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No. 8 Women's Basketball preview: Kansas State
01.06.2018 | Women's Basketball
Longhorns and Wildcats meet Sunday at 1 p.m. CT in Manhattan, Kan., on ESPNU.
No. 8/8 Texas Longhorns (12-1, 3-0 Big 12) at Kansas State Wildcats (9-5, 1-2 Big 12)
Time: Sunday, January 7, 2018 | 1 p.m. CT
Location: Manhattan, Kan. | Bramlage Coliseum (12,528)
TV: ESPNU (Courtney Lyle, Christy Thomaskutty)
Radio: 105.3 FM (Craig Way, Fran Harris)
Game Notes | WatchESPN | Live Stats | Live Audio
No. 8 Texas begins a stretch of four games in eight days on Sunday when it travels to Manhattan, Kan., to take on Kansas State. Tip-off in Bramlage Coliseum slated for 1 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
Texas (12-1, 3-0 Big 12 Conference) is coming off a thrilling 84-79 comeback victory against Oklahoma State on Wednesday night. Junior guard Lashann Higgs scored a career-high 30 points and senior point guard Brooke McCarty charted her first career double-double with 21 points and a career-high 10 assists.
Texas the nation's No. 2 team in rebounding margin with a +13.8 edge on the glass. The Longhorns also rank 10th nationally in rebounds per game with 45.62. Texas has won the battle of the boards in 12 of 13 games this season and, dating back to the start of the 2015-16 campaign, UT has held the edge on the glass in 72 of 83 total games.
Offensively, the Longhorns rank eighth nationally in scoring offense with 87.1 points per game and 11th in scoring margin at +24.2.
McCarty leads the way for Texas, averaging 14.7 points per game and a squad-best 5.0 assists per game. Higgs follows with 13.8 points per game, but in conference games only, she is averaging 20.7 points per game, shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 15-of-16 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Ariel Atkins, who will play in her 100th career game on Sunday, adds 13.5 points per game and has come up with a team-high 33 steals. Junior center Jatarie White is the team's rebounding leader with 6.2 boards per game.
Texas and Kansas State meet for the 35th time in the history of the two programs with the Longhorns leading the all-time series 20-14. Texas has claimed seven of the last eight meetings, including a 69-61 win in Manhattan last season. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 8-7 when the game is played in Manhattan. Texas has won five consecutive meetings with Kansas State, which marks the Longhorns' longest win streak in the history of the series.
The Wildcats enter Sunday's game with a 9-5 overall record and a 1-2 tally in Big 12 play. Kansas State is coming off a 60-52 victory at No. 12 West Virginia on Wednesday, which snapped a three-game losing streak for the Wildcats.
Junior guard Kayla Goth is the Big 12 Conference leader in assists with 6.4 assists per game and also leads Kansas State in scoring with 16.7 points per game. Sophomore forward Peyton Williams and freshman guard Rachel Ranke follow with 13.2 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Senior forward Shaelyn Martin is the squad's leading rebounder with 7.8 boards per game.
QUICK NOTES
- Texas women's basketball is in the midst of its 44th season of intercollegiate basketball.
- Texas is one of just eight programs in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to reach 1,000 all-time wins. Texas ranks fifth all-time in NCAA history with 1,049 all-time victories.
- The Longhorns have made 30 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, which is fourth-most of any program in NCAA D-I Women's Basketball history.
- Texas head coach Karen Aston is 126-56 (.692) now in her sixth season at the helm of the Longhorns. She is the program's second-winningest coach in UT history behind Jody Conradt's 783 victories on the Forty Acres.
- The 2016-17 Longhorns tied the school record for most Big 12 wins in a season at 15. The 2002-03 and 2015-16 squads also posted 15 Big 12 victories.
- Texas has advanced to three consecutive NCAA Sweet 16s for the first time since the 2002, 2003 and 2004 campaigns.
- Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Texas has earned 17 wins against foes ranked in the Associated Press Top-25.
- Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, the Longhorns have won the rebound battle in 72 of 83 total games. Texas has held the edge on the boards in 12 of 13 games this season and ranks second nationally in rebound margin (+13.8). The Longhorns are averaging 45.62 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th nationally.
- Texas ranks eighth nationally in scoring offense (87.1 ppg) and 11th in scoring margin (+24.2).
- Senior guard Brooke McCarty has 201 career three-pointers made, which ranks fourth all-time in program history. She is one of only four players in school annals to accomplish that milestone. McCarty needs 20 more three-pointers to surpass Chassidy Fussell (220 career threes) for third place all-time.
- McCarty ranks fourth in program history in three-point percentage at 40.2 percent (201-of-500) and is one of just four players in program history (Jamie Carey, Kathleen Nash and Vicki Hall are the others) to shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc for her career. Carey is the school's all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 41.8 percent.
- Senior guard Ariel Atkins ranks fifth in program history in free-throw percentage with a 82.5 percent clip (222-of-269).
- Junior guard Lashann Higgs ranks 19th nationally in field-goal percentage at 58.4 percent.
