The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
10-4, 1-1
Kansas State *
6-7, 0-2
Women's Basketball defeats K-State in Big 12 home opener, 67-53
01.05.2014 | Women's Basketball
Junior forward Nneka Enemkpali leads all scorers with 19 points.
Box Score (PDF) | Notes | Quotes | Photo Gallery
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Women's Basketball team defeated Kansas State on Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center, 67-53. Paint play proved to be the difference in the ballgame as the Longhorns outscored the Wildcats 50-to-14 inside the key.
Junior forward Nneka Enemkpali led Texas with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Sophomore center Imani McGee-Stafford also registered double-figures for Texas with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
The Longhorns (10-4, 1-1) finished with a 60.9 field goal shooting percentage while holding Kansas State to a 27.5 percent shooting. Texas never lost the lead en route to their first win in a Big 12 Conference home opener since 2009 against Nebraska.
Leticia Romero was the leading scorer for the Wildcats (6-7, 0-2) with 15 points.
The Longhorns took an early lead with a 9-0 run. Texas forced six K-State turnovers in the first four minutes of play and did allowed a field goal until the 14:40 mark of the first half.
Texas shot 62.5 percent (15-24) from the field in the first half. With 2:10 left until the intermission, Texas led by 21 points.
The Wildcats shot 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from the field in the first half but made 78.6 percent (11-of-14) of their shots from the free throw line. Two three-pointers by K-State in the final two minutes cut the Texas lead to 36-21 before the halftime buzzer.
Enemkpali led the Longhorns with eight points in the first half while Kelsey Lang had six blocks. Texas was able to score 15 points off of the Wildcats' 14 turnovers and also outscored Kansas State 28-to-4 in the paint in the first half alone. The Longhorn bench also got its looks, scoring 18 points in the half.
Texas' shooting remained hot in the second half and the Longhorns drained 59.1 percent (13-of-22) of their field goals.
The Longhorns' second-highest shooting percentage of the season (60.9) limited rebound opportunities as Texas posted a season-low 34 rebounds to tie the Wildcats on the boards. Entering Sunday, Texas had out-rebouned 11 of its 13 opponents.
Texas returns to the Erwin Center to face Oklahoma on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Central on Longhorn Network. The game marks the third annual 40 Acres Field Trip with over 6,000 Central Texas elementary school students expected to attend.
• Series: Sunday's game marked the 27th meeting between Texas and Kansas State.
• Starters: Sophomore Empress Davenport, sophomore Celina Rodrigo, sophomore Brady Sanders, junior Nneka Enemkpali, sophomore Imani McGee-Stafford. The Longhorns hold a 2-0 record with this starting lineup.
• Texas, which entered Sunday ranked 2nd in the Big 12 and 8th in the NCAA for scoring defense, limited Kansas State to 21 first half points while shooting 21.1 percent for the half. This is the lowest shooting percentage in a half for Kansas State since playing UTEP on Nov. 16, 2013, shooting 20 percent from the field in the first half.
• The Longhorns recorded a season-high 10 blocks. Previously, the most blocks Texas had recorded in a game this season was seven against UTSA on Nov. 10, 2013.
• Texas shot 60.9 percent from the floor, which is the second highest shooting percentage for the Longhorns this season. Texas shot 62.0 percent from the floor against Sam Houston State on Dec. 15, 2013.
• Texas outscored Kansas State in point in the paint (50-14), points off turnovers (20-11), fast break points (14-0) and bench points (23-16).
Nneka Enemkpali
• Led Texas in scoring for the eighth time this season with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a season-high 34 minutes of play.
• Also recorded a season-high three blocks and grabbed five rebounds.
Celina Rodrigo
• Delivered a game-high four assists. This is the fifth straight game she has led Texas in assists, and the eighth game this season.
• Carries a 3.3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio over the last seven games (33-to-10).
Imani McGee-Stafford
• Scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high six boards in 18 minutes of play.
• This is the second straight game she has scored in double figures and the sixth time this season.
Brady Sanders
• Scored six points on 2-of-5 shooting. Sanders has shot 46.6 percent in nine games as a starter this season.
Texas Quotes
Head Coach Karen Aston
Opening Statement: I thought obviously we needed to get back on track from our game at Oklahoma State. I thought our team was really ready to play today. They had a tremendous first half from an energy perspective, and I thought we were really good on the defensive end. We shared the ball well and made good decisions. Then we went in at half time and maybe went to sleep a little bit. I didn't think we were as interested in execution and energy in the second half. Again, like I told the team, it is Big 12 play, and the other team isn't going to lay down or decide they don't feel like playing anymore. That's not the way it is going to be in the Big 12. Kansas State executed some things and shot the ball better in the second half. Sometimes that happens. It is not like we are going to blow anybody out in this league. I think we have to understand that and continue to execute things down the stretch of games.
