No. 17 Kansas at No. 21 Oklahoma State in Top-25 Big 12 Tilt
Jan. 7, 2013
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No. 17 Kansas women’s basketball team will play its third game in seven days, as the Jayhawks travel to No. 21 Oklahoma State Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Complete Notes in PDF Format
QUICK HITS ABOUT KANSASWBB
Kansas has won the last three games against Oklahoma State played in Stillwater, Okla. The Jayhawks have not been defeated at Oklahoma State since Jan. 10, 2007. Dating back to last season, KU has won three-straight Big 12 Conference road games. The Jayhawks are 2-2 on the road this season, while OSU owns a 7-1 home record. A victory at Oklahoma State would give Kansas its first 3-0 Big 12 Conference start since the 1996-97 season. Carolyn Davis enters the game with 1,513 career points and needs only six more to crack into Kansas’ all-time top-10 scoring list. With six points, Davis will surpass Angie Snider (1,518). Davis and Angel Goodrich are both on the watch lists for the Wade Trophy, the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, as two of the top players in the nation. Goodrich enters the game riding a six-game double-digit scoring streak and leads the Jayhawks during that span with 17.5 points per game, including two 20-point performances. For the eighth-straight week, Kansas is ranked in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll. The Jayhawks are ranked No. 17, climbing four spots after a pair of Big 12 wins. The Jayhawks have been ranked each week this season in the USA Today Coaches Top-25 Poll, and were No. 20 last week. The new poll comes out on Tuesday. Goodrich is tops in the Big 12 Conference with 3.4 steals per game. Goodrich led the nation in assists per game with 7.4 last season and is currently averaging 6.5 assists per game this year. Goodrich was named to the preseason First Team All-Big 12 and was tabbed as a 2012 Associated Press Preseason All-America honorable mention selection. Kansas is 10-0 this season when outrebounding its opponents. The Jayhawks boast a 9-0 record when outshooting their foes. KU is holding Big 12 opponents to 39.1 percent shooting, including 32.3 percent from three-point range.
ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State is located in Stillwater, Okla., and has an enrollment of 35,073. The Cowgirls return four starters from a team that went 22-12 last season and won six-straight games in the WNIT to claim the title. Oklahoma State was tabbed to finish tied for seventh in the Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.
THE COMEBACK KIDS
Heading into the 2012-13 season, under head coach Bonnie Henrickson, Kansas was 19-89 (.176) in games where the team trailed at the half. Things are a bit different this season. The Jayhawks have trailed at the half five times this campaign and boast a 3-2 (.600) mark.
TOEING THE LINE
During the non-conference season, Kansas averaged 18.1 free throw attempts per game. Already in two Big 12 Conference match-ups, KU has averaged 24 free throw tries per contest.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
In the 11 Kansas victories this season, the Jayhawks have held their opponents to 36.9 percent shooting from the field and posted an +10.1 rebounding advantage. However, in the two losses, KU opponents are shooting 47.6 percent and the Jayhawks have a -14.5 rebounding deficit.
MOVING ON UP
Senior Carolyn Davis enters the Oklahoma State game with 1,513 career points and is one of only 11 Kansas players to score 1,500 in a career. With six more points, Davis will move into the KU all-time top-10 scoring list, surpassing Angie Snider (1,518) for the 10th spot.
THE 600-CLUB
Senior Angel Goodrich led the Jayhawks with nine assists against in-state rival Kansas State last week. With the nine dimes, Goodrich joined Lisa Braddy as the only two players in KU history to post 600 or more assists in a career. Goodrich now has 610 assists in her career, while Braddy dished out 686 assists.
START2FINISH
Senior national player of the year candidates Angel Goodrich and Carolyn Davis have built a career on complimenting each other. Goodrich, the nation’s assist leader last season, is only 81 assists away from becoming the all-time leader at Kansas, while Davis already is atop the all-time career field goal percentage chart and boasts a 25 percentage point lead over the closest challenger. So the duo is truly the essence of start to finish. To highlight their senior season, a promotional website KUStart2Finish.com has been created to promote these player of the year candidates.
TORCHING THE TWINE
Kansas enters the Oklahoma State game shooting 45.4 percent from the field, including 46.9 percent in Big 12 Conference play. The Jayhawks rank No. 3 the in league, while No. 18 nationally in field goal percentage. If the season ended today, it would mark the fifth-straight season in which KU shot 45 percent or better from the field.
JUST IMAGINE
National player of the year candidate Carolyn Davis has seen controlled minutes during the early part of the season as she works her way back from her season-ending knee injury last year. As a result, Davis is averaging just 25.0 minutes per game and is leading the team with 15.8 points per game. By prorating her production over 40 minutes, Davis would be averaging 25 points per game for KU.
CHELSEA LATELY
Sophomore Chelsea Gardner became the fourth player on the Kansas roster to post 20 or more points in a collegiate game when she tossed in a career-best 26 points against Grambling State. Gardner also added 10 rebounds to record the second double-double of her career. In her last eight games combined, Gardner is averaging 11.5 points per contest, along with 5.8 rebounds per game. She also shot a combined 37-for-57 (.649) from the field.
