Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament Kansas State vs. Texas Preview
Here is everything you need to know about Kansas State and Texas in our Wildcats vs. Longhorns Big 12 Tournament women’s basketball semifinal preview.
Game 11: No. 3 Kansas State (25-6) vs. No. 2 Texas (28-4)
Time, TV: 4 p.m. CT Monday, ESPN2
Location: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO
Season series (Tied 1-1): Kansas State def. Texas, 61-58 (at Manhattan, Kan.); Texas def. Kansas State, 61-54 (at Austin, Texas).
Winner: Advances to the Big 12 Championship Game on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Here is the full Big 12 women’s tournament schedule and results.
Projected starting lineups
Kansas State: C Ayoka Lee, G Brylee Glenn, G Serena Sundell, G Jaelyn Glenn, G Gabby Gregory
Texas: F Madison Booker, F Taylor Jones, F Aaliyah Moore, G Shay Holle, G Shaylee Gonzales.
Players to watch
Kansas State
C Ayoka Lee
Lee looks free again, physically speaking, after the injury and surgery that sidelined her for seven games earlier this season. She played nearly the entire first half against West Virginia and was dominant, finishing with 22 points, 11 reboundss and three blocks. She did fight foul trouble in the second half, and the easiest way to slow her down is to get her off the floor. The other way to try and neutralize her is to make her defend a stretch forward who takes her out of the paint and opens the floor for the rest of the opponent. But Lee is as smart a defender as she is an offensive player.
Texas
G Shay Holle
In the first two minutes of the fourth quarter Holle changed the entire complexion of Texas’ quarterfinal game with Kansas. She hit two 3-pointers and a mid-range jumper and put together her own 8-0 run to give Texas the lead for good. Head coach Vic Schaefer calls Holle his “glue player,” and that’s accurate. Each of the past three seasons Holle has gone from the bench to the starting lineup and helped Texas accomplish great things. This postseason could be no different for the senior guard and her team.
Key storylines
Kansas State
Lee’s return this season underscored the progress that teammates like Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn and Jaelyn Glenn made without her last season as she recovered from knee surgery. All of that put the Wildcats in position to be a Top 25 team once they beat Iowa in Iowa City in the season’s second week. Lee’s injury this season was a minor set-back, even as Kansas State lost its Big 12 lead. Both Eliza Maupin and Gisela Sanchez showed they were reliable forward who could fill in for Lee when she couldn’t play. Add in Zyanna Walker and Taryn Sides and this is as deep a team as coach Jeff Mittie has ever had and one that could do real damage in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas
In spite of losing Rori Harmon, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, Texas put together a season that should make them a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, a Big 12 Tournament title might allow them to sneak onto the No. 1 seed line. Only a pair of losses to Oklahoma kept Texas from winning the Big 12 regular season title on its way out the door to the SEC. Along with Booker’s revelatory play, Texas has gotten fine seasons out of Taylor Jones, Aaliyah Moore and Shaylee Gonzales. DeYona Gaston, a one-time starter, has gone back to the bench and given the Longhorns valuable minutes.
Prediction
Texas 71, Kansas State 69. Both games have been close. Texas has the size to match up with Lee and I’m not certain who on Kansas State’s team will slow down Booker. That will end up being the difference.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
