TicketsMEMPHIS, Tenn. – Looking for a regular-season sweep and winner of six of its last seven games, University of Cincinnati women's basketball will visit the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday, Feb. 13 for a 6:30 p.m. ET tipoff at Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The matchup will also be U of M's annual Play4Kay Game.
// GOING LIVE
A live video stream will air on the American Digital Network. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Tigers in the all-time series -- 18-35 -- but have won the last four meetings. In the last matchup in Memphis in 2017 – a 66-59 triumph -- forward Chelsea Warren (Red Oak, Texas/Red Oak) scored a career-high 14 points. U of M holds an 18-5 edge in games played in Memphis. In the last overall meeting last month, the Red & Black overpowered the Memphis Tigers, 80-56 at Fifth Third Arena. Six Bearcats scored in double figures, led by 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field by sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep).
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (15-8, 7-3 AAC) outmatched the Wichita State Shockers, 82-54, on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena in the annual Wear Pink game, presented by UC Health. The Bearcats had the upper hand over the Shockers (10-13, 3-7 AAC) in each quarter, including a 28-15 advantage in the fourth to notch its 12th home victory of the season. Junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) led five UC players in double figures with a game and career-high 23 points. Thomas neared her sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and a game-best nine rebounds. Junior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) continued her strong play off the bench with 14 points, while junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) scored 12 in a reserve role. Junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) added 10 points and six rebounds.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Miller is being leaned on to step up this year after the graduation of point guard Ana Owens who scored 1,469 points and dished out 404 assists in her UC career. She has responded by impacting the game in a variety of ways with 12.2 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark ranks second in the AAC and 26th in the country, while her steals total (47) ranks third in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 44th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice in the past three weeks, most recently on Monday following her career day against Wichita State.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is stepping up in her senior season. After averaging 2.7 points per game as a freshman, 6.1 as a sophomore, and a team-best 11.2 as a junior, the guard is averaging 9.4 points each contest in 2018-19. After suffering a sprained ankle at UConn on Jan. 9, the senior scored 11 points at UCF the following game with three made 3-pointers. Goings' streak of 18-straight games with a made 3-pointer was snapped against SMU on Jan. 6. The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 16.0 points, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 rebounds as the Bearcats split a pair of games last week.
Thomas has been a fixture on The American's weekly honor list with recognition four times this season. On Jan. 21, the sophomore was named Player of the Week for the second time in 2018-19 after averaging 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 steals as the Bearcats picked up a pair of wins. On Dec. 24, the sophomore landed on the Honor Roll after totaling 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three steals against Howard on Dec. 21. The week prior, she was named AAC Player of the Week and earned a spot on the NCAA's prestigious Weekly Starting Five following scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds in the annual Crosstown Shootout vs. Xavier on Dec. 16. Previously, the forward was picked for the Honor Roll on Dec. 10 after averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of contests for the week ending Dec. 9. On the year, she is seventh in the country in field-goal percentage at 64.4 percent from the field.
Junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) picked up her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Jan.7 after recording a career performance on Jan. 6 in UC's AAC-opening, 69-57 home victory over SMU. The Cincinnati native scored a career-best 20 points – 17 of which came in the first half – including a career-high five 3-pointers. The guard was a catalyst in a game-changing, late-second-quarter, 15-0 Bearcats run with three triples. In addition, she tallied another career mark with two blocks. She is 28-of-35 from the free-throw line this season. Her seven misses this year are her only career misses after going 4-for-4 as a freshman and 24-of-24 as a sophomore.
Sophomore post Andeija Puckett (Griffin, Ga./Griffin) has emerged as a legitimate post presence off the bench for the Bearcats. She was a force against Temple on Jan. 16 with a career-best 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and two blocks. Against Memphis, she again came off the pine strong to add 12 points and four rebounds. In conference play, the Georgia native is averaging 5.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in just 11 minutes per game.
Sifa had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving at UC. Having experienced civil war and political unrest in her east African home country of Burundi, Sifa followed her basketball dream to junior college in Jacksonville, Texas and now to Cincinnati. An athletic guard, she has already proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game through 21 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 12-2 record in 2018-19. UC reeled off nine-consecutive victories at home before dropping a close one to No. 2 UConn on Feb. 2. In total, the Red & Black boasts a 72-percent (36-14) winning percentage on their home floor over the last three years.
UC signed a talented, six-member recruiting class for the 2019-20 season on Nov. 11. Stretching from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and all the way to Africa, head coach Michelle Clark-Heard's inaugural Bearcats signing class features players who are tenacious, versatile, and true winners. Signees include: 6-foot-2 forward Jana Abdullah (Alexandria, Egypt/King Integrated American School), 5-foot-6 point guard Aleah Nelson (Nottingham, Md./McDonogh High School), 6-foot-1 wing Jada Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 6-foot-1 forward Jadyn Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 5-foot-8 guard Jordan Tuff (Kernersville, N.C./Connections Academy), and 5-foot-8 guard Chellia Watson (Winder, Ga./Window-Barrow High School). Nelson and Tuff were both recently nominated for selection for the 2019 McDonald's All American Game. The Scott twins' brother, Trevon, is a redshirt junior forward on the UC men's basketball team.
