K-State Opens Big 12 Championship Against Kansas

GAME #30
Kansas (12-17, 3-15 Big 12) vs. Kansas State (15-14, 7-11 Big 12)
Friday, March 2, 2018 | 6 p.m. | Chesapeake Energy Arena | Oklahoma City, Okla.

TELEVISION
FOX College Sports Central
• Ron Thulin (play-by-play)
• Brenda VanLengen (analyst)

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

PROMOTIONS & TICKETS
• Visit www.Big12Sports.com/BuyTickets

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 530-287/26th season | At K-State: 76-52/4th season
vs. Kansas: 9-0

Kansas: Brandon Schneider (Wayland Baptist '95)
Overall: 427-202/19th season | At Kansas: 26-64/3rd season

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (15-14, 7-11 Big 12)
G: #10 Kayla Goth | G: #12 Rachel Ranke | F: #1 Kaylee Page | F: #11 Peyton Williams | F: #50 Shaelyn Martin

Kansas (12-17, 3-15 Big 12)
G: #0 Christalah Lyons | G: #2 Brianna Osorio | G: #33 Kylee Kopatich | F: #14 Austin Richardson | F: #55 Tyler Johnson

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads, 72-46
In neutral sites: 7-6
Last Meeting: February 24, 2018; K-State won 91-67
• Over the last 37 meetings, K-State is 31-6 against the Jayhawks including a current streak of nine straight wins.
• The Wildcats are 3-2 against the Jayhawks in Big 12 Championship matchups.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - Kansas State enters the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships as the number eight seed and will face the nine seed, Kansas, in the first round on Friday at 6 p.m., in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at Chesapeake Energy Arena. This will be the second meeting between the programs in less than a week.

• Friday's game will be available on FOX College Sports - Central, as Ron Thulin (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (analyst) will have the call.
• The Wildcats enter the tournament as the number eight seed for the first time since the 2014-15 season and the foruth time overall. Kansas State has advanced at least one round 15 times at the Big 12 Championship (18-21).
• Kansas State has been led this season by junior Kayla Goth, sophomore Peyton Williams and freshman Rachel Ranke.
• Goth, an All-Big 12 Second Team, leads the Wildcats in scoring (16.7 ppg) and assists (6.9 apg). She has set career season-highs in 14 categories.
• Goth is the first player in program history with 400 or more points and 175 or more assists in a season. She has been responsible for 53.1 percent of K-State's made field goals this season. She is the only player in the Big 12 at 50.0 percent or higher for her team's made field goal responsibility.
• Williams, an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, has set career season-highs in 16 categories and leads the team in field goal percentage (.545), free throw percentage (.837) and blocks (39; 1.3 bpg).
• The forward from Topeka, Kansas, is the 12th sophomore in program history with 400 or more points in her second season.
• Ranke, an All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection, is averaging 12.1 points which has been boosted by 2.9 three-point field goals made per game.
• Ranke is second in program history for 3-point field goals made by a freshman (83) and is tied for ninth for single-season 3-point field goals made by all players.

Number to Know
299
• #KStateWBB's duo of Kayla Goth and Shaelyn Martin have set the school record for most combined assists by two players in a single season with 299 (min. 250 total assists & 100+ by each player).
• Goth has set a new career season-high with 199 assists this season. She leads the Big 12 in assists per game (6.9 apg) and total assists. She ranks third in program history for assists in a single season.
• Martin is just the fourth player in program history with 100 or more assists in three or more seasons, as she has 100 assists this season. Martin ranks 8th in the Big 12 in assists.

At a Glance: Kansas
• Kansas (12-17, 3-15 Big 12) ended the regular season with a two-game losing skid following a 66-59 win over (25/23) Oklahoma State on Feb. 21.
• On the sideline, Kansas is led by third-year head coach Brandon Schneider. Schneider is 26-64 (.289) in his time in Lawrence.
• Leading Kansas this season are junior guards Christalah Lyons and Kylee Kopatich.
• Lyons, a 2018 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, is pacing the Jayhawks with 14.7 points and 3.1 assists. Against Iowa State, Lyons finished with 16 points.
• Kopatich is second on the team in scoring at 13.3 points and rebounding at 4.1 per game.

