Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, January 23
Manhattan, Kan.
7 p.m.
Kansas State University
13-6, 4-3
59
vs
48
Oklahoma State
12-5, 3-3
1
2
3
4
F
Oklahoma State
3
19
10
16
48
Kansas State
12
7
15
25
59
K-State Extends Winning Streak to Three on Wednesday Night
Jan 23, 2019 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – Kansas State used a lockdown defensive effort against Oklahoma State on Wednesday night to secure a 59-48 win at Bramlage Coliseum. K-State has now won three straight Big 12 games, the longest regular season league winning streak for the Wildcats since the 2016-17 season.
The 48 points allowed by K-State were the fewest surrendered in a Big 12 game by the Wildcats since holding Oklahoma State to 43 on January 14, 2017. K-State improves to 4-0 this season when allowing 49 or fewer points in a game.
Kansas State (13-6, 4-3 Big 12) was locked in defensively to begin the game, as the Wildcats held the Cowgirls to 1-of-15 (.067) shooting from the field in the opening quarter to build a 12-3 lead. K-State had five different players record a field goal in the opening quarter to hold the nine-point edge.
The three points K-State allowed in the opening quarter were the fewest surrendered by the Wildcats in any quarter this season.
Oklahoma State (12-5, 3-3) took control of the second quarter with a 13-2 run to begin the frame and take a 16-14 lead with 4:57 remaining. The Wildcats were able to tie the game twice on layups by Peyton Williams, but the Cowgirls secured a 22-19 lead at the half. K-State shot 23.1 percent (3-of-13) in the second stanza and finished with seven points in the quarter, which were the fewest K-State has scored in any quarter this season.
K-State used a 9-3 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter to pull in front, 28-25, as Kayla Goth knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key. On K-State's next possession, Rachel Ranke hit her first three of the night to give K-State a 31-27 lead with 5:57 to play.
The teams would then combine to score eight points over the final 5:56 of the quarter, as K-State held a 34-32 lead entering the final 10 minutes.
Kali Jones pushed K-State in front by four, 38-34, with four points to open the fourth quarter. Jones would finish the night with nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
K-State increased its lead to 10, 47-37, as Williams scored five straight points to force a Cowgirl timeout with 3:25 remaining. Williams would score 12 points in the fourth quarter, tying a school record held by Kindred Wesemann for points in a fourth quarter.
Oklahoma State was able to pull to within five, 54-49, with under a minute to play but a layup from Williams and free throws from Jasauen Beard and Goth in the final 50 seconds sealed the win for K-State.
The Wildcats were led by the ninth double-double of the season from Williams. The junior from Topeka, Kansas, finished with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds. She also added two assists, two blocks and a steal. This was the 16th double-double of her career and moves her into a tie for ninth in program history for career double-doubles.
Joining Williams in double figures was Goth with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Oklahoma State was led by Braxtin Miller and Vivian Gray with 15 and 14 points, respectively. No other Cowgirls scored more than five points on the night.
Overall, Kansas State shot 37.3 percent (22-of-59) and held Oklahoma State to a 23.6 percent (17-of-72) effort. The Wildcats dominated the paint, outscoring the Cowgirls 32-16.
K-State held the edge on the boards, 49-44. Kansas State has held the advantage in rebounding this season nine times and own an 8-1 record in those games.
K-State returns to the road this weekend, as the Wildcats visit Morgantown, West Virginia, to face West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game can be heard on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"You're just going to get some games this season where it is just kind of a grind, and I think maybe the 10-0 start by us was maybe not as helpful as you would think it would be, because the obvious part is we relaxed, started taking shots that were ill advised and Oklahoma State is too good when you're talking about a 10-0 lead with 35 minutes to go in the game. So, I was proud of our group. Defensively, I thought we fought (Vivian) Gray and (Braxtin) Miller, we forced them into some tough shots, I thought we rebounded the ball well. We, as a group, rebounded probably as good as we have all year. So, there were some positives. As much as this was a frustrating game, a lot of mistakes, really sloppy, there were still some things that I thought we did very well tonight."
On the defensive game plan…
"Well, that's always a thought. You know they're gonna, it's a big part of their offense. You know they're going to score some points, but, can you get them to a high volume of shots and not shoot a very good percentage. We tried to mix things up as much as we could, and I thought our group did a really good job with that. Really, pretty good. Overall, we had pretty good awareness of where they were at. The players, I thought, played it pretty well.
