Jayhawks Hit the Road for Bout with No. 17 Oklahoma State

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s basketball will play three games in five days starting with Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The game will air on FOX Plus and the Jayhawk Radio Network.
 
Following the Jayhawks
Kansas’ match-up with Oklahoma State will be broadcast on FOX Plus and the Jayhawk Radio Network, along with audio streaming via KUAthletics.com. Live stats are available through Oklahoma State’s website, okstate.com. For the most up-to-date information, follow Kansas women’s basketball on Twitter (@KUwbball).
 
Kansas FastBreaks

• Oklahoma State has a slight edge in the overall series against the Kansas, 32-31. KU owns a 13-13 mark when playing the Cowgirls in Stillwater.
• Kansas has faced seven nationally-ranked opponents in 2015-16 and are 0-6 against foes in the national polls.
• KU snapped a stretch of 14-straight games shooting less than 40 percent from the field by making 44.6 percent of its shots (25-of-56) against the Sooners (2/20).
• When Brandon Schneider-coached teams are leading with less than five minutes to play, his overall record is 351-12, and 5-0 at Kansas.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge leads the Jayhawks in scoring with 10.4 points per game and has netted 16 double-figure scoring efforts in 2015-16.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge netted a career-best 20 points against Oklahoma (2/20), the most points by a Jayhawk in a single game this season. Aldridge leads the team with 16 double-digit scoring efforts in 2015-16.
• During her career, Aldridge has hit 36.3 percent of her attempts from behind the arc, which ties for eighth all-time in Kansas history. Shandy Robbins also connected on 36.3 percent of her three-point attempts from 1998-99.
• Freshman guard Kylee Kopatich is averaging 32.6 minutes per game during her rookie season. Her minutes per game rank seventh in the Big 12 and second among freshmen in the league.
• Junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen has swatted away a team-high 35 blocks this season, averaging 1.4 per game, for 77 blocks in her career. She needs 18 more to crack Kansas’ top-10 season list and eight to etch her name into the junior record.
• Freshman guard Jayde Christopher has dished out three or more assists on nine occasions, including a career-high mark of six against Northern Illinois (11/27). She is second on the team in assists with 52 on the year. Aldridge leads the squad with 60 and tallied seven against Oklahoma (2/20), for her third effort with five or more assists this season.

About the Jayhawks
Kansas (5-21, 0-15 Big 12) squares off with No. 17/24 Oklahoma State with hopes of avenging a 74-46 loss to the Cowgirls on Superhero Day, back on Jan. 24. The Jayhawks are winless in their last eight matchups with the Cowgirls. A win on Wednesday would not only draw the series even, but also bury a 17-game losing streak and give Kansas its first win over a ranked opponent this season.
 
The Jayhawks gave No. 20/21 Oklahoma a scare on Saturday, forcing the Sooners to make free throws in the game’s final moments to escape with the win, 72-66. For the third time in four games, the Jayhawks netted double-digit three-pointers, led by redshirt junior Timeka O’Neal’s five triples. The Raytown, Missouri native has tallied 12 three-pointers in her last three games, and is shooting 40.6 percent from beyond the arc, seventh-best in the Big 12.
 
Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge put forth a career performance against the Sooners. Leading the team with 20 points, Aldridge shot 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Her .377 average from long distance ranks 10th in the conference. Aldridge also dished out a game-high seven assists, matching her season-best mark and helping Kansas to its fourth-straight game with 10 or more assists.
 
As a team, the Jayhawks hold the fifth-best three-point field goal percentage (.313) in the Big 12. The Cowgirls rank last in the category, connecting on only 26.9 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.
 
On Saturday, Kansas shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line, but only on 5-of-6 attempts. The Jayhawks rank fifth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.677), but earn trips to the charity stripe far less often than their opposition. Kansas’ 319 free throw attempts are the least among conference opponents, and 89 fewer than Texas Tech (408), the team that ranks ninth in free throws attempted.
 
