K-State, (17/19) Arizona State Meet in Battle at the Bluff

GAME #10
(17/19) Arizona State (7-2) vs. Kansas State (7-2)
Sunday, December 16, 2018 | 4 p.m. | Mitchell Hall Gym | La Crosse, Wis.

TELEVISION
Boxcast
• subscription required

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

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
• Call (608) 785-8616 or visit www.uwlathletics.com

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 540-291/27th season | At K-State: 86-56/5th season
vs. Arizona State: First Meeting

Arizona State: Charli Turner Thorne (Stanford '88)
Overall: 469-288/25th season | At Arizona State: 429-248/22nd season

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (7-2)
G: #10 Kayla Goth | G: #12 Rachel Ranke | G: #43 Christianna Carr | F: #11 Peyton Williams | F: #15 Kali Jones

Arizona State (7-2)
G: #1 Reili Richardson | G: #11 Robbi Ryan | G/F: #22 Courtney Ekmark | F: #42 Kianna Ibis | C: #33 Chamea Johnson-Chapman

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Arizona State leads, 2-1
At Neutral Site: 1-1
Last Meeting: November 28, 2003; K-State won 59-50
• The Wildcats are 47-47 against schools from the Pac 12 Conference.
• K-State is 2-3 (.400) all-time in games played in the state of Wisconsin. The last time K-State was in the state was Dec. 5, 2007, at Green Bay.
• The Wildcats are 4-7 (.364) against teams ranked 17th in the Associated Press top-25 poll.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - Kansas State will make its first appearance in the state of Wisconsin since December of 2007, as the Wildcats face (17/19) Arizona State on Sunday in the Battle by the Bluff in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Sunday's game will be played on the campus of UW-La Crosse at Mitchell Hall Gym at 4 p.m.

• Sunday's game can be seen live on Boxcast (subscription required for HD version). The game can also be heard on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
• K-State (7-2) improved its winning streak to four games with a 53-47 win at Little Rock on Saturday, December 8. The Wildcats secured its first true road win since November 19, 2017, at North Texas.
• Kansas State featured three players in double figures for the seventh time this season. The trio to pace the Wildcats were senior guard Kayla Goth, junior forward Peyton Williams and sophomore guard Rachel Ranke. The combination of Goth, Williams and Ranke have scored 10 or more points in the same game 19 times over the last two seasons.
• Goth, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, led the Wildcats with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. For the season, the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award candidate, is averaging 11.3 points, 6.3 assists and 1.8 steals. Goth leads the Big 12 in total assists (57) and is second in assists per game.
• Williams notched in 13th consecutive game with 10 or more points, as she added 12 points and eight rebounds. For the season, Williams leads K-State with 14.5 points on a .610 field goal percentage and pulled in 9.4 rebounds.
• Ranke tallied her fourth straight game in double figures, as she tallied 12 points and boosted her total with a career-high 6-of-7 from the free throw line. The product of Burnsville, Minnesota, is averaging 10.1 points this season.

Cats From the Tri-State Area
• K-State's 2018-19 roster features players from Wisconsin (1), Minnesota (2) and Illinois (2).
• The average distance from La Crosse for the five players from the area is 185 miles.
• K-State's Wisconsin native, Kayla Goth, is a 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award candidate which is given annually to the top point guard in the nation.

Number to Know
48
• Through nine games, #KStateWBB has 48 blocked shots (5.3 bpg). This is the fourth time in the last five seasons under head coach Jeff Mittie that K-State has registered 45 or more blocks in the first nine games of a season.
• The Wildcats rank 22nd in the nation in total blocks and blocks per game.
• Kali Jones (22 blocks; 2.4 bpg) and Peyton Williams (9; 1.0 bpg) lead K-State in blocked shots. Jones, who has set a new career season-high in blocks, ranks second in the Big 12 in blocks per game.
• Of the 12 players that have seen the floor this season, seven have at least one blocked shot.

At a Glance: Arizona State
• (17/19) Arizona State (7-2) enters Sunday's game in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on a five-game winning streak following a 70-39 win at Colorado State on December 9.
• The Sun Devils are guided by 22nd year head coach Charli Turner Thorne. The 1988 graduate of Stanford owns a 429-248 (.634) in her time in Tempe. Turner Thorne has led Arizona State to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and the postseason in 18 of the last 19 years.
• On the floor, Arizona State is led by senior Kianna Ibis and redshirt senior Courtney Ekmark.
• Ibis, a forward from Omaha, Nebraska, leads the Sun Devils in scoring with 12.1 points and is third in rebounding with 5.2 per game.
• Ekmark, a combo guard/forward, is second on the team in scoring with 10.8 per game. Over the last two games, she is averaging 20.0 points. At Colorado State, Ekmark tallied 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc.

