K-State Hosts Central Arkansas Before Holiday Break

GAME #11
Central Arkansas (5-4) at Kansas State (7-3)
Thursday, December 20, 2018 | 7 p.m. | Bramlage Coliseum | Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION
ESPN3
• Brian Smoller (play-by-play)
• Missy Heidrick (analyst)
• Anna Christianson (sideline)

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
• Matt Walters (play-by-play)
• Kristin Waller (analyst)
Listen Online: www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
• Call (800) 221-CATS or visit www.kstatesports.com
• Teddy Bear Toss/Operation Santa
• $3 Ticket with donation of a Teddy Bear

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 540-292/27th season | At K-State: 86-57/5th season
vs. Central Arkansas: First Meeting

Central Arkansas: Sandra Rushing (Alabama '86)
Overall: 388-118/18th season | At Central Arkansas: 134-64/7th season

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (7-3)
G: #10 Kayla Goth | G: #12 Rachel Ranke | G: #43 Christianna Carr | F: #11 Peyton Williams | F: #15 Kali Jones

Central Arkansas (5-4)
G: #2 Kamry Orr | G: #21 Shay Johnson | G: #24 Alanie Fisher | F: #11 Mekaylan Hicks | F: #22 Alana Canady

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Kansas State leads, 1-0
At Manhattan: 1-0
Last Meeting: January 3, 2009; K-State won 81-38
• Mittie is 8-4 in his coaching career against teams from the state of Arkansas including a 53-47 win at Little Rock earlier this season.
• The Wildcats are 16-3 against schools from the Southland Conference, including a 1-0 mark this season.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - Before taking a break for the holidays, Kansas State will host Central Arkansas on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

• For the first time, K-State will host a Teddy Bear Toss at halftime of the game in conjunction with Fort Riley's Operation Santa toy drive at Thursday's game. Fans are encouraged to bring a new stuffed animal to Bramlage Coliseum for this event.
• Thursday's game can be seen live on ESPN3, as Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Missy Heidrick (analyst) and Anna Christianson (sideline) call the action.
• K-State (7-3) was within four points with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter against (17/19) Arizona State on December 16 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but the Sun Devils used a 13-3 run to close out the game and down the Wildcats, 65-51.
• Kansas State was led by the combination of Kayla Goth and Peyton Williams, as the duo combined for 36 of K-State's 51 points.
• Goth, playing in her home state, led the Wildcats with 19 points. She added a career-high three blocks. Goth has led K-State in scoring in three straight games.
• For the season, the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award candidate is averaging 12.1 points and 5.9 assists. Goth leads the Big 12 in total assists (59) and is second in assists per game.
• Goth is closing in on a career milestone, as she is 36 points away from becoming the 41st player in program history to score 1,000 or more career points.
• Williams notched her 14th consecutive game with 10 or more points, as she recorded her fifth double-double this season with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
• Williams, a 2019 Katrina McClain Award candidate, leads K-State with 14.8 points on a .600 field goal percentage and has pulled in 9.7 rebounds. She ranks among the top-15 in the Big 12 in scoring (12th), field goal percentage (4th), rebounding (5th) and free throw percentage (5th).

Number to Know
34
• In the first five seasons of the Jeff Mittie era, #KStateWBB owns a 34-2 (.944) record in non-conference regular season home games.
• The Wildcats enter Thursday's game against Central Arkansas with a five-game home court winning streak.
• Kansas State started Mittie's career in Manhattan with a 22-game winning streak in non-conference regular season home games before falling to (1/1) Connecticut on Dec. 11, 2016.
• The last time K-State lost two or more regular season non-conference home games was in the 2009-10 season (4-3).

At a Glance: Central Arkansas
• Central Arkansas (5-4) enters Thursday's game after a 70-35 win over Williams Baptist on Monday afternoon.
• The Sugar Bears are guided by seventh year head coach Sandra Rushing. The 1986 graduate of Alabama owns a 134-64 (.677) record in her time in Conway.
• On the floor, Central Arkansas is led by senior Kamry Orr and sophomore Hannah Langhi.
• Orr, a guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, is the only Sugar Bear averaging double figures in points with 13.0 points per game. Against Williams Baptist, Orr led Central Arkansas with 15 points
• Langhi, a forward from Hardin, Kentucky, is second on the team in scoring with 6.6 per game and leads the team in rebounding with 5.2 per game.

Wildcats with 300+ Wins in Bramlage
• K-State is 328-129 (.718) all-time inside Bramlage Coliseum, which is in its 31st season of existence.
• In his career in games played in his home venue, Mittie is 332-86 (.794).
• Kansas State has protected Bramlage Coliseum with determination against non-conference foes with a record of 192-26 (.881). Head coach Jeff Mittie is 38-5 (.884) in non-conference games in Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State was 11-8 at home in 2017-18. This was the 29th time the Wildcats reached double figures in home victories in program history. The Wildcats have won 10 or more games in Bramlage in four straight seasons.

Wildcats Send Back Shots Under Mittie
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, Kansas State has piled up blocked shots. K-State has sent back 668 shots for 4.67 per game in the 143 games.
• After 10 games, Kansas State has 52 blocked shots (5.2 bpg). The Wildcats rank 21st in the nation for total blocks and 24th for blocks per game. According to herhoopstats.com, K-State ranks 22nd in the nation in block rate at 13.3 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.

Three is not a Crowd, It's a Benefit
• Since 2011-12, when three or more players reach double figures in scoring in the same game, K-State is 97-49 (.664). This season, K-State is 6-1 when three or more players score in double figures.
• The Wildcats had a season-high five players reach double figures against Syracuse on November 22, 2018.
• The trio of Kayla Goth, Peyton Williams and Rachel Ranke have scored in double figures in the same games 19 times since the start of the 2017-18 season.
• When K-State had three or more players reach double figures in the same game in the 2017-18 season, the Wildcats were 16-9.

Double-Doubles Adding Up for Williams
• Peyton Williams is recording double-doubles at a high rate to begin the the 2018-19 season.
• Williams has five double-doubles in 10 games played this season. She is second in the Big 12 and ranks 23rd in the nation for double-doubles.
• In games Williams has tallied a double-double this season, she is averaging 15.3 points on a .581 field goal percentage, 12.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.8 blocks.
• For her career, Williams owns 12 double-doubles. She needs three double-doubles to tie for 10th in program history for career double-doubles.

Jones On the Boards
• Senior forward Kali Jones has started the 2018-19 season strong on the boards, as she is averaging 5.6 rebounds per game in 25.5 minutes of action.
• Of her 56 total rebounds, 28 (2.8 orpg) have come on the offensive end of the floor. Jones ranks eighth in the Big 12 in offensive rebounding. According to herhoopstats.com, Jones is among the top 6 percent of players in NCAA Division I for offensive rebound rate 13.2 percent.
• Against North Texas, Jones set a new career-high with 11 rebounds. This was her second career double-figure rebound game, surpassing her 10 at Oklahoma on Jan. 31, 2018.
• Including her 11 games at UC Santa Barbara in 2015-16, Jones owns 81 offensive rebounds in her career which is 43.5 percent of her career total.

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Players Mentioned

Christianna Carr

Kayla Goth

Kali Jones

Rachel Ranke

Peyton Williams

Kansas State University Athletics