We denied Miller early in the game. We wanted to limit her touches early, we didn't want her to get off to a good start. I thought we were really good during that 10-0 run. But, I don't think that's anything we can stay with too long because they'll get in a rhythm against it and I mean, let's be honest, most of our issues were at the offensive end as well, because 22-19 at half, it's hard to argue with either team's defense. Both of us just had a tough time getting easy looks and fortunately, we found enough and we found the free throw line in the fourth quarter and that was the difference of the game."
On Rachel Ranke's shooting and finding different options…
"That went through my head on about four shots. I think that the hard thing for our shooters, it's a great thing about them, they think every shot is going in. They have that kind of confidence. What they need to have is a little more trust, that, okay, maybe I need to move it a little bit, get it back, and then I'll have that same shot.
So yeah, I think there is that mentality that, I really want one to go down and then I'll feel better. But you know, Rachel hits her first three of the second half, it's probably the easiest shot she took. Feet set, rhythm, she didn't have to rush it, and that's what we are trying to get both her and Chrissy (Carr) to do, just relax and trust the offense. We are still sporadic. You saw tonight, during that game stretch we were very rushed and very hurried, just not making very good decisions."
On building teams that go through tough games…
"I think it starts with, you know, our mentality is always 40 minutes. We probably haven't practiced much with this team, because I feel like with such a young team, there is so many things we have gotta work on. But, over the years, we do a lot of situations, we do a lot of late game situations, we do a lot of situations, up seven, down seven, this team probably has done the least amount of any of that. So, for me, it's also right now making sure that I save enough timeouts, because it's also a learning process for them. I don't know, I think the one thing that our group is resilient, I think they're resilient. I think they trust things for the most part, and I think certainly our leaders are that way. They got a competitive fire.
What we need to do is to embrace better as a group. We need to embrace, these kind of games. Because there's going to be a handful more of these games. There's probably going to be about 10 more of them in the league. And, this is just kind of Big 12 basketball, and you have to embrace that. The great thing I saw tonight was that they got stronger down the stretch and I said earlier in the week that I really do feel like our leaders and our veterans are having great communication in the huddle. So, I really do feel like that even when I'm frustrated, when, they're frustrated, I always tell them all the time, 'look, I'm going to scream at ya, just let it go. Just let me rant for whatever time. Just let it go.' I think they know it's over with for the most part, after that. But at the same time, when they aren't playing hard and they aren't playing tough, I'm gonna let them know. And I think our group is resilient that way. In this, hopefully you win these tight and tough ones. We've had two good ones that have been tough, hard fought wins."
KALI JONES, SENIOR FORWARD
On how she feels about her ankle injury…
"I've gotten better over this time period. My ankle is getting better each day I'm with my trainers. We're working really hard to get it back to normal. I would just say I'm feeling pretty good."
PEYTON WILLIAMS, JUNIOR FORWARD
On what was going through her mind late in the fourth quarter...
"It was really tight throughout most of the second half. There was a time that I was tired of missing every shot that I took so I was like, 'I've got to get close to the basket.' So I was really aggressive as much as I could, I would just put my head down and get a layup as much as I could. That was mostly my thought process."
On what was working for her tonight on her way to a double-double…
"It didn't feel like much there for a little bit, honestly, it was just the built up frustration with missing. That helped with rebounding because I wanted to grab it and get our offense going as soon as I could. For the points, just trying to be aggressive off the bounce a little more tonight because they were really aggressive denying us sometimes so they would overplay. I think looking for some drives and dishing to Kali [Jones] occasionally. Just overall being more aggressive and looking at their defense, reading what they're giving me."
On the differences in the team on this 3-game win streak…
"I would say that even when we get down, we were down going into halftime in this game and we were down at one point during the Texas Tech game, we're able to go back to our effort and go back to our hustle plays to bring us back into the game which I think was not the case earlier on in the season. When we weren't hitting shots, like in this game, we could still go back and play good defense and try again. I think something that has evolved a little bit in these past couple of games was our effort and being able to sustain that even when everything is not going our way."