A Kansas win would be its first since the 19-point comeback, overtime victory over Navy on Dec. 13. Kansas’ magic number for Saturday might be 65; when allowing more than 65 points from opponents this season, the Jayhawks are 0-12. In Kansas’ five wins this season, the Jayhawks netted 65 or more in four of them.
 
Scouting the Cowgirls
No. 17/24 Oklahoma State is 19-7 on the season and 9-6 in the Big 12, but looking to bounce back after a 0-2 road trip to the Lone Star State. The Cowgirls fell to No. 4 Baylor, 66-41, on Feb. 17, and then allowed 13 three-pointers from TCU in a 79-65 loss on Feb. 20. Oklahoma State’s only loss at home this season came against then-No. 4 Texas. The Cowgirls are 5-0 at home since facing the Longhorns.
 
The Cowgirls finished last season tied for the third-best record in the Big 12 at 9-9, and are picked to finish eighth in the conference this year by the coaches’ preseason poll. Last season, Oklahoma State finished with a 20-12 overall record and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament before falling to Florida Gulf Coast in the first round by a score of 75-67. The Cowgirls are led by Martin, who was selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team after being a unanimous All-Big 12 selection a year ago.
 
Martin is the Big 12’s most prolific scorer this season, averaging 21.0 points per game. No other player in the league is averaging more than 16.5 points, and her mark currently ranks 20th in the nation. Grabbing a conference-best 11.3 rebounds per contest, Martin is currently the only Big 12 player to average a double-double. Martin is dynamic on the defensive end as well, tallying 75 steals on the year, ranking first in the Big 12 and 16th in the nation.
 
Senior guard Roddricka Patton dishes out more assists than any other Cowgirl, and is proving to be one of the best in the Big 12 and the country. Patton dropped 11 assists in the loss to TCU, and is second in the conference, and in the nation, with 7.22 assists per game. The Palestine, Texas native is just behind her teammate, Martin, in the steals category, with 57 takeaways this season.
 
Oklahoma State continues to be one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, with a +8.0 margin. The Cowgirls collect the second-most boards (42.8) in the Big 12 and allow the third-fewest (34.8). Despite outrebounding the Sooners, 32-26, Kansas has struggled on the glass this season and owns the worst rebounding margin (-5.3) in the conference. The experienced backcourt duo of Martin and Patton is largely responsible for the Cowgirls ranking second in the Big 12 in assists with 17.1 per game, fifth in steals with 8.3 per game and holding the fifth-best turnover margin at +1.4. Oklahoma State’s conference-worst free throw percentage (.613) could help mitigate a possible free throw disparity for the Jayhawks, who have averaged 9.5 fewer attempts per game than their opponents in Big 12 play this season.
 
This Day in KU Women’s Basketball History
Record on Feb. 24: 6-8
Kansas women’s basketball will play on the 24th day of February for the 15th time in program history. The first meeting on Feb. 24 was in 1969 against Southwestern, while the last contest to be played on Feb. 24 was against Texas Tech in 2013. The last time Kansas was victorious on Feb. 24 was in 1999 against Oklahoma State, a 79-72 decision in favor of the Jayhawks. Lynn Pride led KU with 28 points and six rebounds to go along with three steals.
 
Pair of Jayhawks Earn Academic All-Big 12 Honors
For the first time since 2012, Kansas women’s basketball has multiple first-team honorees for academic honors, after junior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen and sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge were named Academic All-Big 12 First Team selections. This marks the third conference academic honor for Manning-Allen, while Aldridge garnered academic rookie honors last season.
 
One – Two – Three!
On the season, Kansas is connecting on 31.1 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Both redshirt junior guard Timeka O’Neal and sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge are shooting above average, making 40.6 and 37.7 percent of their long-range shots, respectively. Both Jayhawks rank among the top 10 in the Big 12 and Aldridge’s career mark of 36.3 ranks among the top 10 in Kansas three-point history.
 
Up Next
Kansas concludes its 2015-16 home slate with Texas Tech on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m., inside Allen Fieldhouse. The game will air on both the Jayhawk Television and Jayhawk Radio Networks.

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