K-State Opens February at Texas Tech on Wednesday Evening

GAME #15
Kansas State (5-9, 0-7 Big 12) at Texas Tech (8-9, 3-8 Big 12)
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 | 6 p.m. | United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas

TELEVISION
Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Ron Thulin
Analyst: Brenda VanLengen

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Online: kstatesports.com
Play-by-Play: Brian Smoller
Analyst: Randy Peterson

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

COACHES
Kansas State: Jeff Mittie (Missouri Western '89)
Overall: 575-323/29th season | At K-State: 121-88/7th season

Texas Tech: Krista Gerlich (Texas Tech '93)
Overall: 297-156/15th season | At Texas Tech: 8-9/1st season

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (based on previous game)
Kansas State (5-9, 0-7 Big 12)
G: #4 Sydney Goodson | F: #13 Laura Macke | G: #24 Emilee Ebert | G: #43 Christianna Carr | C: #50 Ayoka Lee

Texas Tech (8-9, 3-8 Big 12)
G: #3 Maka Jackson | G: #10 Naje Murray | G: #12 Vivian Gray | C: #23 Khadija Faye | G: #34 Lexi Gordon

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads, 25-13
In Lubbock: 12-6
Last Meeting: Feb. 5, 2020; K-State won 84-70 (Manhattan)
Head Coach Jeff Mittie vs. Texas Tech: 15-4
• K-State has won 12 of the last 13 meetings including 10 straight.

MANHATTAN, Kansas - K-State begins the month of February with a midweek road trip to Lubbock, Texas, to face Texas Tech on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

• Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, as Ron Thulin (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (analyst) will have the call.
• The Wildcats are led by sophomore Ayoka Lee and junior Christianna Carr. The duo is responsible for 48.9 percent of K-State scoring output this season. The pair have scored in double figures in the same game eight times this season.
• Lee, a candidate for all four of the national player of the year awards, leads K-State in scoring (17.7 ppg), field goal percentage (.589), rebounds (8.8 rpg) and blocks (1.8). She leads the Big 12 and ranks 14th in the nation in field goal percentage.
• Carr is second on the team and is 15th in the Big 12 in scoring with a career-best average of 14.4 points per game while shooting a career-best 40.2 percent from 3-point range. She is second in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made per game 2.6.

Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. Lee Joins Rare Club
• Sophomore center Ayoka Lee is the fourth player in program history to register 200 or more points, 100 or more rebounds and 20 or more blocks in the first two seasons of their career. Lee is the first since Marlies Gipson (2005-06 & 2006-07) to achieve this feat.
2. Ranke Nearing 1K
• Rachel Ranke is closing in on a career milestone, as she needs 84 points to become the 43rd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Over the last three games, Ranke is averaging 9.7 points and 3.7 rebounds.
3. Efficiency of Lee
• Ayoka Lee has been efficient in her play this season, as she leads the Big 12 and ranks 14th in the nation in field goal percentage (.589). She also ranks ninth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.811). She is one of just two players in the league shooting 50.0 percent or better from the field and 80.0 percent of better from the line.
4. Dishes for All
• The Wildcats have 209 assists (14.9 apg) and an assisted shot rate of 70.6 percent this season. According to HerHoopStats.com, K-State ranks fifth in the nation in assisted shot rate. The Wildcats feature six players with 20 or more assists this season and are led by Emilee Ebert (40), Sydney Goodson (36) and Cymone Goodrich (29).
5. Doorstep of 975
• With its next win, K-State will become the third Big 12 program and the 19th in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to win 975 or more games.

Number to Know
37
• Sophomore Ayoka Lee scored a new career-high 37 points and established a number of records for her effort.
• Lee set the school records for points in a conference game, points in a single-game by a sophomore and points in a single-game by a center.
• Lee's effort ranks second in the nation for points by a center in a game this season and third in the Big 12 Conference for all positions in a game.
• She is the 11th player in program history to pocket two or more career 30-point games.

At a Glance: Texas Tech
• Texas Tech (8-9, 3-8 Big 12) enters Wednesday night's game a 72-53 loss at Texas on Saturday, January 30.
• Texas Tech is guided on the sideline by first year head coach Krista Gerlich. The 1993 graduate of Texas Tech owns a career record of 297-156 (.656) which included the last seven seasons at UT Arlington.
• The Lady Raiders feature two players averaging double figures in scoring and are led by seniors Vivian Gray and Lexi Gordon.
• Gray departed Oklahoma State in late July and joined the Lady Raiders in mid-August. This season, she is pacing Texas Tech with 18.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists. At Texas, she registered 12 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
• Gordon is second on the team in scoring with 16.0 per game and leads the Lady Raiders with 30 connections from beyond the arc. Against the Longhorns, she also tallied 12 points.

