NORMAN, Oklahoma (KStateSports.com) – In a game with 13 lead changes and 10 ties, (2/2) K-State struggled in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma upset the Wildcats, 66-63, at Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday evening.
K-State had three players reach double figures on Wednesday and were led by sophomore forward Gisela Sanchez with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting including a career-high 3-of-8 from long range. She also added nine rebounds.
Junior guard and All-American candidate Serena Sundell recorded her third career double-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. This was Sundell’s eighth straight game in double figures.
Junior Jaelyn Glenn notched 11 points, including a 3-of-7 effort from beyond the arc, four assists and three rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State (20-2, 9-1 Big 12) turned a tie game, 33-33, at halftime into a 53-51 advantage by the end of the third quarter. The Wildcats were bolstered by a 5-of-7 effort from beyond the arc in the frame.
– Oklahoma (14-6, 8-1) went up 57-56 with under five minutes remaining. After a layup by the Sooners gave them a three-point lead, 59-56, Glenn buried her second 3-pointer of the quarter to tie the game at 59 with 4:09 to play.
– The Sooners would get four straight points from Skylar Vann to boost its lead back to four, 63-59, with three minutes remaining.
– The Wildcats clawed back to within two, 65-63, following a layup from Sundell but a desperation three tie the game fell short.
– K-State shot a season-low 36.1 percent (22-of-61) but equaled its season-high for 3-point field goals made by going 11-of-30 (.367).
– Oklahoma shot 40.0 percent (24-of-60) from the field and were 9-of-24 (.375) from 3-point range.
QUICK FACTS
– Oklahoma leads the series, 46-31. K-State has won seven of the last 15 meetings. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 11-21 in his career against Oklahoma.
– The Wildcats are 228-238 (.489) in Big 12 games.
– Head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 638-364 (.637) in 32 seasons as a head coach and is 184-129 (.588) during his 10-seasons at K-State.
– K-State owns a record of 242-89 (.731) as an AP ranked team. K-State is 1-1 (.500) all-time when ranked second in the nation.
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards: Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn, Gabby Gregory and forward Gisela Sanchez. This was the fourth time this starting five has been used this season. This was the 100th collegiate career start and the 54th start at K-State for Gregory, the 91st career start for Sundell, the 87th career start for Jaelyn Glenn, the 81st career start for Brylee Glenn and the fourth career start for Sanchez.
– K-State had three players reach double figures in scoring on Wednesday. This was the 17th time (15-2) this season in which the Wildcats had three or more players in double figures.
– K-State shot 50.0 percent or better in one quarter on Wednesday. For the season, K-State owns 34 quarters with a field goal percentage of 50.0 percent or better.
PLAYER NOTES
– Sanchez reached double figures for the sixth time in her career and the fifth time this season.
– Sanchez made three 3-pointers, a new career-high. This was her fourth career game with two or more connections from long range.
– Sanchez secured nine rebounds on Wednesday. This was her 11th career game with five or more rebounds.
– Sundell notched her 60th career game with 10 or more points, including her 15th this season. Sundell owns 1,102 career points and passed Mary Jo Miller (1988-92; 1,091), Nicky Ramage (1996-00; 1,096) and Kristin Rethman (1998-02; 1,099) for 34th on the K-State career scoring list.
– This was Sundell’s 39th career game and the 13th this season with five or more rebounds.
– Sundell’s eight assists equaled her season-high of eight against Missouri on Dec. 9 and last week against BYU. This marked her 56th career game and the 14th this season with five or more assists.
– Zyanna Walker registered four steals on Wednesday. This season, Walker has five games with two or more steals.
– Gabby Gregory dished out five assists on Wednesday. This was her ninth career game and her sixth this season with five or more assists.
– Gregory hauled in seven rebounds on Wednesday. This was her 52nd career game with five or more rebounds.
– Jaelyn Glenn made three 3-pointers on Wednesday. This was her 44th career game with two or more connections from long range.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
Opening statement…
“We just come up on the short in the end. I thought our group did some things really well tonight, but I thought OU really made big plays in that fourth quarter that we just didn’t have an answer for Van down low. There they were really working us down low a lot tonight and got to the free throw line. Made some big baskets down the stretch and we just didn’t have an answer for at least hurt we still have sized outside of download. ”
On the low post defense…
“I think we got to defend better. This is something that we’ve got to do better as a team now maybe we may not have the one on one ability to do it like we had before. But we have players that you know, we’ve got to defend better down there.”
On how Oklahoma is playing now…
“I mean, I think they’re making more shots. I mean, that’s a simplistic way of putting it but they’re making more shots. You know, they were struggling shooting the ball in some early games and they’re making more shots. I think their transition game is way better. They’re really taking care of the basketball so much better than they were when I saw them early. And you know, when you’re playing at a pace that they’re playing at, that’s not easy to do, but they have found a good pace that they can play well at and it seems like they’re they’re playing really well.”
On Oklahoma’s defense…
“I feel like the five of them were pretty connected. I didn’t see a glaring weakness when I looked at them scouting, you know, though, I feel like they’re connected. And, you know, if you’ve got five out there connected and playing hard, you can do a lot of really good things and I don’t want to compare it necessarily to three years ago, but I can just say that it would appear to me that they have a good understanding of what they’re doing when they go into each game. And they’re pretty solid at it. You know, you have maybe fewer if I were to pinpoint one area. You might get shots, but there’s few there are smaller windows. And I feel like they’re flying around. We were able to knock some threes down but those windows weren’t huge windows to knock them down. So I think she’s got them playing hard and flying around.”
On the number two ranking…
“I’ve said this about the rankings. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the rankings. Now having said that, it’s naive to not think that it gives you a boost in recruiting. It gives you a boost in your fan excitement. We’re coming off of two games over 8000 fans at our games. The previous game prior to that was 7200 when it was like minus 10. Our fans have been phenomenal. And so being ranked number two I think gets that excitement going. So it’s certainly not insignificant. It’s the first time we’ve been number two in both polls at the same time. So it’s not insignificant. It’s a heck of an accomplishment for our team. Now having said all that, that doesn’t help us guard OU in transition. That doesn’t help us defend Vann in the paint. We got to do those things better. And look, I’ve got a great group to coach. They fought like crazy tonight to come up on the short end. There were some things that we need to do a lot better both coaches and players but we can learn a lot from this game and hopefully be a better team coming out of it.”
UP NEXT
K-State concludes a two-game road trip on Sunday, as the Wildcats visit (12/14) Texas at 1 p.m.