50th Season of K-State WBB
• Kansas State women's basketball is playing its golden anniversary season in 2017-18, as the Wildcats will celebrate the 50th season of the program.
• According to the NCAA, K-State joins 25 other women's basketball programs in NCAA Division I history to play at least 50 straight seasons of intercollegiate women's basketball, including six programs reaching the mark with K-State this season: Belmont, Dayton, East Tennessee State, Kansas, Stephen F. Austin and UMBC.
• K-State's record in its 50th season of women's basketball stands at 929-581 (.615), entering the season ranked 18th in NCAA Division I women's basketball history for program wins. K-State is averaging 18.7 wins per season.
• The Wildcats have accumulated 24 20-win seasons and have secured 321 victories inside Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State has 180 wins in the Big 12 Conference.
• In postseason play, the Wildcats have 13 wins in the NCAA Tournament and 14 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.

Marching Toward the Finish Line
• During the third month of the year but the final month of the basketball season, K-State owns a 123-90 (.577) record in March.
• K-State head coach Jeff Mittie is 6-6 in the month of March during his time in Manhattan.

Scoring Up For K-State in 2017-18
• Kansas State's offensive numbers continue to improve in Jeff Mittie's four seasons. K-State is averaging 67.9 points per game with 1,969 points scored this season.
• K-State's 2,294 points in the 2016-17 season were the most since the 2005-06 season when K-State scored 2,386 points.
• This was the first time K-State scored 2,000 or more points in consecutive seasons since reaching the mark in eight straight seasons from 2001-02 to 2008-09.

Magic Number is 70 Points for Wildcats
• Since the 2001-02 season, K-State is 185-22 (.894) when scoring 70 or more points in a game including a 33-8 (.805) record in the Jeff Mittie era.
• K-State has scored 70 or more points in a game 13 times this season (10-3) including a high of 99 against Chicago State on Dec. 18. The 99 points were the most since scoring 102 against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 13, 2015.
• This is the second straight season K-State has scored 70 or more points in 13 games. Over the last two seasons, K-State has 26 games with 70 or more points.
• Last season, K-State scored 70 or more points in a game 13 times (11-2). This marked the second most games in the last 12 seasons with 70 or more points.
• Against Kansas on Feb. 24, K-State scored 91 points. This marked the most points K-State has scored in regulation against the Jayhawks in the history of the series. The 91 points were the most in a Big 12 game since Feb. 11, 2015, when K-State scored 93 against TCU.

Wildcats Solid From Beyond the Arc
• In the 2017-18 season, K-State is shooting .314 percent from 3-point range (195-of-621) which includes 6.7 made 3-point field goals per game. Kansas State is scoring 29.7 percent (585 points; 0.94 points/attempt) of its points from beyond the arc. K-State ranks fifth in the Big 12 in three-point field goals made per game.
• Kansas State registered a season-high 12 connections from beyond the arc three times this season: against Omaha on Nov. 13, against Kansas on Feb. 24 and at Texas Tech on Feb. 26. This is the second-most 3-point field goals made in the Jeff Mittie era and the most since Dec. 13, 2016 against Florida Atlantic when the Wildcats made 14.
• The Wildcats have made 24 three-pointers in the last two games. This is the first time since Dec. 13 & Dec. 19, 2015 that K-State has made 24 three-pointers in a two-game span.
• K-State has made five or more 3-pointers in a game 24 times (12-12) this season. In the Jeff Mittie era, the Wildcats have made five or more 3-pointers in a game 94 times in 128 total games.
• In four seasons under Mittie, K-State has buried 785 three-pointers which is 6.1 per game.
• The Wildcats have made 175 or more 3-point field goals in 17 of the last 18 seasons.
• K-State has made at least one 3-point field goal in 369 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 7, 2007.