JIM LITTELL, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"Credit K-State for a nice win. I thought both teams in the first half played hard and did not play well. It was not a very pretty game in the first half. I was proud of our kids for fighting back and we did it on the defensive end. I do not feel like we defended as well in the second half but the bottom line is you are not going to win any games when you miss 55 shots. We were hurried and sped up a little bit. You can give credit to K-State's defense for that but I think we missed a lot of shots that you have to make if you are going to win on the road, just plain and simple. We had some players that they left open, challenged us to shoot and we did not make it. Then we were sped up. We got the ball around the free throw line area a lot. I felt like we had some good looks and never played with a tempo that we could be successful with all night. I could give a thousand reasons but when you miss 55 shots you are not going to win a game."
On how they scouted K-State…
"Offensively, we knew we needed to move bodies and move the basketball. Just not stay stationary. They are pretty good when you allow them to guard stationary people. Like I said, I thought we had some flashes and some looks but we did not make some shots. Maybe I need to revamp some things offensively but I thought we did have a lot of good looks and did not make shots. We knew we had to do a good job on [Kayla] Goth. I thought we did a great job on her. I would take those stats against her any day. Braxtin Miller did a really nice job on her. Peyton Williams hurt us late. We knew how good a player she was and knew we had to stop those two. We also said that we could not look up at the end of the night and let somebody like Kali Jones have 9 or 10 and that is what occurred. We quit blocking out in the second half, did not rotate right and gave some people that are not really scorers for them the opportunity to make shots. We guarded well enough. We had to foul at the end. They are in the low 50s if we do not foul. We cannot do that. We cannot be that disappointing offensively."
On their slow start affecting them…
"Evidently quite a bit. We went on to miss 55 [shots]. We have to be mentally strong on that. You have to expend a lot of energy to get back in the game when you fall behind 12-3, too. They are a good team. Not taking anything away from them. They are very well coached, play a different style and utilize a couple key players very nicely. They have buried some people and had some great wins. They are a really good basketball team and they are really good here, as well."
On Braxtin Miller and Vivian Gray…
"I thought they played fine but did not shoot it well. They have to shoot it better but we have to give some help, too. There has to be some other people. Our point guards went 2-of-13 but feature players that take that many shots have to hit more of them. They would tell you that they were open and had better looks. I just think we did not play with a real good tempo. There were a couple times today that we ran a set, somebody was in the way and we just threw the ball directly to them. We have to get out of the mode of running plays. We need to see who is open and make good decisions instead of feeling like we have to force the basketball some place. There was a lack of maturity on our part in about every phase of the game tonight. I guess that happens when you have some young ones out there but if you are going to play with the big girls in this league, you have to step up and be able to make plays regardless of your age."
The 48 points allowed by K-State were the fewest surrendered in a Big 12 game by the Wildcats since holding Oklahoma State to 43 on January 14, 2017. K-State improves to 4-0 this season when allowing 49 or fewer points in a game.
Kansas State (13-6, 4-3 Big 12) was locked in defensively to begin the game, as the Wildcats held the Cowgirls to 1-of-15 (.067) shooting from the field in the opening quarter to build a 12-3 lead. K-State had five different players record a field goal in the opening quarter to hold the nine-point edge.
The three points K-State allowed in the opening quarter were the fewest surrendered by the Wildcats in any quarter this season.
Oklahoma State (12-5, 3-3) took control of the second quarter with a 13-2 run to begin the frame and take a 16-14 lead with 4:57 remaining. The Wildcats were able to tie the game twice on layups by Peyton Williams, but the Cowgirls secured a 22-19 lead at the half. K-State shot 23.1 percent (3-of-13) in the second stanza and finished with seven points in the quarter, which were the fewest K-State has scored in any quarter this season.
K-State used a 9-3 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter to pull in front, 28-25, as Kayla Goth knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key. On K-State's next possession, Rachel Ranke hit her first three of the night to give K-State a 31-27 lead with 5:57 to play.
The teams would then combine to score eight points over the final 5:56 of the quarter, as K-State held a 34-32 lead entering the final 10 minutes.
Kali Jones pushed K-State in front by four, 38-34, with four points to open the fourth quarter. Jones would finish the night with nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
K-State increased its lead to 10, 47-37, as Williams scored five straight points to force a Cowgirl timeout with 3:25 remaining. Williams would score 12 points in the fourth quarter, tying a school record held by Kindred Wesemann for points in a fourth quarter.
Oklahoma State was able to pull to within five, 54-49, with under a minute to play but a layup from Williams and free throws from Jasauen Beard and Goth in the final 50 seconds sealed the win for K-State.
