(12/11) K-State Begins Road Trip at (22/rv) Utah

GAME #17
(12/11) Kansas State (15-1, 3-0 Big 12) at (22/rv) Utah (12-2, 3-0 Big 12)
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 | 8 p.m. (CT) | Huntsman Center (15,000) | Salt Lake City, Utah

TELEVISION
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Krista Blunk
Analyst: Angela Taylor

RADIO
K-State Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Brian Smoller
Analyst: Randy Peterso

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

SERIES HISTORY vs. Utah
3-4

• Utah leads the series with K-State, 3-4.
• Head coach Jeff Mittie is 10-8 in his career against Texas Tech.
• This will be K-State's third visit to Salt Lake City and the first since 1998.
• The matchup features two of the three teams in the Big 12 with 1,000 or more wins in their history (K-State - 1,058; Utah - 1,019).

MANHATTAN, Kansas - (12/11) K-State (15-1, 3-0 Big 12) takes a two-game swing through the Beehive State this week, as the Wildcats begin the two-game trek at (22/rv) Utah (12-2, 3-0) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (CT).

• K-State has opened this season with a 15-1 record for the second straight season and the third time since 2008-09. With a win Wednesday, K-State would achieve the fifth 16-1 or better start to a season in school history and its second straight.
• Wednesday's game will air on ESPN+, as Krista Blunk (play-by-play) and Angela Taylor (analyst) will have the call.

Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. We're Going Streaking!
• K-State owns an active win streak of 10. This is the second straight season (14, Dec. 1, 2023 - Jan. 31, 2024) the Wildcats have recorded a double figure win streak.
2. Handful of 1,000+ Point Scorers
• K-State features four players with 1,000 or more career points: Ayoka Lee (2,436), Temira Poindexter (1,750), Serena Sundell (1,464) and Jaelyn Glenn (1,016). The Wildcats and Miami (Fla.) are the only two teams in the nation with a 2,000+ point scorer, 1,500+ point scorer and a 1,000+ point scorer on their roster.
3. Mittie Nearing a K-State Legend
• K-State head coach Jeff Mittie needs two wins (205-136, .601; 2014-present) to pass Judy Akers (206-94, .687; 1968-79) for second on the K-State career wins list.
4. Cats Pacing the Nation
• K-State leads the nation in field goal percentage (.509), field goal percentage defense (.317) and assists per game (23.0).
5. Lee Nearing Top-100 in NCAA D-I Scoring
• Senior center and All-America candidate Ayoka Lee is approaching the top-100 in NCAA Division I history for career points. Lee owns 2,436 points and needs four points to crack the top-100.

Number to Know
40

• This season, K-State has shot 50.0 percent or better in 40 quarters.
• Of the 64 quarters played this season, the Wildcats have registered a field goal percentage of 50.0 percent or better in 62.5 percent of those quarters. This would surpass the highest percentage of 34.5 in 2023-24.
• Since the quarter system began in NCAA Division I women's basketball in 2015-16, K-State's top mark for quarters with a field goal percentage of 50.0 percent or better is 48 in the 2023-24 season.

2024-25 K-State Coach & Player Milestones to Watch
Jeff Mittie
• Needs two wins to move into second on the K-State Women's Basketball wins list (Judy Akers, 206)

Ayoka Lee
• Needs three double-doubles to move into second in Big 12 history for career double-doubles
• Needs 181 rebounds to move into second in Big 12 history for career rebounds
• Needs 24 made free throws to set the school record for career free throws made

Serena Sundell
• Needs 27 points to reach 1,500 career points

Jaelyn Glenn
• Needs 59 steals to move into third on K-State career steals list
• Needs five rebounds for sole possession of 25th on the K-State career rebounds list

At a Glance: Utah
• Utah (12-2, 3-0 Big 12) welcomes in the Wildcats following a 75-67 win at Iowa State on Sunday evening. The Utes have won seven straight dating back to a Nov. 30 win over Notre Dame.
• Utah is guided on the sideline by first-year head coach Gavin Petersen. The 1999 graduate of Hawaii Pacific was elevated to the head job following the early season departure of long time head coach Lynne Roberts, who was named the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks in mid-November.
• The Utes feature three players averaging in double figures, Gianna Kneepkens, Maye Toure and Kennady McQueen.
• Kneepkens, a junior guard from Duluth, Minnesota, paces the squad in scoring with 17.4 points per game and 3-point field goals made (39).
• Toure, a grad student forward from Athis-Mons, France, is second on the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg). She leads the team in blocks (16). At Iowa State, Toure led the Utes with 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting, including 4-of-6 from long range, and pulled in nine rebounds.
• McQueen, a senior guard from Henefer, Utah, is third on the team in scoring (11.2). Against the Cyclones, McQueen carded 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and six rebounds.

