Night with tickets and concessions (popcorn, hot dogs and fountain drinks) are available for just $1. Free senior buttons will also be given out and Quickchange will perform at the half.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC STATS (AS OF 2/24/13)
As a team, Ole Miss is third in free throw percentage (.703), fifth in rebounding offense (40.4 rpg), third in offensive rebounds (16.7), eighth in steals (9.3 spg) and sixth pointers made (4.8). Individually, Valencia McFarland is fourth in assists (5.3 apg), third in assist to turnover ratio (2.6), third in minutes played (34.4), eighth in free throw percentage (.750) and sixth in steals (2.5 spg). Gracie Frizzell is 10th in three pointers made (1.7) and Diara Moore is sixth in free throw percentage (.761).  

McFARLAND NARROWLY MISSES OUT ON TRIPLE-DOUBLE ... AGAIN
Twice in the last four games, Valencia McFarland has neared a triple-double. She recorded nine points, nine assists and seven steals against No. 12 Georgia and she recorded 19 points, eight assists and eight rebounds versus Mississippi State. The last Ole Miss player to record a triple-double was Kayla Melson who recorded 11 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over SELA on Nov. 13, 2009.  There have only been three triple-doubles in Ole Miss history (Armintie Price, 34 points, 15 rebounds, 12 steals vs. Illinois, Dec. 2, 2006 and Eugenia Conner, 15 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists vs. McNeese State, Dec. 18, 1981).

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. She has recorded 407 career assists and needs 49 assists to crack into the career top-five.

As of Feb. 24, McFarland is fourth in the SEC in assists per game, averaging 5.3 and she leads Ole Miss with 142 assists. In a 12-game span from Dec. 21-Jan. 31, McFarland averaged 6.58 assists per game.  She has recorded 41 career games with at least five assists per game, including 17 games this year.  McFarland recorded a season-high 10 assists at Florida on Jan. 24.  

MOORE HOT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
Diara Moore leads the team in free throw attempts and makes this season (83-109). 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 is sixth in the SEC in free throw percentage, shooting .761 percent.  Moore’s 83 makes are the most by an Ole Miss player in a season since the 2009-10 season when Bianca Thomas ended the year 132-162 from the line.

McFARLAND THIRD IN THE SEC IN ASSIST-TO-TURNOVER RATIO
Ole Miss point guard Valencia McFarland is third in the SEC in assist to turnover ratio (2.6). In SEC play, McFarland has recorded 81 assists to 33 turnovers and for the season, she has recorded 142 assists to 55 turnovers in 27 games. McFarland has recorded 17 games this season with five or more assists including the 13 of the last 17 games. For her career, McFarland has 41 games with five or more assists and has recorded 407 career assists.

MOORE LEADS TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through 27 games this season, Diara Moore is leading the team in double figure scoring games with 17 followed by Tia Faleru and Valencia McFarland who have each recorded 16 double figure scoring games. Gracie Frizzell has scored in double figures in seven games.

McFARLAND LEADS THE TEAM IN STEALS
Valencia McFarland, who has recorded a team-leading 67 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).