UC returns three starters in 2018-19 from a team that won 19 games last year -- its best season in 15 years – and advanced to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship. With 68 percent of their scoring and 66 percent of their rebounding back, the Bearcats also boast the league's reigning Freshman of the Year in Thomas. UC's leading returning scorer from a year ago, Goings, is also back after averaging 11.2 points per game in 2017-18.
Leading UC this year will be head coach Michelle Clark-Heard who was an assistant at UC from 2002-05 and spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky. In six seasons at WKU, Clark-Heard reached four NCAA Tournaments, won four conference tournament championships and two regular season conference titles while posting 154 wins, becoming the second-fastest Lady Topper coach to reach 100 victories with the program. She amassed a 154-48 (.762) record at WKU and a 178-80 (.690) career mark. Clark-Heard has led her teams to six-consecutive 20-win seasons and six-straight appearances in the postseason (four NCAA, two WNIT).
At American Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day on Oct. 15, UC was selected to finish fifth in the 12-team league. Chosen by the league's head coaches, the pick is the highest the Bearcats have ever been selected in their six years in the AAC. Five-time The American champion and 2018 NCAA Final Four participant UConn was, again, picked to win the conference title. USF earned one first-place vote and was chosen second. Houston followed in third ahead of UCF, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, ECU, Tulane, Wichita State, Memphis, and Tulsa to round out the poll.
// SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Memphis (9-14, 4-6 AAC) looks to get back on track Wednesday after a 68-59 setback at ECU on Saturday. Jamirah Shutes led the way with 16 points, with Taylor Barnes scoring 11 and Alana Davis chipping in 10. Shutes continues to lead the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game. She remains a top-10 scorer in The American, ranking 10th among all players and first among conference freshmen. Davis is second on the squad and 17th in the AAC, netting 11.9 points per game. In the last meeting against UC, Kiana Coomber paced the Tigers with 11 points, while Davis and Jada Stinson each added 10.
// FIFTH THIRD ARENA REOPENS
After a 20-month, privately funded, $87-million renovation, Fifth Third Arena reopens in 2018-19. With the arena under renovation, the Bearcats played the 2017-18 season off campus at both Saint Ursula Academy (16 games) and Cincinnati State (two games). UC posted a 12-6 home mark last year.
// GOING LIVE
A live video stream will air on the American Digital Network. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Tigers in the all-time series -- 18-35 -- but have won the last four meetings. In the last matchup in Memphis in 2017 – a 66-59 triumph -- forward Chelsea Warren (Red Oak, Texas/Red Oak) scored a career-high 14 points. U of M holds an 18-5 edge in games played in Memphis. In the last overall meeting last month, the Red & Black overpowered the Memphis Tigers, 80-56 at Fifth Third Arena. Six Bearcats scored in double figures, led by 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field by sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep).
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (15-8, 7-3 AAC) outmatched the Wichita State Shockers, 82-54, on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena in the annual Wear Pink game, presented by UC Health. The Bearcats had the upper hand over the Shockers (10-13, 3-7 AAC) in each quarter, including a 28-15 advantage in the fourth to notch its 12th home victory of the season. Junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) led five UC players in double figures with a game and career-high 23 points. Thomas neared her sixth double-double of the season with 19 points and a game-best nine rebounds. Junior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) continued her strong play off the bench with 14 points, while junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) scored 12 in a reserve role. Junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) added 10 points and six rebounds.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Miller is being leaned on to step up this year after the graduation of point guard Ana Owens who scored 1,469 points and dished out 404 assists in her UC career. She has responded by impacting the game in a variety of ways with 12.2 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark ranks second in the AAC and 26th in the country, while her steals total (47) ranks third in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 44th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice in the past three weeks, most recently on Monday following her career day against Wichita State.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is stepping up in her senior season. After averaging 2.7 points per game as a freshman, 6.1 as a sophomore, and a team-best 11.2 as a junior, the guard is averaging 9.4 points each contest in 2018-19. After suffering a sprained ankle at UConn on Jan. 9, the senior scored 11 points at UCF the following game with three made 3-pointers. Goings' streak of 18-straight games with a made 3-pointer was snapped against SMU on Jan. 6. The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after averaging 16.0 points, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 rebounds as the Bearcats split a pair of games last week.