The Wildcats were led by the ninth double-double of the season from Williams. The junior from Topeka, Kansas, finished with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds. She also added two assists, two blocks and a steal. This was the 16th double-double of her career and moves her into a tie for ninth in program history for career double-doubles.
Joining Williams in double figures was Goth with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Oklahoma State was led by Braxtin Miller and Vivian Gray with 15 and 14 points, respectively. No other Cowgirls scored more than five points on the night.
Overall, Kansas State shot 37.3 percent (22-of-59) and held Oklahoma State to a 23.6 percent (17-of-72) effort. The Wildcats dominated the paint, outscoring the Cowgirls 32-16.
K-State held the edge on the boards, 49-44. Kansas State has held the advantage in rebounding this season nine times and own an 8-1 record in those games.
K-State returns to the road this weekend, as the Wildcats visit Morgantown, West Virginia, to face West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (CT). Saturday's game can be heard on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"You're just going to get some games this season where it is just kind of a grind, and I think maybe the 10-0 start by us was maybe not as helpful as you would think it would be, because the obvious part is we relaxed, started taking shots that were ill advised and Oklahoma State is too good when you're talking about a 10-0 lead with 35 minutes to go in the game. So, I was proud of our group. Defensively, I thought we fought (Vivian) Gray and (Braxtin) Miller, we forced them into some tough shots, I thought we rebounded the ball well. We, as a group, rebounded probably as good as we have all year. So, there were some positives. As much as this was a frustrating game, a lot of mistakes, really sloppy, there were still some things that I thought we did very well tonight."
On the defensive game plan…
"Well, that's always a thought. You know they're gonna, it's a big part of their offense. You know they're going to score some points, but, can you get them to a high volume of shots and not shoot a very good percentage. We tried to mix things up as much as we could, and I thought our group did a really good job with that. Really, pretty good. Overall, we had pretty good awareness of where they were at. The players, I thought, played it pretty well.
We denied Miller early in the game. We wanted to limit her touches early, we didn't want her to get off to a good start. I thought we were really good during that 10-0 run. But, I don't think that's anything we can stay with too long because they'll get in a rhythm against it and I mean, let's be honest, most of our issues were at the offensive end as well, because 22-19 at half, it's hard to argue with either team's defense. Both of us just had a tough time getting easy looks and fortunately, we found enough and we found the free throw line in the fourth quarter and that was the difference of the game."
On Rachel Ranke's shooting and finding different options…
"That went through my head on about four shots. I think that the hard thing for our shooters, it's a great thing about them, they think every shot is going in. They have that kind of confidence. What they need to have is a little more trust, that, okay, maybe I need to move it a little bit, get it back, and then I'll have that same shot.
So yeah, I think there is that mentality that, I really want one to go down and then I'll feel better. But you know, Rachel hits her first three of the second half, it's probably the easiest shot she took. Feet set, rhythm, she didn't have to rush it, and that's what we are trying to get both her and Chrissy (Carr) to do, just relax and trust the offense. We are still sporadic. You saw tonight, during that game stretch we were very rushed and very hurried, just not making very good decisions."
On building teams that go through tough games…
"I think it starts with, you know, our mentality is always 40 minutes. We probably haven't practiced much with this team, because I feel like with such a young team, there is so many things we have gotta work on. But, over the years, we do a lot of situations, we do a lot of late game situations, we do a lot of situations, up seven, down seven, this team probably has done the least amount of any of that. So, for me, it's also right now making sure that I save enough timeouts, because it's also a learning process for them. I don't know, I think the one thing that our group is resilient, I think they're resilient. I think they trust things for the most part, and I think certainly our leaders are that way. They got a competitive fire.
What we need to do is to embrace better as a group. We need to embrace, these kind of games. Because there's going to be a handful more of these games. There's probably going to be about 10 more of them in the league. And, this is just kind of Big 12 basketball, and you have to embrace that. The great thing I saw tonight was that they got stronger down the stretch and I said earlier in the week that I really do feel like our leaders and our veterans are having great communication in the huddle. So, I really do feel like that even when I'm frustrated, when, they're frustrated, I always tell them all the time, 'look, I'm going to scream at ya, just let it go. Just let me rant for whatever time. Just let it go.' I think they know it's over with for the most part, after that. But at the same time, when they aren't playing hard and they aren't playing tough, I'm gonna let them know. And I think our group is resilient that way. In this, hopefully you win these tight and tough ones. We've had two good ones that have been tough, hard fought wins."