Wildcats Off to Fast Start
• Kansas State has opened the season with a 15-1 overall record.
• This is the second straight season and equals the best 16-game start for K-State in the Jeff Mittie era.
• In program history, K-State has opened a season 15-1 five times.

Wildcats Build Extended Streak
• K-State has strung together one of the longest winning streaks in program history to boost its overall win total this season.
• The Wildcats' current 10-game winning streak is tied for the eighth-longest in program history.
• This is the 11th double-digit winning streak in school history.
• This is the first time since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons in which K-State has registered a double-digit win streak in consecutive seasons.
• Last season the Wildcats won 14 consecutive games from Dec. 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2024. This was the longest winning streak in the Jeff Mittie era and tied for the second-longest in school history.
• K-State's nine-game winning streak in Big 12 play last season was the longest conference win streak in the Mittie era and tied for the longest conference win streaks in program history joining the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. K-State was the first team since Baylor in 2019-20 to win its first nine Big 12 games.

K-State Against Ranked Opponents
• The Wildcats are 92-243 (.275) against teams ranked in the Associated Press (AP) poll including a 58-70 (.453) mark against AP ranked teams in Manhattan.
• The Wildcats were 5-4 in the 2023-24 season against AP top-25 opponents and were one of 11 teams in the nation with five wins against AP top-25 foes.
• This was the fifth time in program history that K-State won five or more games against AP ranked foes in a season. The five wins were the most since the 2003-04 season when the Wildcats won five games against ranked opponents.
• The Wildcats captured its second-ever win over an AP number two ranked foe and first since the 1982-83 season by defeating then-second-ranked Iowa, 65-58, on Nov. 16, 2023 in Iowa City. K-State is 24-114 (.174) all-time in games against AP top-10 opponents.
• This was the highest ranked opponent K-State has defeated on the road.
• According to ESPN Stats & Info, K-State was the first NCAA Division I women's basketball program in the last 25 years to be unranked and defeat the same Associated Press top-5 team in consecutive seasons.
• According to Stats Perform, K-State was the sixth team to defeat an AP second-ranked team on the road since 1999-00.
• The wins over Iowa and 10th-ranked Texas marked the third and fourth top-10 wins for the Wildcats in three seasons, as K-State downed fourth-ranked Iowa on Nov. 17, 2022, and 10th-ranked Baylor on Jan. 2, 2022.
• K-State is 20-66 (.233) against AP ranked opponents in head coach Jeff Mittie's 10 seasons.

Time Cards Punched
• A pair of long time Wildcats are climbing the ranks of the program's career games started and minutes lists.
• Seniors Ayoka Lee and Serena Sundell are among the top-10 in program history for career starts. Lee is tied for third in program history with 128 career starts. Sundell ranks ninth with 118 career starts.
• With two more games played, Lee will join the program's top-10 for career games played.
• Sundell ranks ninth in school history for career minutes played with 3,873 and ninth for minutes per game (32.5). With 127 minutes of action, Sundell will be the seventh player in program history with 4,000 or more career minutes played.