Last Time Out
Oklahoma 80, at Kansas State 78 (January 31, 2021; Manhattan, Kan.)
• K-State came back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the game and had a chance to win on final possession. Oklahoma made two free throws with 1.3 seconds to capture the win.
• K-State has now lost seven straight for the first time since the 2000-01 season when the Wildcats lost eight straight.
• Ayoka Lee led K-State with her fifth double-double of the season with her career-high 37 points on 15-of-23 shooting and 18 rebounds. Christianna Carr added 17 points, three rebounds and three assists while Rachel Ranke scored a season-high 14 points and added six rebounds and four assists.

Tandem Combines for 54
• K-State's duo of Ayoka Lee and Christianna Carr combined for 54 points against Oklahoma on January 31.
• The 54 points are the sixth-most in program history by two teammates in a game. This marked the second most points by a center/guard tandem since Nicole Ohlde and Laurie Koehn combined for 56 points on two occasions.
• Lee also combined with Rachel Ranke to score 51 points in the same game against the Sooners. This marked the third time in program history that K-State has had two different sets of teammates score 50 or more points in the same game and the first time since February 27, 2019, against West Virginia.
• K-State has seen a tandem score 50 or more points in a game 27 times and the Wildcats own a record of 24-2 all-time when a tandem scores a combined 50 or more points in a game.
• The combination of Lee, Carr and Ranke missed becoming the third trio in school history to score a combined 70 or more points in the same game by just two points.

Sky-High Field Goal Percentage
• When K-State shoots 50.0 percent or better in the Jeff Mittie era, Kansas State has been victorious. Since the 2014-15 season, the Wildcats are 21-2 (.913) when shooting 50.0 percent or better.
• K-State shot a 2020-21 season-high of 50.0 percent from the field against Oklahoma on January 31. The Wildcats made a season-high 29 field goals against Southern in the season-opener on November 29.
• The Wildcats own a field goal percentage of 40.8 percent this season.
• The top field goal percentage by K-State under Mittie is 64.9 percent in an 85-41 win over UIW on December 3, 2019.
• The field goal percentage of 64.9 percent set the K-State Bramlage Coliseum record and the highest for K-State in any game since February 25, 1987, when the Wildcats carded a 65.4 percent (34-of-52) effort against Missouri.

Sharing is Caring
• K-State has opened the 2020-21 season with 209 assists (14.9 apg) on 296 made field goals which is an assist percentage of 70.6. The Wildcats rank fourth in the Big 12 for all games and fourth in the league for Big 12-only games (15.0 apg). According to HerHoopStats.com, K-State ranks fifth in the nation in assist percentage.
• Since assists became an officially tracked stat in 1981-82, Kansas State has registered an assisted shot rate of 60.0 percent or higher at the end of a season 20 times in its history.
• The Wildcats feature six players this season with 20 or more assists and are led by Emilee Ebert (40), Sydney Goodson (36) and Cymone Goodrich (29).
• The Wildcats had a season-high 24 assists against Oklahoma on January 31. Of the eight players that saw the floor against the Sooners, seven handed out three or more assists.
• The Wildcats are 68-4 when handing out 20 or more assists over the last 14 years.
• K-State tallied a season-high assist percentage of 88.9 percent with 24 assists on 27 made field goals against Oklahoma on January 31.

K-State Attacking the Paint
• The Wildcats have used its height advantage to its benefit in the lane, as they are outscoring opponents 378-346 in the lane or 44.6 percent of its overall points this season. K-State has had the edge in the lane in eight games this season.
• Kansas State attacked the lane in its season-opening win over Southern. The Wildcats tallied 50 points in the paint, which were the most since December 7, 2019, at Arkansas when K-State notched 52 points.
• Under head coach Jeff Mittie, Kansas State has scored 900 or more points in the paint in six straight seasons including a high of 1,064 points (31.3 ppg) during the 2016-17 season.

Ranke with Range
• Guard Rachel Ranke continues to be a threat for the Wildcats from beyond the three-point line.
• For her career, Ranke has made 198 three-point field goals and ranks seventh on the K-State career 3-point field goals made list. She ranks sixth in program history for career 3-point field goals attempted with 623. She needs two made 3-point field goals to become the seventh player in program history with 200 or more 3-point connections.
• She has 52 career games with two or more connections from 3-point range, including 17 career games with four or more 3-point field goals made.
• Ranke holds the school record for 3-point field goals made by a player 6'0" or taller in school history.
• In the 2018-19 season, Ranke led the team with 71 three-point field goals made. Ranke ranked fourth in program history for 3-point field goals made by a sophomore.
• Since the 2000-01 season, Ranke made the second-most 3-point field goals in the first two seasons of a K-State career with 160 conversions.

K-State Opens February at Texas Tech on Wednesday Evening

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Christianna Carr

Emilee Ebert

Cymone Goodrich

Sydney Goodson

Ayoka Lee

Laura Macke

Rachel Ranke

Kansas State University Athletics