The Rundown
- UCF continues its run in the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship with a matchup against No. 20/19 Kansas State in the second round Thursday, March 6 at noon.
- This will be the second matchup between the two teams this season, as the Wildcats came out on top, 97-67, in Manhattan, Kansas, February 15.
- Kansas is one in the Big 12 with a 48.7 field goal percentage and a 38.5 three point percentage.
- UCF tallies 19.18 free throw attempts per game, which ranks them third in the league.
Scouting Kansas State
- Kansas State enters the matchup with a 25-6 overall record and are 13-5 in the Big 12.
- Head coach Jeff Mittie is in his 33rd season as head coach, he currently holds a 669-376 overall record and boasts a 215-141 record in his 11th season with the Wildcats.
- The Wildcats have three players averaging double-digit points per game; Ayoka Lee (15.5), Serena Sundell (13.3), and Temira Poindexter (12.7). However, Lee will be sitting indefinitely following a foot injury in the team's matchup against Arizona State earlier this season.
- Sundell dominates the backcourt averaging 7.1 assists per game against only 3.0 turnovers per game. She also leads in scoring totaling 418 points in the regular season.
- Kennedy Taylor cleans up around the rim for the Wildcats tallying 146 rebounds on the season, averaging 4.7 per game.
A Win Would…
- Improve the Knights to 13-17 on the season
- Give UCF its first win against Kansas State
- Advance the Knights to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship
- Be better than a loss
Knights Advance
- UCF came out victorious against BYU in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship to advance to the second round for the first time in program history.
- Four Knights scored in double digits to propel them to an 81-69 win over the No. 12 seed.
- Kaitlin Peterson led the squad with 35 points while Emely Rodriguez (15), Khyala Ngodu (12) and Achol Akot (10) each recorded double digits in scoring.
Big 12 Awards
- Two Knights were tabbed with Big 12 honors to end the regular season, marking the first time since the Black and Gold joined the Big 12
- Kaitlin Peterson was named honorable mention, averaging 21.4 points this season which ranks her second in the Big 12.
- Emely Rodriguez garnered All-Big 12 Freshman team recognition with 11.7 points per game.
Young Talent
- The Knights feature the youngest teams in the Big 12 with four freshmen in the regular rotation on the court.
- The quartet of Adeang Ring, Emely Rodriguez, Summer Yancy and Mahogany Chandler-Roberts all have played at least 18 games this season.
- Rodriguez is having a stellar freshman season with 24 games played and has earned the starting nod 18 times along with earning Big 12 Freshman of the Week on November 25.
- Ring has stepped up recently earning a career-high 12 points against Oklahoma State (1/18). She has played in 22 games this season.
- Yancy has played in 20 games this season, as she missed seven games due to an injury in the middle of season.
- Chandler-Roberts has played in 28 games this season and has earned the starting nod nine times.
Back-to-Back 20-plus
- Nevaeh Brown has stepped it up on the court recording back-to-back 20-plus point games.
- Against Iowa State, Brown tallied 23 points and went 3-6 from beyond the arc.
- In the most recent matchup against Baylor, the North Carolina native tied her career-high with 25 points and went a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line to tie the school record.
Big 12 Weekly Awards Sweep
- For the first time in UCF women’s basketball history, the Knights swept the Big 12 conference awards with Kaitlin Peterson earning Player of the Week and Emely Rodriguez tabbed Freshman of the Week (11/25).
- Peterson tallied 79 points over three games with an average of 26.3 points per game.
- In the Nov. 22 matchup against SIUE, Peterson tied her career high by recording 35 points, going 3-5 from beyond the arc and 11-17 from the field.
- The Eufaula, Alabama, native tallied her 30th double-digit game at UCF on Sunday when she scored 21 points.
- Rodriguez recorded another strong week in her rookie season with 35 points over three games.
- The La Romana, Dominican Republic, native tied her career high with 18 points in the Knights' 80-55 win against Florida A&M on Sunday.
- The freshman currently averages 13.5 points per game and is ranked first among freshmen in the Big 12 in scoring.
1K Points Club
- Kaitlin Peterson and Nevaeh Brown both surpassed 1,000 career points this season.
- Peterson eclipsed 1,000 career points against BYU (2/5), she made 945 of those points as a Knight in the past two seasons.
- This season Peterson has put up 30+ points on four occasions.
- Brown tallied her 1,000th career point against Arizona State on Feb. 12, assisting the Knights to an 85-76 win.
80-plus Magic
- Since Messer took over as head coach in the 2022-23 season, UCF is 11-1 (0.917) when scoring 80 or more points in a game.
- The Knights have recorded eight 80-plus point games this season, the last time this was achieved was in the 1995-96 season where they grabbed nine under head coach Jerry Richardson in the A-Sun conference.
- Messer is the fifth coach in program history to document a season with at least eight 80-plus point games.
- The Black and Gold tallied a season-high 93 points against Texas Southern on Dec. 7. This marks the fifth 90-plus point win game for Messer, the fourth most in program history behind Beverley Knight (8), Joe Sanchez (8), and Nancy Little (6).
- Messer got her first 100-plus point win in the 2023-24 season opener against Bethune-Cookman winning 101-63.
Strong Start
- The Knights 76-44 victory over Iona on Nov. 5 marked the seventh consecutive season opener victory for the Black and Gold.
- Since Coach Messer took over the program in 2022, the Knights have started out the season at home and are 3-0 in home openers in the Messer era.
- In Messer’s first year at the helm for UCF, she led her team to a 6-0 start which then marked the best start since the 7-0 start during the 1984-85 season.
- In just her second season, she broke the record with an 8-0 start to etch history into the record books with the best start in program history.
Rising to the Top
- Kaitlin Peterson once again leads the Knights in scoring with 21.4 points per game and is ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and 13th in the NCAA.
- Peterson has recorded double-digits in points in the past 11 consecutive games.
- She recorded a career-high 39 points at Texas Southern (12/7), which ranks 19th in the NCAA.
- She has recorded 24 games in double digits this season and reached 35-plus points on three occasions.
- The senior had a stellar debut season (23-24) for the Knights, as she led the Big 12 with 20.7 points per game.
- The Eufaula, Alabama native was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, marking the first Knight to earn a Big 12 award in their inaugural season in the Big 12.
- Peterson surpassed 500 points at Oklahoma State (Feb. 21), as she recorded 599 points last season and ranked 19th in the NCAA for points per game.
- She scored double digits in 27 of UCF’s 28 games last season and reached 20 points on 15 occasions.
Crashing the Boards
- Achol Akot is first on the team with 6.9 rebounds and ranks 10th in the Big 12.
- Akot recorded a double-double against Stetson (11/16) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- The sophomore has tallied three double-doubles this season, which leads the team.