Kansas State Hosts Colorado Saturday

KANSAS STATE (11-3, 1-2) vs. COLORADO (6-9, 1-2)

Game #15

January 14, 2006 7:00 p.m. (CT)

Bramlage Coliseum (13,340)

at Manhattan, Kan.

Television: None

Radio: K-State Sports Network

Series History: CU leads 29-26

Internet: Live webcast on www.k-statesports.com

GAME PREVIEW

After back-to-back losses on the road, Kansas State (11-3, 1-2) returns home to the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum, where the Wildcats play host to Colorado (6-9, 1-2) on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. Both teams will be vying for their second league win, having started the Big 12 Conference season off against some of the league’s top tier teams. The Wildcats and Buffaloes are both 1-2 and in a six-way tie for seventh in the latest league standings. The game will not be televised, but can be heard via a live radio broadcast on the K-State Sports Network.

SCOUTING OUT COLORADO

Colorado will try for a sweep of the Sunflower State schools, after picking up its first Big 12 win of the season on Jan. 10. The Buffaloes kept rival Kansas winless on the road with a 74-65 victory in Boulder, marking the first league win in the Kathy McConnell-Miller era. The win also ended a three-game losing skid for the Buffs. Sophomore forward Jackie McFarland turned in her eighth double-double of the year with 18 points and 15 rebounds against the Jayhawks. McFarland is one-of-four players in the conference currently averaging a double-double with 18.4 ppg and 10.1 rpg next to Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, Texas Tech’s LaToya Davis and Baylor’s Sophia Young. Colorado has the league’s third-best scoring offense (65.7 ppg) in conference games only, behind the 18-point scoring production from both McFarland and teammate Jasmina Ilic, which K-State will look to limit on Saturday.

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP

No. Name 2005-06 Stats

11 Hannah Skildum, G, 6-0, Fr. 4.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg

22 Whitney Law, G, 5-11, Sr. 8.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg

21 Jasmina Ilic, F, 6-1, Jr. 18.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg

45 Jackie McFarland, F, 6-3, So. 18.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg

12 Anna Nedovic, C, 6-4, Jr. 6.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg

SERIES NOTES

Colorado has a three-game lead in the all-time series vs. Kansas State, 29-26. However, K-State has swept the two-game, home-and-away series the last three consecutive seasons, to give the Wildcats a six-game winning streak against the Buffs. It is currently K-State’s second-longest string of wins against a Big 12 opponent behind eight-straight in the series with KU. In contests played in Manhattan, K-State is 14-11, having won the last four-straight meetings with the Buffs in the Little Apple. The Cats are 12-6 all-time vs. CU during Big 12 regular season play.

FAMILY TIES

For the third time of their collegiate basketball careers, K-State senior center Jessica McFarland and Colorado sophomore forward Jackie McFarland will meet on opposite ends of the court. The McFarland sisters are one-of-two sister duos playing in the Big 12 along with the Paris twins (Courtney and Ashley) at Oklahoma. Their meeting on Saturday will be one of the last two games the siblings will play against each other, unless both teams face each other in the league postseason tournament. Last year against CU, the elder McFarland brought down a career-high seven rebounds in an 81-70 victory at Boulder and scored a career-high tying eight points in a 73-51 win in Manhattan. An outstanding student-athlete off the court, McFarland holds an impressive 3.82 cumulative grade-point average in architectural engineering at K-State.

STATISTICAL COMPARISON

2005-06 Category KSU CU

Overall Record 11-3 6-9

Big 12 Record 1-2 1-2

Points Per Game 70.4 72.3

Scoring Margin +12.6 +3.2

Rebounds Per Game 39.2 40.9

Rebounding Margin +4.5 +4.9

Field Goal Percentage 45.1 41.9

Field Goal% Defense 36.1 40.6

Three-Point FG% 31.9 30.0

Free Throw Percentage 71.4 74.3

Assists Per Game 16.5 13.9

Turnovers Per Game 16.6 17.3

Blocks Per Game 6.2 3.3

Steals Per Game 7.9 7.3

EARLY PREDICTIONS

In a recent ESPN.com article on Jan. 11, bracketologist Charlie Creme projected his first 2006 NCAA Tournament women’s basketball field of 64 with a team-by-team analysis. Creme has six of the 12 league teams making the cut on Selection Sunday including Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The Big 12 had the third-most teams behind the ACC (8) and Big East (7) in the predicted conference breakdown. For the month of January, Creme predicted the Wildcats to be seeded eighth in the Albuquerque Regional with Louisiana Tech, LSU and East Tennessee State in the first and second rounds to be played in Chicago. Last season, Creme correctly projected the Cats as a No. 4 seed in Seattle, but in a different regional (Tempe and not Kansas City).

