MANHATTAN, Kansas – One of the longest continuous rivalries in all of women's college basketball is set for the 126th all-time meeting, as K-State (13-4, 3-2 Big 12) hosts Kansas in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown at 6:30 p.m.
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• Wednesday's game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, as Brian Smoller (play-by-play), Missy Heidrick (analyst) and Katherine Benhardt (sideline) will have the call.
• K-State's four-win improvement from the 2020-21 season is tied for the second largest win improvement in the Jeff Mittie era.
• The Wildcats have been led this season by junior Ayoka Lee and freshman Serena Sundell. Lee, a 2022 All-America candidate, leads the nation for total points scored (399) and is sixth in the nation in scoring average (23.5 ppg). She also leads the nation in field goals made (167) and is second in blocked shots (61), third for blocks per game (3.6) and fifth in double-doubles (11). She leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.586).
• Sundell, a candidate for Big 12 Freshman of the Year, is second on the team in scoring (10.4 ppg). She is second in the Big 12 in total assists (98) and assists per game (5.8).
Starting 5
Five names, numbers or storylines about K-State women's basketball
1. Rejection
• Kansas State has tallied 106 blocked shots (6.2 bpg) this season and rank fourth in the nation for total blocks. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in blocks per game and total blocks.
2. Lee in Rare Air
• Junior center Ayoka Lee, a Wooden Award Midseason Top-25 candidate, is the only player in the nation averaging 20 or more points, 10 or more rebounds and 3 or more blocks this season.
3. The D is the Key
• K-State has held its opponents to 56.18 points per game and a .350 field goal percentage. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in both categories and rank 23rd in the nation in field goal percentage defense and 38th in scoring defense.
4. High Efficiency Dishes
• The Wildcats have 320 assists (18.8 apg) and an assisted shot rate of 71.6 percent this season. According to HerHoopStats.com, K-State ranks second in the nation in assisted shot rate and are the highest ranked Power 5 member in the category.
5. Freshmen Trio Holding Their Own
• K-State has been bolstered this season by its freshmen trio of Brylee Glenn, Jaelyn Glenn and Serena Sundell. The three players have combined to score 419 points this season (24.6 ppg) and are responsible for 35.0 percent of K-State's scoring which trails the juniors on the roster (488; 40.7 percent).
Number to Know
1
• K-State center Ayoka Lee needs one point to reach 400 points for the season.
• Lee would become the sixth player in school history with three or more seasons with 400 or more points scored.
• Lee would join Nicole Ohlde (2000-04) as the only centers in program history to register three or more seasons with 400 or more points scored.
At a Glance: Kansas
• Kansas (11-3, 2-2 Big 12) enters Wednesday's Dillons Sunflower Showdown after an 82-79 loss against (14/13) Baylor on Sunday.
• On the sideline, Kansas is led by seventh-year head coach Brandon Schneider. Schneider is 72-118 (.379) in his time in Lawrence.
• The Jayhawks feature three players in double figures this season, led by junior Holly Kersgieter, senior Zakiyah Franklin and senior Aniya Thomas.
• Kersgeiter is averaging a team-best 14.4 points per game on a 43.5 percent effort from the field. She leads the team in three-point field goals made with 24. Against Baylor, Kersgieter registered a team-high 23 points with five connections from beyond the arc.
• Franklin is second on the team in scoring with 11.1 points per game and paces the squad in assists with 4.1. Against the Bears, Franklin tallied 20 points and six assists.
• Thomas is third on the team in scoring with 10.2 per game and has pocketed 16 steals.
Last Time Out
at Texas Tech 64, (25/rv) K-State 45 (Jan. 15, 2022; Lubbock, Texas)
• K-State trailed for the entirety of Saturday's game, as the Wildcats shot 28.6 percent (18-of-63) from the floor.
• This was K-State's first loss to an unranked opponent this season.
• K-State was led by Ayoka Lee with 12 points and eight rebounds and Serena Sundell with 12 points and four assists.
K-State Among Top-20 in NCAA History for Wins
• K-State women's basketball is in its 54th season of action and ranks among the top programs in NCAA history for all-time wins.
• K-State's all-time record stands at 991-630 (.611) and the Wildcats entered the 2021-22 season ranked 19th in NCAA Division I women's basketball history for program wins. The Wildcats were the 19th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 975 or more wins as a program and the third among the Big 12 (Texas, Baylor). K-State is averaging 18.6 wins per season.
• The Wildcats have accumulated 25 20-win seasons and have secured 360 victories inside Bramlage Coliseum.
• K-State has 208 wins in the Big 12 Conference.
• Kansas State has registered 220 victories when they were ranked in the Associated Press top-25 poll and achieved 84 wins against teams ranked in the AP poll.
