Women’s Basketball Opens AAC Home Slate With ECU

Saturday, January 6

Memphis, Tenn.

12:00 PM

University of Memphis

ECU

Tickets

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Jan 05, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Live Stats Watch Live ($)Memphis vs. ECU Game Notes Listen Live

The Pirates come to town Saturday, Tigers look to move to 1-1 in conference play

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis women's basketball returns home Saturday to welcome ECU at 12 p.m. This is the first American Athletic Conference matchup at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse this season and first of two games against ECU this season.

GAME 15
Memphis (5-9; 0-1 AAC) vs. ECU (8-7, 0-2 AAC)
Tip-off: 12:00 p.m. CT
Location: Elma Roane Fieldhouse – Memphis, Tenn.
Promotion: Spatula Giveaway
Live Stats | Watch | Listen

The Tigers open up conference play at home against the Pirates and will look to move to 1-1 in AAC play after dropping the conference opener at No. 1 UConn on Dec. 31. Against the Huskies, senior guard Brea Elmore posted her fifth 20-plus point performance this season with a floor-high 20 points. Elmore is averaging over 13 points per game this season and ranks second on the team in scoring.

Entering Saturday's game against ECU, here are some tidbits to know about the Memphis women's basketball team:

With 10 points against the top-ranked Huskies, Cheyenne Creighton is now 46 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone. She will become the sixth player under head coach Melissa McFerrin and 24^th player in school history to score 1,000 points.
Although the streak of five straight double-doubles was snapped against UConn, Creighton continues to rank high nationally in that category. Creighton has eight double-doubles to her name this season, which is 14^th in the NCAA.
Creighton and Brea Elmore rank in the top 15 in the AAC in scoring with 15.0 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. Only two other players in the league are averaging more points and more rebounds than Creighton this year.
With 3.5 assists per game, senior Breigha Wilder-Cochran ranks 10^th in the league. This is Wilder-Cochran's second-highest assists per game season aside from her freshman campaign where she averaged over four per contest.
Saturday's game against ECU is also going to be Wilder-Cochran's 100^th game in a Memphis uniform. The combo of Wilder-Cochran, Creighton, and Elmore currently combine for 307 total games at the University of Memphis.
Sophomore guard Taylor Barnes is averaging a career-high 8.1 points per game and is already just three, three-pointers, shy of matching her total of 14 last year. Barnes has started in all 14 games this year for Memphis.

A Look At ECU
ECU comes to Memphis with an 8-7 overall record and 0-2 mark in American Athletic Conference play. The Pirates fell to Cincinnati and UConn to open conference play. This is the first road conference game for ECU as both the Cincinnati and the UConn game were played in Greenville, N.C.

Ariyana Williams leads the Pirates offensively with 11.1 points per game while Thais Oliveira is the leading rebounder at 7.3 boards per contest. Oliveira also leads the team in blocks with 24 this season. From the floor, the ECU offense shoots 37.6 percent and 25.9 percent from beyond the arc. The Pirates are averaging 65.3 points per game rank in the top half of the league in rebounding at 42.3 rebounds per game.

Heather Macy is the head coach of the Pirates and is currently in her eighth season at the helm. The Pirates were selected to finish 12^th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll.

Series History With ECU
This marks the 29th all-time meeting between the Tigers and the Pirates. Memphis holds a 16-12 all-time advantage with wins in the last three contests and four out of the last five. Dating back even further, Memphis has won nine out of the last 11 meetings.

The Tigers competed against ECU just once during the 2016-17 season and came out on top by a score of 72-50 at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. All-time at home against ECU Memphis is 11-3.

Final Details
Tipoff against ECU is slated for 12 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. Fans can watch the game on the Memphis Tiger Network or listen the game on the airwaves at 91.7 FM WUMR with Jeff Brightwell on the call. For more information on the Memphis women's basketball team, follow the team on Twitter at @MemphisWBB.