K-State Among Top-20 in NCAA History for Wins
• Kansas State women's basketball is in its 51st season of action and ranks among the top programs in NCAA history for wins.
• K-State's all-time record stands at 939-585 (.616) and the Wildcats entered the 2018-19 season ranked 18th in NCAA Division I women's basketball history for program wins. K-State is averaging 18.4 wins per season.
• The Wildcats have accumulated 24 20-win seasons and have secured 328 victories inside Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State has 181 wins in the Big 12 Conference.
• In postseason play, the Wildcats have 13 wins in the NCAA Tournament and 16 wins in the WNIT.
• Kansas State has registered 220 victories when they were ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll and achieved 80 wins against teams ranked in the AP poll.

K-State Against Ranked Opponents
• The Wildcats are 80-205 (.281) against teams ranked in the Associated Press (AP) poll including a 50-57 (.467) mark against AP ranked teams in Manhattan.
• With its 60-52 win at No. 12 West Virginia on Jan. 3, 2018, K-State has registered a win over an AP top-25 team in 12 straight seasons.
• It was the highest ranked opponent K-State has defeated on the road since upsetting No. 10 Texas Tech on Jan. 14, 2012.
• K-State is 8-30 (.211) against AP ranked opponents in head coach Jeff Mittie's five seasons in Manhattan.

Wildcats' Defense Forges Identity
• K-State has continued to be a force on the defensive end during head coach Jeff Mittie's five seasons on the bench.
• In the first nine games of the 2018-19 season, the Wildcats are 59th in the nation in scoring defense with 56.8 points per game allowed. The Wildcats are 40th in the nation in field goal percentage at .349 allowed.
• For the first time in the Mittie era and the first time since the 2011-12 season, Kansas State held its first two opponents of a season to 49 points or less. The Wildcats held Omaha to 46 points, then kept North Texas to 42 points.
• The 42 points allowed to North Texas were the fewest surrendered by K-State since allowing 42 to Princeton on Dec. 18, 2016.
• During the last 17 seasons, K-State is 109-3 (.973) when holding an opponent to 49 points or less.

Wildcats Send Back Shots Under Mittie
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, Kansas State has piled up blocked shots. K-State has sent back 664 shots for 4.68 per game in the 142 games.
• After nine games, Kansas State has 48 blocked shots (5.3 bpg). The Wildcats rank 22nd in the nation for total blocks and blocks per game. According to herhoopstats.com, K-State ranks 13th in the nation in block rate at 14.2 percent. K-State has finished among the top-35 in block rate in two of the last three seasons including 11th in the 2015-16 season.
• Of the 12 players that have seen the floor this season, seven have at least one blocked shot.
• Against Lamar, K-State blocked a season-high 12 shots. This was the most blocks since K-State set the school record on Nov. 13, 2015 at Tulsa of 14. Under Mittie, K-State has five games with 10 or more blocks.
• K-State has five games this season with five or more blocks.

Goth Approaching 1,000-Point Mark for Career
• Senior guard Kayla Goth has built herself into a dynamic scoring threat for K-State over the last two seasons and is on the verge of becoming the 41st player in program history with 1,000 points in their career. She needs 55 points to reach the 1,000-point mark in her career.
• To open the 2018-19 season, the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award candidate is second on the Wildcats with 11.3 points per game on a .479 field goal percentage. She ranks 21st in the Big 12 in scoring.
• Against North Texas, Goth led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.
• Goth has 21 career games with at least 15 points and five assists including 19 last season. She has more games with 15 or more points and five or more assists (21) than every other K-State player since the start of the 2014-15 season (11).
• Against Lamar, Goth tallied her second career game with 20 or more points and 10 or more assists.
• Goth earned her first career Big 12 Player of the Week honor on December 10 by averaging 17.5 points on a .579 field goal percentage with 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds.

K-State, (17/19) Arizona State Meet in Battle at the Bluff

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Christianna Carr

Kayla Goth

Kali Jones

Rachel Ranke

Peyton Williams

Kansas State University Athletics