Sundell Second for Career Assists
• Serena Sundell has established herself at the point for K-State with her distribution skills.
• Sundell, a 2024-25 Lieberman Award Watch List member, owns a career assist total of 668 and ranks second on the K-State career list. She is the second player in school history with 600 or more career assists.
• Sundell, a 2023-24 All-Big 12 First Team recipient, ranks second in school history for career assists per game at 5.61. She ranks third in the nation among active NCAA Division I players for career assists and fifth in the nation among active NCAA Division I players for career assists per game.
• She has 78 career games with five or more assists including nine games with 10 or more assists and a career-high of 13 assists. Her 78 career games with five or more assists ranks second in school history. She ranks third in program history for career games with 10 or more assists.
• Her combined assist total from the 2022-23 (184) and 2023-24 (189) seasons of 373 ranked fourth in program history for most assists over consecutive seasons.
• Her career assist to turnover ratio of 1.83 is third in program history (min. 100 career assists).
• This season, Sundell is averaging 7.44 assists per game and leads the nation. She leads the nation for total assists (119). She also leads the Big 12 for assist/turnover ratio and ranks ninth in the nation (3.13).
• Against USC Upstate on Dec. 5, Sundell set a new career-high and tied the school record for assists in a single-game with 13 assists.
• In the 2023-24 season, Sundell averaged 5.56 assists per game (189 assists) and was the Big 12 leader for assists per game and total assists. In league action, Sundell was second in the league at 5.71 assists per game.
• Sundell's 189 assists last season were a career-high and ranked tied for fifth in program history for assists in a single season. The 2023-24 season marked her third straight with 150 or more assists. She was the first Wildcat since Shalee Lehning (four seasons) and the third overall (Megan Mahoney; three seasons) to hand out 150 or more assists in three or more seasons.
• In the 2022-23 season, Sundell handed out a career-high 184 assists (5.11 apg) including a season-high 10 against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4.
• Sundell was the second player in program history (Shalee Lehning, 368) with 350 or more assists by the conclusion of their sophomore season.
• Sundell's 184 assists in the 2022-23 season set the school record for assists in a sophomore season and ranked as the sixth-most in a season in program history.

Nobody Scores It Like Ayoka Lee
• Ayoka Lee has established herself as the top scorer in K-State women's basketball history.
• Lee owns the school record with 2,436 career points, breaking the record in her 122nd career game on Dec. 3, 2024, against Eastern Illinois. She ranks seventh in Big 12 history for career points scored and needs four points to move into the top-100 for career points in NCAA Division I history.
• Her career scoring average of 19.0 ranks first in school history, ninth in Big 12 history and fifth among active NCAA Division I players.
• She was the 44th player in school history with 1,000 or more career points and was the fastest player in program history to reach 1,500 career points, needing 77 games to reach the milestone. She was the first player in school history to reach the 1,000-career point mark and the 1,500-career point mark in the same season. She was the fastest player to reach the 2,000-career point mark, doing so in 105 career games.
• Lee has scored in every game of her career (128 games) and has reached double figures in 117 games. She ranks third in school history for career consecutive games scoring. She was the fourth player in program history with 100 or more career games with 10 or more points scored and ranks tied for second in school history for games with 10 or more points.
• This season, Lee leads the Wildcats with 17.3 points per game on a career-best .669 field goal percentage. She ranks seventh in the Big 12 in scoring average and leads the league and ranks fifth in the nation in field goal percentage.
• In the 2023-24 season, Lee averaged a team-high 19.7 points per game. She scored in double figures in 26 games. She was third in the Big 12 and ranked 26th in the nation for scoring average.
• With her 533 points last season, Lee joined Nicole Ohlde (2000-04) and Kendra Wecker (2001-05) as the only players in program history with four consecutive seasons with 400 or more points scored. She was the fourth player in program history with 500 or more points and 200 or more rebounds in two or more seasons in their career.
• When combining her point total with her last active season of 2021-22, Lee's two-season total of 1,260 set the school record for most points in consecutive active seasons.
• In the 2021-22 season, Lee averaged a career-best 22.0 points per game which ranked 10th in the nation and second in the Big 12. Lee was fifth in the nation in total points scored (727).
• Her 22.0 points per game in the 2021-22 season was the highest per game average in school history and was the third time a K-State player averaged 20 or more points in a season and first since Brittany Chambers in the 2012-13 season.
• With her 727 points scored, Lee established a new career single-season high, broke the school record for points in a junior season and ranked second in school history for points in a single-season. She was the first center in school history to score 700 or more points in a season.
• With her efforts of 61 points against Oklahoma on Jan. 23, 2022, and 43 points against Central Arkansas on Nov. 9, 2021, Lee was one of three players in the nation during the 2021-22 season with two games of 40 or more points scored in a game.
• Her total of 86 points in two games from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23, set the school record for most points in consecutive games. She also set the school record for points in a 10-game span from Dec. 11, 2021 to Jan. 26, 2022, with 277 points. During that 10-game span, Lee scored 20 or more points in six games including four games with 30 or more points.

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Women's Basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.

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Players Mentioned

Jaelyn Glenn

Ayoka Lee

Temira Poindexter

Serena Sundell

Kansas State University Athletics