Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament West Virginia vs. Kansas State Preview
Here is everything you need to know about West Virginia and Kansas State in our Mountaineers vs. Wildcats Big 12 Tournament women’s basketball quarterfinal preview.
Game 10: No. 6 West Virginia (24-6) vs. No. 3 Kansas State (24-6, 13-5)
Time, TV: 8 p.m. CT Saturday, Big 12 Now/ESPN+
Location: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO
Season series (Kansas State 1-0): Kansas State def. West Virginia 73-64.
Tournament Results: West Virginia: def. Cincinnati, 70-55 (second round); Kansas State: Tournament opener.
Winner: Advances to the Big 12 semifinals on Monday at 4 p.m.
Here is the full Big 12 women’s tournament schedule and results.
Projected starting lineups
West Virginia: F Kylee Blacksten, G Jordan Harrison, G Kyah Watson, G JJ Quinerly, G Lauren Fields.
Kansas State: C Ayoka Lee, G Brylee Glenn, G Serena Sundell, G Jaelyn Glenn, G Gabby Gregory
Players to watch
West Virginia
G Jordan Harrison: Just a sophomore, Harrison transferred to West Virginia from Stephen F. Austin, where her coach, Mark Kellogg led the Ladyjacks for the past several seasons. Harrison was the WAC Freshman of the Year last season and she picked up where she left off by leading West Virginia and the Big 12 with 3.1 steals per game, just ahead of teammate JJ Quinerly. She fit right in as the team’s primary ball handler and distributor. And she helped smooth the team’s overall transition to Kellogg’s defensive-minded style of play.
Kansas State
G Serena Sundell
Ayoka Lee gets all the headlines, but Sundell is one of those players that does everything well and moves the needle for this team in the backcourt. This season she averaged 11.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game and assumed a bigger scoring load when Lee went down with an injury in January. He’s played three years at Kansas State and her steady play and leadership earned her All-Big 12 First Team honors this season.
Key storylines
West Virginia
The Mountaineers underwent a coaching change after last season as Dawn Plitzuweit left to take over at Minnesota. The Mountaineers hired Mark Kellogg away from Stephen F. Austin and he led the Mountaineers to a 13-0 start and eventually led them into the AP Top 25. At one point in Big 12 play WVU won seven games in a row and nine out of 10, solidifying them as an NCAA Tournament team. The Mountaineers took care of Cincinnati with relative ease on Friday, but the enter Saturday’s action trying to erase their loss to Kansas State.
Kansas State
Lee’s return was the headline, but the progress that her teammates made without her last season as she recovered from knee surgery put the Wildcats in position to become a Top 25 team. The Wildcats’ early victory over Iowa signaled they would be a contender in the Big 12. Then Lee got hurt again and the Wildcats took a bit of a step back. Lee is working her way back into basketball shape. But the good news for the Wildcats is that they have now cultivated frontcourt depth with Gisela Sanchez and Eliza Maupin, two players who can back up Lee capably and give the Wildcats something different when needed.
Prediction
Kansas State 68, West Virginia 66. WVU’s defense is a neutralizing force. But expect Lee to have a big game and help propel the Wildcats into the semifinals.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