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

Just three games into the Big 12 Conference season, home court advantage has proven to be a major factor as it always has been in recent years. With some of the toughest home courts in the nation, it’s no wonder league teams have gone a combined 13-4 at home. Missouri (9-0), Baylor (7-0), Texas A&M (10-0) and Kansas (12-0) all remain undefeated at home. In league play, only Nebraska, Iowa State, Colorado and Oklahoma State, have suffered a loss at home. K-State is 1-0 after opening up the year with an 53-51 victory over traditional league power Texas Tech at Bramlage. The Wildcats currently own a 51-22 record when playing at home since the league’s inception in 1996-97. Since the 2001-02 season, K-State has only lost three times at home against Big 12 opponents (Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa State).

Big 12 School Conf. % Overall %

1. Missouri 3-0 1.000 13-2 .867

2T. Oklahoma 2-0 1.000 12-4 .750

2T. Baylor 2-1 .667 12-1 .923

2T. Texas A&M 2-1 .667 13-3 .813

2T. Nebraska 2-1 .667 10-4 .714

6. Texas Tech 1-1 .500 6-7 .462

7T. Kansas 1-2 .333 12-2 .857

7T. Kansas State 1-2 .333 11-3 .786

7T. Iowa State 1-2 .333 10-4 .714

7T. Texas 1-2 .333 7-6 .538

7T. Colorado 1-2 .333 6-9 .400

12. Oklahoma State 0-3 .000 6-8 .429

MAKING EVERY SHOT COUNT

Over the last three games, the Wildcats have gone to the free throw line 33 times and have only missed five attempts for a 84.8 percentage, which ranks second best in conference games only behind OU (86.2). Leading the way for K-State, is JoAnn Hamlin who has been flawless from the charity stripe (6-6) and is tied for first in league games played. Twiggy McIntyre has made 11 of her last 12 attempts (91.7) which ranks fourth best (91.7), while Kimberly Dietz has gone 7-of-8 (87.5) from the free throw line, good enough for 10th. Through all games played, four players (Dietz, Hamlin, McIntyre and Carolyn McCullough) have an 80 percent or better accuracy in free throw makes.

ALL S.W.A.T. TEAM

Kansas State had eight blocked shots at Texas A&M, to put the Wildcats at 87 for the season. It marked the third game of the year in which the Cats had eight-or-more blocks, including a season-high 11 vs. UNC Wilmington at the Saint Peter’s College Holiday Classic on Dec. 29. Currently, the team’s season blocks total is tied for eighth best all-time at K-State. The Wildcats are averaging 6.21 blocks per game behind the league’s third-leading shot blocker in Marlies Gipson (32), which is second only to A&M through all games played in the Big 12. However, in just league games alone, K-State is tops with 19 rejections. Nearly all of the Wildcats (10-of-11) have swatted away a shot this season. Should they continue to keep the pace, the Cats should pass the century mark in the next two-or-three contests. The Wildcats are currently ranked 11th nationally in blocks per game as of Jan. 9.

SEASON-BY-SEASON TEAM RECORDS

1. 237 in 1994-95

2. 151 in 2002-03

3. 140 in 2001-02

4. 128 in 2004-05

5. 118 in 2003-04

6. 92 in 1999-00

7. 90 in 1983-84

8. 87 in 1998-99 and 2005-06

ON THE MARK

Four Wildcats are hitting over 50 percent of their shots from the floor including three of the team’s rookies. Senior center Jessica McFarland is shooting a team-best 58.6 percent from the floor (41-70), while freshmen starters Shalee Lehning (55.9), JoAnn Hamlin (55.2) and Marlies Gipson (54.7) have been on the mark through 14 games played this year. At the same point during the season back in 2001-02, two freshmen starters were also shooting over 50 percent or better (Kendra Wecker, 53.0 and Megan Mahoney, 52.8).

TEXAS A&M RECAP

The Wildcats dropped their second-straight road game with a 66-39 loss at Texas A&M on Jan. 11. Freshman center JoAnn Hamlin led K-State in both the scoring and rebounding columns with 11 points and five rebounds against the Aggies. She also had a hand in a career-high three of the team’s eight blocks on the night. The Wildcats were held to their lowest point total of the year with a season-high 27 turnovers for the game. Last year’s Big 12 Rookie of the Year, Morenike Atunrase scored a game-high 17 points to pace the Aggies, who snapped a six-game losing skid against the Wildcats. K-State’s 39 points also marked the fewest points ever scored in a Big 12 Conference game since a 54-40 loss at Iowa State on Feb. 15, 1997.

Schedule

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Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Iowa State on Mar. 1, 2026 at 1 p.m.

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Kansas State Hosts Colorado Saturday

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