Big 12 Women’s Tournament Kansas State vs. Texas Tech Preview
Here is everything you need to know about Texas Tech and Kansas State in our Lady Raiders vs. Wildcats Big 12 Tournament women’s basketball preview.
Game 1: No. 9 Kansas State (16-15, 5-13) vs. No. 8 Texas Tech (18-13, 6-12), 5:30 p.m. CT Thursday, Big 12 Now/ESPN+
Season series (Texas Tech 2-0): Texas Tech def. Kansas State, 85-65, in Manhattan, Kan., on Jan. 14; Texas Tech def. Kansas State, 78-68, in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 5.
Winner gets: a Friday game with No. 1 seed Texas at 1:30 p.m. CST
Projected starting lineups
Kansas State: G Serena Sundell, G Jaelyn Glenn, G Brylee Glenn, G Gabby Gregory, F Sarah Shemasti.
Texas Tech: G Bre’Amber Scott, G Tatum Veitenheimer, G Rhyle McKinney, G Katie Ferrell, C Jazmaine Lewis
Players to watch
Kansas State
G Gabby Gregory: Gregory earned All-Big 12 First Team honors from both the league’s coaches and from Heartland College Sports. She spent the entire season reminding the Big 12 that she was a top-level scorer, after an injury reduced her playing time at Oklahoma last season. Gregory averaged 18.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game and turned into the Wildcats’ leading scorer in the wake of the loss of Ayoka Lee, who had knee surgery before the season and returns for 2023-24.
Texas Tech
G Bre’Amber Scott: In the past two seasons, injuries limited Scott to just a handful of games. It even took her a few games to get going this season. But, once she did she emerged as Texas Tech’s top scoring option, and despite the Lady Raiders’ league record, she earned All-Big 12 First Team honors from both the league’s coaches and from Heartland College Sports. She ended the regular season averaging 16.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
Key storylines
Kansas State
The Wildcats knew they would be without Ayoka Lee to start the season. Going into Big 12 play the Wildcats had to feel pretty good. Gregory’s play helped the Wildcats to an 11-2 start. It was also clear that holdover guards Serena Sundell, Jaelyn Glenn and Brylee Glenn had improved in their sophomore seasons. But, once Big 12 play started, the Wildcats had to deal with the reality that Lee made a difference. Kansas State never had a winning streak in league action and enter the Big 12 Tournament on a three-game losing streak.
Texas Tech
This is Texas Tech’s best season under coach Krista Gerlich and it started with a 12-1 record in non-conference. Even though the Lady Raiders had just one win over a Power 6 team (Colorado), they had momentum going into Big 12 action. Still, Texas Tech had trouble stringing together wins, putting together a winning streak just once, with back-to-back wins over Kansas State and Texas. The win over Texas was Texas Tech’s third in as many seasons. Tech’s other signature win was its double-overtime win over West Virginia two weeks ago, one that came over a potential NCAA Tournament team.
Prediction
Texas Tech 74, Kansas State 71. This will finally be a tight game (the Lady Raiders won both by double-digits). But the Lady Raiders squeeze out a third straight win over the Wildcats.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
