Kansas State Athletics

GAME #4
Kansas State (3-0) at North Texas (2-0)
Sunday, November 19, 2017  |  3 p.m.  |  The Super Pit (10,500)  |  Denton, Texas

TELEVISION
C-USA.tv [subscription required]
• John Liddle (play-by-play)
• Blake Jones (analyst)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
• Brian Smoller (play-by-play)
• Randy Peterson (analyst)
Listen Online: www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 518-273/26th season  |  At K-State: 64-38/4th season
vs. North Texas: 1-1

North Texas: Jalie Mitchell (North Texas '02)
Overall: 25-38/3rd season  |  At North Texas: Same

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (2-0)
G: #12 Rachel Ranke  |  G: #10 Kayla Goth  |  F: #50 Shaelyn Martin  |  F: #1 Kaylee Page  |  F: #11 Peyton Williams
                
North Texas (2-0)
G: #2 Grace Goodhart  |  G: #23 Terriell Bradley  |  G: #24 Trena Mims  |  G: #33 Lauren Holmes  |  P: #34 Micayla Buckner

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads, 1-0
In Manhattan: 1-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 25, 1983
• Head coach Jeff Mittie is 1-1 in his career against North Texas.
• The Wildcats are 22-16 against schools from Conference USA.


DENTON, Texas - K-State will play its next four games away from Bramlage Coliseum, as the Wildcats travel to Denton, Texas, to face North Texas on Sunday at 3 p.m.

• Sunday afternoon's game can be seen live on C-USA.TV (subscription required), as John Liddle (play-by-play) and Blake Jones (color analyst) will call the action.
• K-State has started a season 3-0 for the fourth straight season and the 25th time in program history.
• The Wildcats used a strong fourth quarter effort to shake off Florida A&M on Friday, 81-57. K-State outscored FAMU in the final quarter, 21-4, and held the Rattlers to a .059 field goal percentage in the fourth.
• K-State had all 10 players that saw the floor score and were led by freshman guard Rachel Ranke with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc.
• Ranke is the first K-State freshman since 2013-14 to register consecutive games with 20 or more points. For the season, the product of Burnsville, Minnesota, is averaging a team-high 17.7 points and has buried 4.0 three-point field goals per game.
• Joining Ranke in double figures were junior Kayla Goth and sophomore Peyton Williams. Goth carded her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists. Through two games this week, Goth has 19 assists to four turnovers.
• Williams achieved her second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She also tallied a career-high three blocks.
• Senior Shaelyn Martin also added a strong stat line with eight points, a career-high 15 rebounds, six assists and five steals. For the season, Martin is averaging 9.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.0 steals.

Number to Know
32.3
• #KStateWBB has received 32.3 points per game from its freshmen through the first three games.
• In total, K-State's freshmen have recorded 97 points including a high of 39 against Florida A&M on Nov. 17.
• The 97 total points is 41.1 percent of K-State total points this season (236 points).
• A freshman has led K-State in scoring in two of three games this season.
• K-State's leading scorer through three games is a freshman, Rachel Ranke (17.7 ppg).

At a Glance: North Texas
• North Texas (2-0) has opened its 2017-18 season with a pair of wins, downing Mid America Christian, 86-52, and Texas A&M International, 64-38.
• The Mean Green were 12-19 in the 2016-17 season, including an 8-10 mark in Conference USA. Entering this season, the Mean Green were picked eighth in the C-USA preseason poll.
• North Texas is led on the sidelines by third year head coach Jalie Mitchell. Mitchell, a 2002 graduate of North Texas, is of 25-138 (.397) during her time at her alma mater.
• On the floor, North Texas is led by redshirt junior post Micayla Buckner and freshman guard Lauren Holmes. Buckner is averaging 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds through the first two games.
• Holmes set the school record for points by a true freshman in their collegiate debut with 20 points and 12 rebounds against Mid America Christian.

Defense Stellar When Combining Steals & Blocks
• K-State is 21-0 over the last 12 seasons when achieving a combination of 20+ steals and blocks in the same game.
• K-State is 12-0 under head coach Jeff Mittie when achieving a combination of 20+ steals and blocks in the same game. The Wildcats recorded a combination totalling 23 (13 steals/10 blocks) against Florida A&M.

Wildcats Send Back Shots Under Mittie
• In the first three-plus seasons under head coach Jeff Mittie, Kansas State has piled up blocked shots. Under Mittie, K-State has sent back 480 shots for 4.7 per game in the 102 games.
• The Wildcats have started the season with 24 blocks (8.0 bpg).
• Over the previous three seasons, K-State blocked 456 shots the most over a 3-season span since K-State blocked 486 shots from 2005-06 to 2007-08.
• In the 2016-17 season, K-State had 143 blocks (4.3 bpg), the third straight season with 100 or more blocks and the 11th in program history. The Wildcats blocked five or more shots in 16 games last season.

Sharing is Caring
• Kansas State has opened the season with 21.3 assists per game (64 total assists) and own a 1.5 assist to turnover ratio. The Wildcats have recorded an assist on 64 of K-State's 83 made field goals this season (77.1 percent).
• K-State dished out 24 assists on 31 made field goals (77.4 percent) against Omaha on Nov. 13, the most since handing out 24 at Iowa State on Feb. 24, 2016. K-State has three games this season with assists on 70 percent or more of the made field goals.
• The Wildcats are 53-1 when handing out 20 or more assists over the last 12 years.
• In the 2016-17 season, K-State handed out 14.7 assists per game (500 total assists) and owned a 1.0 assist to turnover ratio. K-State ranked fifth in the Big 12 in assists per game and third in league only games (14.1 apg).
• This was the first season since 2005-06 that K-State handed out 500 or more assists. This marked the seventh time in program history that K-State registered 500 or more assists in a season.
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State has registered 1,465 assists on 2,335 made field goals which is an assist percentage of 62.7 percent.
• K-State has incrementally increased its assists under Mittie in the previous three seasons, from 425 in 2014-15 to 500 in the 2016-17 season. The Wildcats' assist percentage in the 2015-16 season was the highest (64.5 percent) since the 2003-04 season (66.3 percent).
• Since assists became an officially tracked stat in 1981-82, Kansas State has registered an assist percentage of 60.0 percent or higher 19 times in its history including a current streak of four straight seasons.

Martin is K-State's Swiss Army Knife    
• Senior guard/forward Shaelyn Martin has put together a diverse stat line in her career and continued to do so in the 2017-18 season.
• Against Florida A&M on Nov. 17, Martin notched a stat line of eight points, a career-high 15 rebounds, six assists and five steals.
• With her six assists against FAMU, it marked the 26th time in her career she has handed out five or more assists. Martin ranks 11th in school history with 324 assists and is seventh in school history for career assist to turnover ratio at 1.40.
• With her 15 rebounds against Florida A&M, Martin tallied her 67th career game with five or more rebounds. Her career total stands at 582 and she ranks 18th on the K-State career rebounds list. She is the seventh player in program history with 550 or more rebounds and 300 or more assists.
• In the 2016-17 season, Martin tallied 4.7 points, handed out 109 assists with 67 turnovers (3.2 apg; 1.63 assist/turnover ratio), pulled in 165 rebounds (4.9 rpg) and blocked a career-high 12 shots.
• This was her second straight season with 150 or more rebounds and 100 or more assists.
• Her 161 points this season were a new career season-high.
• Martin ranked 10th in the Big 12 in assists per game and seventh in assist to turnover ratio.