KALI JONES, SENIOR FORWARD
On how she feels about her ankle injury…
"I've gotten better over this time period. My ankle is getting better each day I'm with my trainers. We're working really hard to get it back to normal. I would just say I'm feeling pretty good."
PEYTON WILLIAMS, JUNIOR FORWARD
On what was going through her mind late in the fourth quarter...
"It was really tight throughout most of the second half. There was a time that I was tired of missing every shot that I took so I was like, 'I've got to get close to the basket.' So I was really aggressive as much as I could, I would just put my head down and get a layup as much as I could. That was mostly my thought process."
On what was working for her tonight on her way to a double-double…
"It didn't feel like much there for a little bit, honestly, it was just the built up frustration with missing. That helped with rebounding because I wanted to grab it and get our offense going as soon as I could. For the points, just trying to be aggressive off the bounce a little more tonight because they were really aggressive denying us sometimes so they would overplay. I think looking for some drives and dishing to Kali [Jones] occasionally. Just overall being more aggressive and looking at their defense, reading what they're giving me."
On the differences in the team on this 3-game win streak…
"I would say that even when we get down, we were down going into halftime in this game and we were down at one point during the Texas Tech game, we're able to go back to our effort and go back to our hustle plays to bring us back into the game which I think was not the case earlier on in the season. When we weren't hitting shots, like in this game, we could still go back and play good defense and try again. I think something that has evolved a little bit in these past couple of games was our effort and being able to sustain that even when everything is not going our way."
JIM LITTELL, HEAD COACH
Opening statement…
"Credit K-State for a nice win. I thought both teams in the first half played hard and did not play well. It was not a very pretty game in the first half. I was proud of our kids for fighting back and we did it on the defensive end. I do not feel like we defended as well in the second half but the bottom line is you are not going to win any games when you miss 55 shots. We were hurried and sped up a little bit. You can give credit to K-State's defense for that but I think we missed a lot of shots that you have to make if you are going to win on the road, just plain and simple. We had some players that they left open, challenged us to shoot and we did not make it. Then we were sped up. We got the ball around the free throw line area a lot. I felt like we had some good looks and never played with a tempo that we could be successful with all night. I could give a thousand reasons but when you miss 55 shots you are not going to win a game."
On how they scouted K-State…
"Offensively, we knew we needed to move bodies and move the basketball. Just not stay stationary. They are pretty good when you allow them to guard stationary people. Like I said, I thought we had some flashes and some looks but we did not make some shots. Maybe I need to revamp some things offensively but I thought we did have a lot of good looks and did not make shots. We knew we had to do a good job on [Kayla] Goth. I thought we did a great job on her. I would take those stats against her any day. Braxtin Miller did a really nice job on her. Peyton Williams hurt us late. We knew how good a player she was and knew we had to stop those two. We also said that we could not look up at the end of the night and let somebody like Kali Jones have 9 or 10 and that is what occurred. We quit blocking out in the second half, did not rotate right and gave some people that are not really scorers for them the opportunity to make shots. We guarded well enough. We had to foul at the end. They are in the low 50s if we do not foul. We cannot do that. We cannot be that disappointing offensively."
On their slow start affecting them…
"Evidently quite a bit. We went on to miss 55 [shots]. We have to be mentally strong on that. You have to expend a lot of energy to get back in the game when you fall behind 12-3, too. They are a good team. Not taking anything away from them. They are very well coached, play a different style and utilize a couple key players very nicely. They have buried some people and had some great wins. They are a really good basketball team and they are really good here, as well."
On Braxtin Miller and Vivian Gray…
"I thought they played fine but did not shoot it well. They have to shoot it better but we have to give some help, too. There has to be some other people. Our point guards went 2-of-13 but feature players that take that many shots have to hit more of them. They would tell you that they were open and had better looks. I just think we did not play with a real good tempo. There were a couple times today that we ran a set, somebody was in the way and we just threw the ball directly to them. We have to get out of the mode of running plays. We need to see who is open and make good decisions instead of feeling like we have to force the basketball some place. There was a lack of maturity on our part in about every phase of the game tonight. I guess that happens when you have some young ones out there but if you are going to play with the big girls in this league, you have to step up and be able to make plays regardless of your age."
Team Stats
OSU
K-STATE
FG%
.236
.373
3FG%
.185
.333
FT%
.900
.579
RB
44
49
TO
12
14
STL
10
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballF
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