Kansas State women’s basketball head coach Jeff Mittie announced the non-conference schedule for the upcoming 2019-20 season on Tuesday. The Wildcats’ non-conference slate features six home games, a pair of games in the Junkanoo Jam in Bimini, Bahamas and a three-game road trip in mid-December that is capped with a matchup against 2019 NCAA Final Four participant, Oregon.
K-State’s 2019-20 non-conference schedule includes five games against teams that reached the postseason in 2019-20, including two teams that played in the NCAA Tournament (Oregon and Michigan State).
The Wildcats will open the 2019-20 season with a pair of exhibition games beginning on Tuesday, October 29, against Washburn. The Wildcats conclude their 2019-20 season tune-up against Fort Hays State on Friday, November 1.
Kansas State will officially begin the season with a four-game home stand. This is the longest home stand to begin a season for Kansas State since the 2010-11 season.
The home stretch starts on Friday, Nov. 8, against Omaha. This marks the second straight season Kansas State will open a season with Omaha. This is the first time in the 52-year history of the program that Kansas State will open consecutive seasons with the same opponent.
The Wildcats and Mavericks will meet for the sixth time, with K-State leading the series, 5-0. Omaha finished the 2018-19 season with a 8-21 overall record and a 2-14 mark in the Summit League.
The home stand continues on Monday, November 11, against UIC. This will be the third meeting between the Wildcats and Flames, in which UIC holds a 2-0 edge. This will be the first meeting since UIC downed the K-State, 61-60, on December 21, 1992. UIC, a member of the Horizon League, ended the 2018-19 season with a 3-26 overall record and a 1-17 record in the league.
Following a week of preparation, K-State returns to action against its second Summit League foe on Monday, November 18, against Oral Roberts. This is the ninth matchup between the schools, as K-State leads the series, 6-2. K-State has won four straight in the series, including a 53-47 win on December 14, 2014.
The Golden Eagles registered an 18-13 overall record in the 2018-19 season including a 10-6 mark in the Summit League.
Kansas State will complete its four-game home stand on Sunday, November 24, against UT Arlington. The Wildcats and Lady Mavericks will meet for the sixth time in the history of the series, including the fifth time under Mittie. K-State paces the series with a 5-0 mark, including a 70-56 win on December 6, 2017.
UT Arlington finished the 2018-19 season with a 24-8 overall record and a 15-3 record in the Sun Belt Conference. The Lady Mavericks claimed a share of the 2019 Sun Belt regular season title and reached the second round of the 2019 WNIT.
K-State will leave the friendly confines of Bramlage Coliseum for the first time on November 29 and 30 for the 17th annual Junkanoo Jam in Bimini, Bahamas. Kansas State, Memphis, LSU and Michigan State make up the Bimini Division of the event.
Kansas State is playing in the Junkanoo Jam for the first time since the 2013-14 season when K-State went 1-1 with a win over Virginia and a loss to SMU. Overall, Kansas State is 3-3 in the Thanksgiving weekend event.
The Wildcats will face Memphis on Friday, November 29, at 2 p.m. (CT), and will face either LSU or Michigan State on Saturday, November 30, at either 3:30 p.m. (CT), or 5:45 p.m. (CT).
The all-time series between K-State and Memphis is tied at two apiece. This will be the first meeting between the schools since the Wildcats downed the Tigers, 68-60 on November 22, 1996, in Manhattan. This is the first neutral site meeting in the series.
Memphis finished the 2018-19 season with an 11-20 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
In the series between Kansas State and LSU, K-State leads 4-2 with the last meeting coming on November 25, 2016, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands in the 2016 Paradise Jam.
LSU ended the 2018-19 season with a 16-13 overall record and a 7-9 mark in the Southeastern Conference.
Kansas State and Michigan State have met once, a 68-65 win by the Spartans on November 22, 2007, in the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico.
Michigan State reached the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans ended the season with a 21-12 overall record and a 9-9 record in the Big Ten Conference.
Fans interested in traveling to Bimini to support their team at the 2019 Junkanoo Jam can signed up for fan travel packages. Fan packages are available at www.basketballtravelers.com/fans.
Following the Junkanoo Jam, Kansas State will return to Bramlage Coliseum to face Incarnate Word on Tuesday, December 3. This will be the first meeting between the Wildcats and Cardinals.
K-State will put its five-game road winning streak on the line in three straight games before the holidays. The road stretch begins on Saturday, December 7, at Arkansas in the 2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge. K-State leads the series with the Razorbacks, 3-2, but Arkansas won the last meeting between the schools, 60-58, in Fayetteville on December 2, 2009.
Arkansas capped the 2018-19 season with a 22-15 overall record and a 6-10 record in the SEC. The Razorbacks reached the round of 16 in the 2019 WNIT.
The Wildcats’ continue its three-game road trip on Saturday, December 14, at UMKC. This will be the second meeting in the series since former K-State assistant coach Jacie Hoyt became the head coach of the Kangaroos and former All-Big 12 selection Kindred Wesemann became an assistant coach with the program.
Kansas State won the 2018 meeting between the schools, 61-50, on November 18, in Manhattan. K-State owns a 9-3 lead in the series and a 2-3 mark in games played in Kansas City. This is the first meeting in Kansas City between the schools since December 9, 2006.
UMKC finished the second season under Hoyt’s direction with a 16-15 overall record, including a 9-7 mark in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
K-State ends its three-game road trip before the holidays with a matchup at Oregon on Saturday, December 21. This is the second meeting between the Wildcats and Ducks, as Oregon registered a 79-69 win on December 10, 1999, in Springfield, Missouri.
Oregon notched a 33-5 overall record and 16-2 mark in the Pac 12. The Ducks advanced to the first Final Four in program history in 2019 and fell to eventual national champion, Baylor.
Prior to beginning the 23rd season of Big 12 action, K-State will face its second opponent from the WAC as Kansas State hosts UTRGV on Saturday, December 28, in Bramlage Coliseum. This will be the fourth meeting between the Wildcats and Vaqueros and the first since K-State secured a 61-43 win on December 7, 2015. K-State owns a 3-0 mark against UTRGV.
UTRGV finished the 2018-19 season with an 18-15 overall record and finished with a 10-6 mark in the WAC. The Vaqueros dropped an opening round game in the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) to North Texas.
Kansas State concluded the 2018-19 season with a 21-12 overall record and an appearance in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. This was the fifth straight season the Wildcats reached the postseason under the direction of Mittie.
K-State will return nine letter winners from the 2018-19 season for the 2019-20 season, led by the trio of senior Peyton Williams, junior Rachel Ranke and sophomore Christianna Carr. The Wildcats will also welcome in graduate transfer Angela Harris, redshirt freshman Ayoka Lee and freshmen Emma Chapman, Emilee Ebert and Jada Thorpe.
