K-State Faces Road Test at (17/18) Texas Tech

Saturday, January 17

Lubbock, Texas

1 p.m.

Kansas State University

(17/18) Texas Tech

Jan 15, 2026 | Women's Basketball

ESPN+Listen Live Live Stats K-State notes (pdf)

GAME #19
K-State Wildcats (9-9, 2-3 Big 12) at (17/18) Texas Tech Lady Raiders (19-0, 6-0 Big 12)
Saturday, January 17, 2026 | 1 p.m. | United Supermarkets Arena (15,098) | Lubbock, Texas

TELEVISION
ESPN+
Play-by-Play: Ron Thulin
Analyst: Brandi Poole

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

LIVE STATS
www.kstatesports.com

SERIES HISTORY vs. Texas Tech
31-17

• K-State leads the series with Texas Tech, 31-17.
• Head coach Jeff Mittie is 21-8 in his career against Texas Tech.
• K-State has won 18 of the last 23 meetings in the series.
• The matchup features two of the four teams in the Big 12 with 1,000 or more wins in their history (K-State - 1,080; Texas Tech - 1,021).

MANHATTAN, Kansas - K-State (9-9, 2-3 Big 12) returns to the state of Texas for the fourth time this season on Saturday, as the Wildcats visit (17/18) Texas Tech (19-0, 6-0) at 1 p.m.

• Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN+, as Ron Thulin (play-by-play), and Brandi Poole (analyst) will have the call.

Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. Heal Achieves Rare Shooting Line
• Senior Tess Heal registered 25 points on 11-of-13 (.846) shooting against Utah on Jan. 10. She was the first K-State guard and just the fourth Wildcat since at least 1981-82 (Ayoka Lee, twice; Breanna Lewis; Nicole Ohlde) to register 25 or more points with 11 or more made field goals and shoot 84.0 percent or better from the field.
2. Cats Post Big 4th Quarter
• The Wildcats scored a K-State season-high for any quarter 32 points in the fourth frame against Utah on Jan. 10. The 32 points were the most in a fourth quarter for K-State since scoring a fourth quarter school record 34 points against Central Arkansas on Nov. 9, 2021.
3. Sides Joins Rare K-State Club
• Taryn Sides is the seventh player in K-State history with 250 or more assists and 150 or more 3-point field goals made.
4. Garcia with the Dish
• Garcia leads all Big 12 freshmen and is second in the nation for freshmen for total assists (89). Since 1981-82, Garcia is the 12th freshman in program history with 80 or more assists in their freshman season and the fourth in the Jeff Mittie era.
5. Freshmen Toe the Line
• Freshmen guards Jordan Speiser and Gina Garcia have converted at a high rate at the foul line. Garcia is shooting 90.3 percent (28-of-31) at the line, while Speiser is shooting 89.2 percent (33-of-37). K-State is the only team in the nation with at least two freshmen shooting 88.0 percent or better from the foul line (min. 30 free throw attempts).

Number to Know
2

• International Wildcats: senior guard Tess Heal (Melbourne, Australia) and junior forward Nastja Claessens (Waregem, Belgium) have each registered 20 or more points twice this season.
• They are the fourth and fifth international Wildcats in program history to register a game with 20 or more points.
• Heal set the school record for points by an international play by scoring 31 at Houston on Jan. 7.
• The most games with 20 or more points by a K-State international player in a season came from Leticia Romero with six in the 2013-14 season.

Last Time Out
Utah 80, at K-State 73 (Jan. 10, 2026; Manhattan, Kan.)
• K-State trailed by 21 points early in the fourth quarter, but used a 21-5 run to narrow the game a four-point deficit. The Utes halted the run and closed out the game at the foul line.
• To open the fourth quarter, K-State was 10-of-10 from the field and would finish with a season-best field goal percentage for a quarter (.813).
• Senior guard Tess Heal (25 pts, junior forward Nastja Claessens (13 pts) and sophomore guard Izela Arenas (12 pts) led the Wildcats.

K-State Top-25 in NCAA History for Wins
• K-State is in its 58th season of action and ranks among the top programs in NCAA history for all-time wins.
• K-State's all-time record stands at 1,080-681 (.613) and the Wildcats enter the 2025-26 season ranked 21st in NCAA Division I women's basketball history for program wins. The Wildcats were the 19th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 or more wins as a program and are one of four members of the Big 12 (Baylor, Utah, Texas Tech). K-State is averaging 18.5 wins per season.
• K-State is one of three teams in the nation to be guided by an active head coach with 650 or more career wins and the program has surpassed the 1,000-win mark (UConn, NC State).
• The Wildcats have accumulated 28 20-win seasons and have secured 417 victories inside Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State has 247 wins in the Big 12 Conference.
• Kansas State has registered 276 victories when they were ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll and achieved 96 wins against teams ranked in the AP poll.

