PUERTO AVENTURAS, Mexico — No. 12/14 Tennessee (4-0) meets Oklahoma State (5-0) at 4 p.m. ET today in the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Convention Center.
This will mark each team’s second contest of the Cancun Challenge, where both teams are competing in the Riviera Tournament.
UT enters undefeated after winning three straight at home to open the season (East Tennessee State, James Madison, Wichita State) and then winning its first game of the Cancun Challenge, knocking off No. 20/20 Marquette, 101-99, in overtime on Thursday night.
The Cowgirls, meanwhile, defeated Incarnate Word (86-35), Wichita State (91-67), UT Rio Grande Valley (80-38) and Northwestern State (78-44) at home and began the Cancun Challenge with a 76-68 victory over South Dakota on Thursday.
OSU is receiving votes in the AP Poll, amounting to a No. 34 ranking at this point in the season.
BROADCAST INFO.
• Games at the Cancun Challenge will be streamed online via CBS College Sports Live. See the Hoops Central page on UTSports.com for a link to watch.
• The audio for the live streams will feature the radio broadcast audio from one of the two competing schools.
• Mickey Dearstone will handle the call for IMG College/Lady Vol Network radio/online broadcasts for the 19th season.
• Friday’s Lady Vol Radio Network broadcast will be available via audio stream on UTSports.com as well as network radio stations.
• Due to Saturday’s game time coinciding with the radio broadcast of the Tennessee-Vanderbilt football game, audio of the Lady Vols’ contest vs. South Dakota will be streamed online only.
• Air time for games on the Lady Vol Radio Network is generally 30 minutes prior to tip-off. Because Saturday’s contest will be streamed online only, air time will be approximately five minutes before tip.
COMING UP FOR UT
• Tennessee closes out its stay at the Cancun Challenge on Saturday at 4 p.m. vs. South Dakota.
• The Lady Vols are back at home on Nov. 30, as Central Arkansas comes to town for a 7 p.m. contest at Thompson-Boling Arena.
ABOUT THE CANCUN CHALLENGE
• The tournament is being held in the convention center ballroom at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. The resort is located along the Caribbean coastline of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located on the eastern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula.
• This marks the 13th year of the women’s Cancun Challenge, and this is the sixth time it’s being played at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
• Since its inception in 2005, the tournament has hosted 136 games, including 90-plus NCAA Division I teams from 27 conferences.
• Six teams make up the Riviera Division, and they play two or three games apiece in the tournament. The schools include Indiana State, Marquette, Montana, Oklahoma State, South Dakota and Tennessee.
• The Mayan Division teams include Arizona State, Columbia, Green Bay and Mississippi State, who will compete in a three-game round robin.
INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• This will mark the program’s seventh international excursion, including a 2015 late summer excursion in Italy and a 2013 regular season trip to the Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam, both during the Holly Warlick era.
• The Lady Vols had previous summer trips to Brazil in 1987, Belgium/France/Switzerland in 1999 and Italy/Greece in 2003. They also went to Great Britain in January of 1992.
• UT is 17-7 all-time on foreign soil, including the NCAA countable wins over SMU and Virginia on the 2013 Bahamas trip to win that tourney and a triumph over No. 20/20 Marquette on Thursday night to open the Cancun Challenge.
TENNESSEE RESET
• Tennessee has averaged 86.2 points per contest and won by an average margin of 20.3 points in its first four games this season.
• UT has four players averaging in double figures, including seniors Jaime Nared (18.3) and Mercedes Russell (17.0) and freshmen Rennia Davis(13.0) and Anastasia Hayes (13.0).
• Jaime Nared has scored 25+ points twice this season already (25 vs. James Madison, 26 vs. Marquette).
• Mercedes Russell continues to shoot at a high percentage, connecting on 69.8 percent of her shots.
• Rennia Davis has notched double-doubles the past two games and is averaging 13.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.
• Tennessee leads the SEC, pulling down 51.0 rebounds per game, with Nared (11.5) and Russell (10.5) averaging double
• Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell were named to the John R. Wooden Award Watch List last week.
• The Lady Vols are averaging 19.8 made free throws per game, hitting 23 of 32 in a game vs. Marquette that included 49 total fouls.
• Anastasia Hayes has gotten to the free throw line an average of 11.3 times per game, hitting 34 for a 75.6 percentage.