MONEY MONI
Senior Monica Engelman posted back-to-back double-digit scoring games against Newman and Prairie View A&M, her first in nearly a calendar year. She now has scored double-figures in three of the last five games. Engelman is averaging 7.3 points per game, ranks third on the team in rebounding with 5.2 boards per contest and ranks tied for second in assists with 38.
A KNIGHT’S TALE
Sophomore Natalie Knight does all the little things that often go unnoticed, but one thing is for sure, Kansas is at its best when she is on the floor. Through 13 games, Knight leads the Jayhawks with a +12.00 plus-minus rating, which means that KU scores 12 more points than its opponent per game when Knight is on the court.
SHE GIVETH and SHE TAKETH AWAY
Angel Goodrich’s ability to share the ball is well documented after leading the nation in assists per game last season. Goodrich is also pretty good at taking the ball away. The Kansas senior leads the Big 12 Conference in steals per game and she also ranks No. 18 nationally with 3.4 steals per game.
FIRST WADE, THEN WOODEN, NOW NAISMITH
Kansas seniors Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich are two of the 25 NCAA Division I women’s basketball student-athletes to be named to the 2012-13 State Farm® Wade Trophy Watch List. The Kansas duo has also been tabbed for John R. Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top-30 List, and are both on the 50-player list for the 2012-13 Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year presented by AT&T early season watch list.
PULLING RANK
Kansas is ranked in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll for the eighth-straight week, climbing four spots and coming in at No. 17. KU has also been ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll each of the nine previous weeks this season, including a No. 20 ranking in last week’s poll. The new poll comes out Tuesday.
O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
For the third-straight season, seniors Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich will serve as team captains for the Jayhawks during the 2012-13 campaign.
MASTERS OF THEIR CRAFT
The senior writers of espnW collaborated and came up with the top-five players in the nation by position. Once again, Angel Goodrich and Carolyn Davis found themselves among the nation’s elite. Goodrich was classified as one of the country’s top-five point guards, while Davis was tabbed as one of the nation’s best five centers.
SHOWING A LOT OF CLASS
Prior to the start of the regular season, senior Angel Goodrich was named one of 30 national finalists for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
JOINING THE CLUB
With 10 points against Kansas State on Jan. 2, Monica Engelman became the 25th player in Kansas history to join the 1,000-point club. Engelman now has 1,008 career points and joins Carolyn Davis as 1,000-point scorers on the roster. Also keep an eye on Angel Goodrich, who is looking to join the club and only needs 39 points.
A NATIONAL LEADER
Senior Angel Goodrich entered this season as the reigning national champion in assists per game. Goodrich paced the Jayhawks with a school and Big 12 record 250 assists last season, or 7.4 per game. Goodrich currently averages 6.5 assists per game, which ranks third in the Big 12 Conference.
THAT 70’s SHOW
Kansas’ success during the Bonnie Henrickson-era has been pretty much based on 70 points. When the Jayhawks score 70 or more points, Kansas owns a 95-10 record (.905) during her tenure. When KU opponents score less than 70 points, the Jayhawks are 130-68 (.657) during that span.
TWENTY SOMETHING
When Carolyn Davis scores 20 or more points in a game, the Jayhawks usually come out on top. Davis has 31 20-point efforts in her career and KU boasts a 26-5 (.839) record in those contests.
WHAT DOES FIVE DIMES EQUAL?
In addition to being 50 cents, five dimes from Angel Goodrich in a game also equals a good chance for a Kansas victory. Goodrich has collected five or more assists 74 times in her career with the Jayhawks and KU was victorious in 52 of those games for a .703 winning percentage.
HOW SWEET IT IS
Kansas returned to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last season for the first time since 1998. It marked the third time in school history that the Jayhawks advanced to the Sweet 16 and was Kansas’ 12th NCAA Tournament appearance.
PLAN FOR POSTSEASON
Faithful followers of the Kansas women’s basketball program have learned to plan for postseason play. In Bonnie Henrickson’s eight previous seasons with the Jayhawks, KU has advanced to postseason play six times, including five straight. In fact, in Henrickson’s head coaching career, she has led her team to postseason play 13 times in 15 seasons.
RELOADING
How does a top-25 program stay in the national polls? Sign a top-25 recruiting class. That’s exactly what head coach Bonnie Henrickson and her staff did during the early signing period, inking the No. 14-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, and the top among Big 12 Conference schools. The class also ranked No. 25 nationally by Blue Star Basketball. The Jayhawks signed Jada Brown (6-0, F, Las Vegas, Nev.), Dakota Gonzalez (6-0, G, Pocatello, Idaho), Dylan Gonzalez (6-0, G, Pocatello, Idaho), Caelynn Manning-Allen (6-4, F, Chicago, Ill.) and Keyla Morgan (5-8, G, Rancho Dominguez, Calif.).