At a Glance: Texas Tech
• Texas Tech (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) rans its season-opening win streak to 19 after downing Houston, 71-59, on Tuesday.
• Texas Tech is guided on the sideline by sixth-year head coach Krista Gerlich. The 1993 graduate of Texas Tech owns a career record of 386-231 (.626) including a 96-83 (.536) mark in Lubbock.
• The Lady Raiders feature three players averaging in double figures, Bailey Maupin, Snudda Collins and Jalynn Bristow.
• Maupin, a senior guard, paces Texas Tech in scoring (15.4 ppg) while shooting .459 from the field including .358 from beyond the arc. Against Houston, Maupin tallied 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
• Collins, a senior guard, is averaging 14.3 points on .444 shooting including .359 from long distance while coming off the bench in all 19 games.
• Bristow, a junior guard/forward, is averaging 12.9 points on a .408 field goal percentage and leads the Lady Raiders in rebounding (7.1 rpg) and blocks (40). Against the Cougars, Bristow carded 14 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two blocks.

Wildcats on the Road
• K-State has a 302-331 (.477) record in road games during the program's 58-year history.
• In his career in road games, head coach Jeff Mittie is 178-211 (.458) including a 53-74 (.417) mark during his time at K-State.
• In the 2024-25 season, K-State was 7-4 in road games including two wins against an Associated Press Top-25 foes (22, Utah, 1/8/25; 13, Kentucky, 3/23/25).
• The seven road wins last season were the most since the 2019-20 season (7-5).

K-State Against Ranked Opponents
• The Wildcats are 96-250 (.277) against teams ranked in the Associated Press (AP) poll including a 59-71 (.454) mark against AP ranked teams in Manhattan.
• K-State is 1-2 against ranked foes in this season including a win over 13th-ranked Ole Miss on Dec. 7.
• K-State is 24-73 (.247) against AP ranked opponents in head coach Jeff Mittie's 12 seasons.

2025-26 Roster Youngest Since 2018-19
• K-State will have one of the youngest rosters in the country this season, as 10 of the 13 players on the 2025-26 roster are either true freshmen or sophomores. The roster features five true freshmen (Aniya Foy, Gina Garcia, Brandie Harrod, Ivona Scekic and Jordan Speiser) a redshirt freshman (Alexis Hess), three sophomores (Izela Arenas, Jenessa Cotton and Ramiya White) and one redshirt freshman (Mikayla Parks).
• The 2025-26 roster is the third-youngest roster in program history and the second-youngest under head coach Jeff Mittie trailing the 2018-19 roster, which had 10 underclassmen among its 14 players and the 1977-78 season, which featured a program-high 11 underclassmen (seven freshmen and four sophomores) among the 16 players in the roster.
• K-State's roster of 13 features six players combined to have played 226 career collegiate games before the 2025-26 season.
• Of the six players to play a college game, Heal played the most at 96.
• Among Big 12 programs this season, K-State is second in the league (10, UCF) for the most underclassmen on its roster.
• The freshmen class for the 2025-26 season for K-State was ranked among the top-10 signing classes by ESPN.com.
• In terms of K-State playing experience, the Wildcats' roster featured 10 players that had yet to play a game in purple and white entering the 2025-26 season.

Freshmen Seeing Extended Action
• K-State has three freshmen averaging 20.0 or more minutes per game this season - Gina Garcia, 26.6 mpg; Jordan Speiser, 22.7 mpg. Brandie Harrod, 21.1 mpg.
• The Wildcats are one of eight teams in the nation to feature three or more freshmen averaging 20 or more minutes per game (min. 15 games played by player).
• K-State is the only school from a Power 4 conference with three or more freshmen averaging 20 or more minutes per game.
• Of the eight schools with three or more freshmen averaging 20 or more minutes played per game, K-State owns the highest NET rating at 62.