• After getting off to a slow start at the free throw line this season, Jaime Nared hit 11 of 12 vs. Marquette to improve her percentage to 76.9 (20-26).
• UT has limited its opponents to 66.0 points per game and to 35.5 percent shooting from the field.
• After tallying 11 or more steals in only two games last season, the Lady Vols have racked up 11 or more in three of four contests thus far. They average 10.3 per game and force opponents into 18.0 turnovers per outing thus far.
• Tennessee has put together some scoring runs this season, stringing together 17 straight points spanning the first and second quarters vs. East Tennessee State. Against Marquette, UT opened the game on a 10-0 spurt and used a 14-0 blitz to erase a seven-point deficit. UT also added a 12-0 run vs. Wichita State (2Q) and an 11-0 spree (3Q) as well.
• UT has two players averaging four or more assists per game and another just off that pace. Evina Westbrook is at 4.8, followed by Anastasia Hayes at 4.3 and Jaime Nared at 3.8.
• Tennessee’s 101 points vs. Marquette were the most by the Lady Vols in an overtime game. The 200-point combined total also was a high-water mark for OT. The previous high was 199 from a 100-99 UT win over LSU on March 1, 1997.
UT LAST TIME OUT (UT 101, MARQUETTE 99 OT)
• Double-double performances by seniors Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell fueled No. 12/14 Tennessee to a 101-99 overtime win over No. 20/20 Marquette on Thursday night
• Nared got off to a quick start, scoring 15 points in the first half. She finished the evening with 26 points, 15 rebounds and six assists for her second double-double this season and the 11th of her career. Russell came on strong in the second half, notching 12 of her 17 points and grabbing 13 of 15 boards in the final 25 minutes of the game. She also posted her second double-double this season and the 32nd of her career.
• In a game riddled with 49 total fouls, the Lady Vols went 23-of-32 from the free throw line and saw Evina Westbrook (10 points) and Nared foul out in regulation and Rennia Davis card her fifth foul in the extra frame. Before she departed, though, Davis produced UT’s third double-double of the game by tallying 14 points and 10 rebounds.
OKLAHOMA STATE RESET
• Loryn Goodwin and Kaylee Jensen lead Oklahoma State in scoring at 18.0 and 15.7 points per game, respectively.
• Jensen also is OSU’s top rebounder, pulling down 7.7 per contest, while Goodwin leads in assists at 5.4 per outing.
• The Cowgirls are averaging 83.8 points per game and holding opponents to a paltry 46.0 per contest, a scoring margin of 37.8.
• Oklahoma State has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6, recording 77 assists to only 49 turnovers.
• OSU also gets after it on defense, carding 57 steals and forcing 90 turnovers.
• Head coach Jim Littell is in his seventh season at OSU, recording a 131-69 mark in Stillwater.
• The Cowgirls beat Wichita State 91-67 on Nov. 14. Tennessee defeated WSU, 68-56, on Nov. 20.
OKLA. STATE LAST TIME OUT (OSU 76, USD 68)
• Oklahoma State improved to 5-0 on the year with a hard-fought, 76-68 win over South Dakota in its first game at the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya on Thursday afternoon.
• The Cowgirls used a 13-2 spurt during the first quarter that featured two 3-pointers from senior Loryn Goodwin, redshirt freshman Jaden Hobbs and junior Karli Wheeler en route to a 20-11 lead.
• Goodwin finished with a game-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Kaylee Jensen tallied her second double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
THE SERIES VS. OSU
• This marks the second meeting between the Lady Vols and Cowgirls, with UT holding a 1-0 advantage.
• The previous meeting between Tennessee and OSU took place on Dec. 4, 1992, in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. Tennessee claimed a 69-60 victory in that contest.
• UT is 54-22 all-time vs. current members of the Big 12 Conference.
LAST MEETING BETWEEN UT-OSU
• No. 2/2 ranked Tennessee took a nine-point into the locker room at the half (36-27) and gave no ground in the second half in taking a 69-60 decision over Oklahoma State in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• Dana Johnson hit 12 of 14 shots from the field to score 24 points for the Lady Vols in addition to grabbing nine rebounds.
• Nikki McCray chipped in 11 points, while Vonda Ward supplied 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Lady Vols.
• UT overcame a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds from OSU’s Lisa McGill as well as the Lady Vols’ 12-for-23 and 3-for-13 struggles from the free throw line and three-point range, respectively.
-UT Athletics