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 89-45 (.664) when scoring 20 or more points in any quarter in a game.
• At Omaha on Dec. 8, K-State tallied a school record 36 points in the first quarter. The 36 points are the most in any quarter in school history.
• This season, K-State has scored 20 or more points in a quarter 20 times and have scored 20 or more points in two or more quarters in a game seven times.
• Since the 2015-16 season, K-State has registered 206 quarters with 20 or more points with a high of 43 in the 2017-18 season. In the 2020-21 season, K-State had 21 quarters with 20 or more points scored.
K-State Attacking the Paint
• The Wildcats have found buckets in the paint this season and are converting at a high rate.
• This season, K-State has scored 584 points in the paint (34.4 ppg) which represents 48.7 percent of their overall point total. The Wildcats have recorded 40 or more points in the paint in seven games. The Wildcats have held the edge in the lane in 12 games.
• K-State was aggressive in its efforts to score in the lane in the season-opening against Central Arkansas. The Wildcats recorded 56 points in the paint, which marked the highest single-game total since Nov. 14, 2016, against Tulsa, when K-State poured in 60 points in the paint.
• Against Iowa State on Jan. 11, the WIldcats notched 54 points in the paint.
• The Wildcats used its height advantage to its benefit in the lane in the 2020-21 season, as they outscored opponents 768-708 in the lane or 45.1 percent of its overall points. The Wildcats averaged 28.4 points per game in the paint. K-State had the edge in the lane in 16 games last season.
• Under head coach Mittie, Kansas State scored 900 or more points in the paint in six of the previous seven seasons including a high of 1,064 points (31.3 ppg) during the 2016-17 season.
Lee Efficient from the Field
• Ayoka Lee continues to put the ball in the hoop at a high rate and is among the top-five on the K-State career field goal percentage list.
• In the 2021-22 season, Lee is shooting .586 (167-of-285) from the field. Lee ranks 15th in the nation and leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage. She also leads the nation in total field goals made (167) and ranks fifth for field goals attempted (285).
• Against Iowa State, Lee made a career-high 18 field goals which was second in school history, the most in a conference game in school history and tied for the fourth-most made field goals in Big 12 history in a single game.
• At South Dakota State, Lee attempted a career-high 30 field goals. This was the fourth-most field goals attempted in a game in school history. Her 16 attempts in the first half against South Dakota State and Iowa State tied the school record for field goal attempts in a half.
• In her career, Lee has a field goal percentage of .591 (536-of-907) and ranks third in program history for career field goal percentage. Among active NCAA career leaders for field goal percentage, Lee ranks 12th among all players. Her career field goal percentage ranks sixth in Big 12 history.
• Lee is the 20th player in program history with 500 or more field goals made in a career and the first since Peyton Williams (2016-20). She ranks 15th in school history for career fields goals made.
• Lee owns 52 career games with a field goal percentage of .500 or better. She has made 10 or more field goals in a game 19 times in her career.
• In the 2020-21 season, Lee shot a career-high .621 (185-of-298) from the field and led the Big 12 and ranked third in the nation for field goal percentage. Among centers, Lee ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage.
• Lee was the only player in NCAA Division I in the 2020-21 season to shoot 60.0 percent or better from the field (min. 5 FGs made/game) and 80.0 percent or better from the foul line (min. 2.5 FTs made/game).
Lee the Queen of the Block
• Ayoka Lee remains one of the top shot blockers in the nation.
• In her career, Lee has 201 career blocked shots and ranks fourth in school history for career blocks. She is the fourth player in school history to reach the 200 block mark. She owns the school record for career blocks per game at 2.83. Among active NCAA Division I players, Lee ranks fifth for career blocks per game average.
• She has 51 career games with two or more blocks and 15 career games with five or more blocks. She owns the school record for career games with five or more blocks. Lee holds the school record for career games with seven or more blocks (4).
• This season, Lee has 61 blocks (3.6 bpg) and is second in the nation in total blocks and third in blocks per game. This is the second time in her career Lee has reached 50 or more blocks in a season. She has eight games this season with four or more blocks.
• Lee set a new career-high and tied for second in program history for a single-game with eight blocks against North Dakota State on Nov. 29. Her eight blocks are tied for the fourth-highest total for a single-game this season in the nation and are the most by a Big 12 player.
• In the 2020-21 season, Lee blocked 49 shots (1.96 bpg) in the 2020-21 season. She ranked second in the Big 12 for blocks per game and was 29th in the nation for total blocks.
• Lee registered a career-high seven blocked shots against Kansas on February 13 and against Texas Tech on March 11.
• With the seven blocks, Lee is the sixth player to block seven or more shots in a game and is tied for the third-most blocks in a game in school history. Her seven blocks against Texas Tech set the school record for blocks in a Big 12 Championship game.