Bench Boost
• K-State has received an offensive boost from its second unit.
• The Wildcats opened the season with 47 points from its bench against Omaha. The 47 points from the bench were the most since K-State scored 47 against McNeese State on Dec. 6, 2023.
• K-State is averaging 29.1 points per game from its bench (523 points), which leads the Big 12 and is 15th in the nation. The Wildcats have had the edge in bench points in 15 games this season (8-7).
• K-State has scored 20 or more bench points in 14 games.
• In the 2024-25 season, the Wildcats averaged 22.6 points per game (813 points) from the bench and ranked second in the Big 12 and 50th in the nation for bench points per game. K-State had the upperhand in bench points in 24 games last season (20-4).
• K-State's 813 bench points were the second time in the Jeff Mittie era in which the bench recorded 700 or more points in a season and the top mark under Mittie for a season.

20-Pt Quarters For the Wildcats
• Since the inception of the quarter system in the 2015-16 season, K-State owns an overall record of 167-70 (.705) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game.
• Since the 2015-16 season, K-State has registered 404 quarters with 20 or more points with a program record of 68 in the 2024-25 season.
• This season, K-State has registered 24 quarters with 20 or more points scored in quarters including a high of 32 points in the fourth quarter against Utah on Jan. 10. The 32 points were the most in a fourth quarter for K-State since scoring a fourth quarter school record 34 points against Central Arkansas on Nov. 9, 2021.
• The Cats are 7-5 this season when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game.

Turn of Heal
• Guard Tess Heal continues to be an elite collegiate scorer and has gone on a hot streak in Big 12 action.
• Heal has scored more points in the last four games (89) than she did in her first 14 games with K-State (80).
• At Houston on Jan. 7, Heal tallied a K-State season-high 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 from the foul line. This was her fifth career game with 30 or more points.
• She became the 31st player in program history to score 30 or more points in a game with her 31 at Houston. She was the first Wildcat to score 30 or more points and make 11 or more free throws in a game since Gabby Gregory tallied 35 points with 13 made free throws against Northern Arizona on Nov. 25, 2022.
• Heal was the first player in program history to score 30 or more points after entering the game off the bench.
• The product of Melbourne, Australia, set the school record for points by an international player in a game.
• Against Utah on Jan. 10, Heal carded her second straight game with 25 or more points as she tallied a game-high 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting.
• Her field goal percentage of .846 was a career-high on 13 or more attempts. She was the first K-State guard and just the fourth Wildcat since at least 1981-82 to register 25 or more points with 11 or more made field goals and shoot 84.0 percent or better from the field. Heal was the first since Ayoka Lee tallied 36 points on 15 made field goals and 88.2 percent shooting against North Florida on Dec. 16, 2023.
• With her 7-of-8 effort from the field in the fourth quarter against the Utes, Heal set the school record for field goals made in a fourth quarter and tied the school record for field goals made in any quarter.
• Heal was the first player in program history to score 25 or more points in two or more games after entering the game off the bench.
• Her four straight games with 15 or more points is her longest stretch since carding a 10-game stretch in her sophomore season at Santa Clara in the 2023-24 season.
• For the season, Heal is averaging 9.4 points per game while shooting .500 from the field and .871 from the foul line. She has led K-State in scoring in five games this season including an active streak of four straight beginning on Dec. 31, 2025, against Cincinnati.
• In her first five career Big 12 games, she is averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting .630 from the floor and a .923 effort from the free throw line.
• In her collegiate career, Heal has registered 1,633 points (14.3 ppg). She ranks 23rd among active NCAA Division I women's basketball players.
• On Nov. 16 against Texas A&M, Heal surpassed the 1,500-point mark in her career and became the second player to transfer to K-State and then surpass the 1,500-point mark in their collegiate career (Gregory).

Heal Toes the Line
• Guard Tess Heal has continued her career trend of shooting free throws at a high level of efficiency.
• For the season, Heal is 54-of-62 (.871) from the foul line. She is second in the Big 12 in free throw percentage and 36th in the nation. She made 23 consecutive free throws from Dec. 7 to Jan. 7. Her streak was the longest by a Wildcat this season.
• Against West Virginia on Jan. 4, Heal shot a personal season-best 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. She also tallied an 11-of-12 performance at Houston on Jan. 7. During her 11-of-12 effort at Houston, Heal was a perfect 10-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter. This set the school record for free throws made in any quarter since the start of the quarter system in 2015-16.
• In her collegiate career, Heal is 421-of-485 (.868) and was a career season-best 191-of-219 (.872) during her sophomore season at Santa Clara. She ranks eighth among active NCAA Division I players for career free throws made.

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.