On the success of the inside scoring throughout the game: I thought we did a better job in the first half of reversing the basketball and waiting on it to happen. There are times we just want to hurry up and either throw the ball inside or hurry up and shoot, and we were much better in the first half of letting plays happen and also reversing the basketball. Even against the zone, we were so much better at getting the ball to the high post, getting the ball to the short corner, and playing off of the post players. It was a learning experience from our last game.
On if it was difficult to keep her team in the game after Kansas State's poor first half shooting: I think it is. It is hard to especially if you are young. And we are a very young basketball team still. I mean, you take our only experienced guard out of the lineup and you are looking at a very young basketball team especially at the guard position. It is hard to regroup sometimes, especially with the energy level we had in the first half. It is hard to stay focused and maintain that energy level, but you have to because that team right there can come back and erase a 20 point deficit very quickly.
On whether the first half showed the consistency she is looking for out of her team throughout the season: I think that is what we have to work toward, playing the way we did in the first half. The guards took open shots and we took advantage of matchups. We took advantage of what our strengths were against a particular team. To be quite honest with you, I think it is a strength against most people that we play. I don't think we can look at K-State as a matchup advantage in the paint today; I think we have an advantage in the paint most nights. We have to do a better job of being patient, and getting the ball inside to where our strengths are, and that is something we are going to have to learn. It sounds like you are saying don't shoot, but that is not what it is. It is playing inside out, because at some point, you are going to get shots out of a reversal or shots from your post players. I think we just have to grow in that area.
Junior forward Nneka Enemkpali
On if she knew it was going to be a big game for her beforehand: I am excited for any Big 12 game. I am just excited to be in Big 12 conference play now. Obviously, we knew that they were smaller on the inside, and the game plan was to get it on the inside to open up the outside for the guards. That didn't hurt at all either.
On if she was excited to play against shorter competition, or would she rather have been challenged more: I enjoy a challenge. I like going against a defender who I know is going to make me think about my moves and what I am going to have to do offensively.
Sophomore center Imani McGee-Stafford
On how eager she was to contribute like she did in the second half: I was really excited. The first half of the season didn't go particularly well for me, especially considering my standards of what I did last season. So, I was excited to have a new season and a new opportunity in Big 12 play to produce more and be a better asset to my teammates.
On why she struggled in the first half of the season: In the first half of the season I was struggling with practice, conditioning, attitude, a lot of things. I had to adjust to a new role, and I had to get myself back in game shape. I am still trying to figure out how to turn my on-switch on. That was not something that I thought would be a problem. Coach talked to me about that at the beginning of the season, but I did not understand it until we started playing and I was not doing well. So, that is still something I am trying to figure out; how to always have my motor running and figure it out quicker.
Kansas State Head Coach Deb Patterson
Opening statement: Well my opening statement is going to be brief: Points in the paint. Now that is unfortunately the story of the game today. Defensively, we just did not get the job done relative to stopping the bleeding there inside and around the paint. That was the difference.
On if their main problem was Texas' height: Yeah, we had certainly hoped to bring a big preoccupation to not allowing ourselves to being buried in one hand, and on the other hand, making sure that if we're not being buried that we're in good, strong help positions. It's an improvement that we have to continue to apply ourselves to and understand. It's something we've got to grow in immediately. I would've hoped that at halftime we would've answered it but we didn't. Play was even in the second half, but once again 50 points in the paint is pretty much enough to beat anybody on any given night in this league.
On turnovers: I thought we played really fragile and nervous almost the first ten minutes of the game on the offensive side of the floor. In my mind, those were unforced turnovers; not necessarily playing at the tempo and establishing the rhythm together. We were definitely not on the same page by any stretch of the imagination, which is another lesson – the focus, the concentration that you need to bring. We've got a lot of new players learning a lot about how this game has to be played and just the great demand there is mentally in terms of coming up with discipline and focus. I thought we survived it to some extent. To be honest, thought it could be a 30-, 35-point rout at that point with the way we were tossing the ball around and wasting offensive possessions early. I credit our team for working hard to keep it tight and draw it closer and not allowing themselves to duck their heads totally. I think they tried to play through it and get themselves in position to be within reach.
Kansas State G Leticia Romero
On what was wrong with the shooting: I think it was a little bit of everything. Our defense wasn't going really well. We had a lot of mistakes and you want to fix it on offense. I think it was pressure.
On if the pressure kept building: I think so, especially if you are not doing well on defense, you don't have any confidence and you try to rush. You try to fix all of your problems on the offensive end, and I think you need to start on defense.
On Texas' height: It was really difficult because most of their points were in the paint. We had problems with that but I think that's something that we're going to find in the Big 12 in every game. So, we need to work on it and practice it and I think we will be fine.