Goth Giveth
• Junior guard Kayla Goth has been a record-setting distributor in her first full season as the team's point guard.
• Goth has handed out a career single-season high 199 assists (6.9 apg) with just 95 turnovers (2.09 assist to turnover ratio) this season. She leads the Big 12 and is ninth in the nation in assists per game and total assists. She also leads the Big 12 in double figure assist games with six.
• According to herhoopstats.com, Goth ranks third in the nation with an assist rate of 44.4 percent (assist rate defined: percentage of teammate field goals assisted on while on the court).
• Goth needs one assist to become the second player in program history to hand out 200 or more assists in a single-season. Her 199 assists this season rank third in school history for assists in a single season and are the most assists by a Wildcat since Shalee Lehning set the school record for assists in a season at 229 in the 2008-09 season.
• She has 25 games this season with five or more assists, including six with 10 or more assists.
• Goth is the first K-State player to hand out 10 or more assists in five or more games in a season since Shalee Lehning in the 2008-09 season (10 games). She is third in school history for career double figure assist games (6).
• Goth has been responsible for 53.1 percent (199 assists; 174 made field goals) of K-State's made field goals this season.
• Against Kansas, Goth dished out a career-high and team season-high 12 assists. She is tied for sixth in program history for assists in a game. The 12 assists were the most by a Wildcat since the 2008-09 season.
• In her career, Goth ranks tied for first in program history for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.83). She has 287 assists in her career and ranks 15th in program history for career assists.

Ranke with Range
• Freshman guard Rachel Ranke has made an impact to K-State's lineup from the perimeter this season.
• In her first season in Manhattan, Ranke is averaging 12.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.2 steals. She leads all Big 12 freshmen in 3-point field goals made per game (2.9; 83) and is third in scoring for all freshmen. She ranks 27th in the nation in 3-point field goals made and 12th in 3-point field goals attempted (246).
• Ranke, a 2018 Big 12 All-Freshman Team recipient, is the ninth K-State freshman in program history to register 350 or more points in her rookie season and the first since the 2013-14 season.
• Ranke, a three-time Big 12 Freshman of the Week honoree, has made 83 three-point field goals this season and has made four or more 3-point field goals in nine games. She ranks second in program history for 3-point field goals made in a freshman season and made the most by a freshman since Laurie Koehn in 2001-02. She ranks tied for ninth for 3-point field goals made in a season.
• At Texas Tech on Feb. 26, Ranke registered a career-high 26 points while knocking down six 3-pointers.
• She is the first K-State freshman to score 20 or more points in five or more games since the 2013-14 season.
• Against Chicago State on Dec. 18, Ranke registered 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting including 7-of-15 from beyond the arc. She also pulled in six rebounds.
• The seven 3-pointers by the Burnsville, Minnesota, native were the most by a K-State freshman since Koehn registered seven at Texas on Jan. 30, 2002.
• In her first career start, Ranke finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including a 6-of-12 effort from 3-point range against Omaha. She also notched two rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in 37 minutes of action.
• In her second career start, Ranke led K-State with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including a 5-of-11 effort from beyond the arc. She also tallied a 4-of-4 performance at the foul line.
• She is the first K-State freshman since the 2013-14 season to register consecutive games of 20 or more points.

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.
• For the season, Martin is averaging a career-high 5.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. She ranks third in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.838), seventh in assists and eighth in rebounding and defensive rebounds per game at 5.3.
• With her three assists at Texas Tech, Martin improved her career total to 404 and ranks fifth in school history and 47th among active NCAA players. She is tied for sixth in school history for career assist to turnover ratio at 1.38. She has 30 career games with five or more assists.
• With her three rebounds at Texas Tech, Martin increased her career total to 746 and she ranks 12th on the K-State career rebounds list. She is the third player in program history with 600 or more points, 700 or more rebounds and 400 or more assists.
• She has 84 career games with five or more rebounds, including 13 career games with 10 or more rebounds.

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Players Mentioned

Kayla Goth

Shaelyn Martin

Kaylee Page

Rachel Ranke

Peyton Williams

Kansas State University Athletics