Feb. 15, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - -

Fans: You can click here to hear the interview after 11 a.m. (CT) Wednesday.

With Conference USA's top two teams in the standings slated to square off on Thursday night, University of Memphis Head Coach Melissa McFerrin will make her first appearance on the WBCA's Shootaround With Beth & Debbie Podcast on Wednesday. The 30-minute show airs weekly at Noon (ET) on the WBCA website (www.wbca.org).

The Tigers and the Tulane Green Wave are tied atop the Conference USA standings with 8-3 conference marks. Tulane has won three straight games heading in to Thursday night's match-up, while the Tigers bounced back from a road loss at Houston by wrapping up a pair of conference series sweeps against Southern Miss and UCF, the two teams from last year's C-USA championship game, last weekend.

Memphis sports a 15-9 overall record and an 8-3 league mark. The 15 wins are the most since the 2003-04 season when the Tigers were 21-10 and earned a WNIT bid. The eight Conference USA wins so far this season are also the best since that 2003-04 season, when Memphis finished sixth in the C-USA standings.

The Thursday night game will feature two of the conference's top defenses. Tulane leads the conference in scoring defense, giving up just 61.7 ppg, while Memphis is sixth with 64.1 ppg given up. The Tigers lead C-USA in league-only games in three-point field goal percentage (27.9) and are fourth in field goal percentage defense (39.2). Much like the league standings, the two teams are tied in the league stats in steals per game (12.1 spg), and rank 1 (Memphis, +4.7) and 2 (Tulane +4.5) in turnover margin.

When the two teams step on the floor Thursday night, four of the top five players in the league in steals per game will be in uniform. Memphis guard Ramses Lonlack leads the league with 3.8 spg, while Tulane's Chassity Brown is second with 3.3 picks a night. Tiger senior guard LaToya Bullard and Green Wave junior Roshaunda are tied for fourth in the conference with 2.5 steals a night in C-USA only contests.

Fans can listen to both McFerrin and Tulane Head Coach Lisa Stockton on the podcast Tuesday. The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) hosts the weekly podcast, which is moderated by Beth Mowins, a play-by-play commentator who has worked for ESPN covering men's and women's NCAA basketball, NCAA softball and NCAA volleyball, and Debbie Antonelli, a broadcaster who had covered both the WNBA and ABL and has covered college basketball for CSTV, Fox SportsNet, CBS Sports, ESPN and ESPN2. Antonelli also serves as the lead analyst for ACC, BIG EAST, Big 12 and SEC women's basketball, and she also serves as part of the ACC Sunday Night men's hoops package. The duo covers over 100 college women's basketball games a year and is in their third season of hosting the national level, weekly podcast.