Thomas has been a fixture on The American's weekly honor list with recognition four times this season. On Jan. 21, the sophomore was named Player of the Week for the second time in 2018-19 after averaging 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 steals as the Bearcats picked up a pair of wins. On Dec. 24, the sophomore landed on the Honor Roll after totaling 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three steals against Howard on Dec. 21. The week prior, she was named AAC Player of the Week and earned a spot on the NCAA's prestigious Weekly Starting Five following scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds in the annual Crosstown Shootout vs. Xavier on Dec. 16. Previously, the forward was picked for the Honor Roll on Dec. 10 after averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of contests for the week ending Dec. 9. On the year, she is seventh in the country in field-goal percentage at 64.4 percent from the field.
Junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) picked up her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Jan.7 after recording a career performance on Jan. 6 in UC's AAC-opening, 69-57 home victory over SMU. The Cincinnati native scored a career-best 20 points – 17 of which came in the first half – including a career-high five 3-pointers. The guard was a catalyst in a game-changing, late-second-quarter, 15-0 Bearcats run with three triples. In addition, she tallied another career mark with two blocks. She is 28-of-35 from the free-throw line this season. Her seven misses this year are her only career misses after going 4-for-4 as a freshman and 24-of-24 as a sophomore.
Sophomore post Andeija Puckett (Griffin, Ga./Griffin) has emerged as a legitimate post presence off the bench for the Bearcats. She was a force against Temple on Jan. 16 with a career-best 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and two blocks. Against Memphis, she again came off the pine strong to add 12 points and four rebounds. In conference play, the Georgia native is averaging 5.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in just 11 minutes per game.
Sifa had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving at UC. Having experienced civil war and political unrest in her east African home country of Burundi, Sifa followed her basketball dream to junior college in Jacksonville, Texas and now to Cincinnati. An athletic guard, she has already proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game through 21 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 12-2 record in 2018-19. UC reeled off nine-consecutive victories at home before dropping a close one to No. 2 UConn on Feb. 2. In total, the Red & Black boasts a 72-percent (36-14) winning percentage on their home floor over the last three years.
UC signed a talented, six-member recruiting class for the 2019-20 season on Nov. 11. Stretching from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and all the way to Africa, head coach Michelle Clark-Heard's inaugural Bearcats signing class features players who are tenacious, versatile, and true winners. Signees include: 6-foot-2 forward Jana Abdullah (Alexandria, Egypt/King Integrated American School), 5-foot-6 point guard Aleah Nelson (Nottingham, Md./McDonogh High School), 6-foot-1 wing Jada Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 6-foot-1 forward Jadyn Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 5-foot-8 guard Jordan Tuff (Kernersville, N.C./Connections Academy), and 5-foot-8 guard Chellia Watson (Winder, Ga./Window-Barrow High School). Nelson and Tuff were both recently nominated for selection for the 2019 McDonald's All American Game. The Scott twins' brother, Trevon, is a redshirt junior forward on the UC men's basketball team.
UC returns three starters in 2018-19 from a team that won 19 games last year -- its best season in 15 years – and advanced to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship. With 68 percent of their scoring and 66 percent of their rebounding back, the Bearcats also boast the league's reigning Freshman of the Year in Thomas. UC's leading returning scorer from a year ago, Goings, is also back after averaging 11.2 points per game in 2017-18.
Leading UC this year will be head coach Michelle Clark-Heard who was an assistant at UC from 2002-05 and spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky. In six seasons at WKU, Clark-Heard reached four NCAA Tournaments, won four conference tournament championships and two regular season conference titles while posting 154 wins, becoming the second-fastest Lady Topper coach to reach 100 victories with the program. She amassed a 154-48 (.762) record at WKU and a 178-80 (.690) career mark. Clark-Heard has led her teams to six-consecutive 20-win seasons and six-straight appearances in the postseason (four NCAA, two WNIT).
At American Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day on Oct. 15, UC was selected to finish fifth in the 12-team league. Chosen by the league's head coaches, the pick is the highest the Bearcats have ever been selected in their six years in the AAC. Five-time The American champion and 2018 NCAA Final Four participant UConn was, again, picked to win the conference title. USF earned one first-place vote and was chosen second. Houston followed in third ahead of UCF, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, ECU, Tulane, Wichita State, Memphis, and Tulsa to round out the poll.
// SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Memphis (9-14, 4-6 AAC) looks to get back on track Wednesday after a 68-59 setback at ECU on Saturday. Jamirah Shutes led the way with 16 points, with Taylor Barnes scoring 11 and Alana Davis chipping in 10. Shutes continues to lead the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game. She remains a top-10 scorer in The American, ranking 10th among all players and first among conference freshmen. Davis is second on the squad and 17th in the AAC, netting 11.9 points per game. In the last meeting against UC, Kiana Coomber paced the Tigers with 11 points, while Davis and Jada Stinson each added 10.
// FIFTH THIRD ARENA REOPENS
After a 20-month, privately funded, $87-million renovation, Fifth Third Arena reopens in 2018-19. With the arena under renovation, the Bearcats played the 2017-18 season off campus at both Saint Ursula Academy (16 games) and Cincinnati State (two games). UC posted a 12-6 home mark last year.