Bruins Begin 2024-25 at 13th-Ranked Kansas State Thursday Night

 
MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the second consecutive season, the Belmont University women's basketball team will begin its season at a power conference school. The Bruins will take on 13th-ranked Kansas State Thursday night at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas, to begin their 2024-25 campaign. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
The season opener will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Brian Smoller (play-by-play) and Missy Heidrick (analyst) on the call. Hannah Whetstone will be reporting from the sideline. The game can also be heard on Belmont Bruins Radio, available online, with Dr. Rich Tiner providing live play-by-play of the action. Live stats can be followed by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Last year, Belmont traveled to the University of Missouri to begin its season.
• In three of the Bruins' first four seasons under the direction of head coach Bart Brooks, Belmont took on top-25 opponents on the road – No. 22/21 Oklahoma in 2017-18, No. 17/16 NC State in 2018-19 and No. 11/12 Kentucky in 2020-21.
• The Bruins will go up against three teams who are ranked in the top 15 of both the preseason Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll within the first three weeks of the season. Belmont hosts No. 14/14 Ohio State on Nov. 17 and travels to No. 11/11 Duke on Nov. 21. Later in the season on Dec. 20, the Bruins head to No. 22/22 Kentucky.
• Belmont is the winningest program in the state of Tennessee over the last 10 seasons, having claimed 237 victories with a winning percentage of .731.
• The Bruins have made six of the last eight NCAA Tournaments and reached the Round of 32 back-to-back years in 2022 and 2021.
• Only nine other programs have also won 20-plus games for nine-straight seasons – UConn, Stanford, Baylor, South Carolina, Iowa, NC State, Indiana, South Dakota State and Florida Gulf Coast.
• Belmont (11) is one of only five teams in the nation to have won more than 10 combined conference championships, regular season and tournament, over the last eight seasons. UConn (16), Florida Gulf Coast (14), South Carolina (11) and Princeton (10) are the other four.
• The Bruins have won the 16th-most games of any NCAA Division I women's basketball program (1,083).
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for nine consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.
• The Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls eight of the last nine seasons.
• Last season, Belmont went 26-9 to secure its most wins in a season since 2018-19. Going 17-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Bruins finished second in their second year in the Valley.
• Belmont capped its 2023-24 season by claiming its third national postseason victory in four years with a 77-59 road win at Ball State in the first-ever Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) game.
• Returning starters Tuti Jones, Kendal Cheesman and Jailyn Banks, all of whom were All-MVC Third Team selections last year and were named Preseason All-MVC Second Team, are three of eight returning letter winners for the Bruins.
• Belmont has a great mix of experience and youth in 2024-25 with fifth-year graduate guard Jones, senior forward Cheesman and graduate transfers Jacee Busick (Charlotte) and Kendall Holmes (South Dakota/DePaul) providing plenty of starting knowledge. Busick and Holmes begin their Bruin careers with a combined 1,382 points and 150 Division I starts.
• Over the summer, Belmont also welcomed a trio of talented freshmen with guard Quinn Eubank (Union, Ky.), forward Hilary Fuller (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) and guard Sanaa Tripp (Covington, Ga.) arriving in the Music City.
• Entering his eighth season at the helm, coach Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats for the second consecutive year.
• On Nov. 29, 2023, Brooks picked up his 150th win in less than 200 career games with the Bruins' 72-68 victory at Troy. He has led Belmont to a remarkable record of 172-55 (.758) and the Bruins are an astonishing 114-15 (.884) in conference games under his leadership.
• In conference tournament games, Brooks has gone 15-3 and he is 4-1 in championship contests. In the key months of February and March under Brooks' direction, Belmont has gone 79-14 (.849).
• The Bruins were picked third in the MVC Preseason Poll as voted upon by the league's head coaches, media members and communications contacts but garnered a trio of first-place votes. Belmont has finished first or second in its conference each of the last nine seasons.
• After finishing last season 18th in the national mid-major poll, the Bruins are ranked 15th in the preseason CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• Belmont annually plays one of the best non-conference schedules in the country and this season is no different. The Bruins will take on six, and possibly seven, power conference programs this year. Combined with its MVC slate, Belmont will face no fewer than 10 teams who won 20 or more games last season and go up against nine programs who finished in the top 100 of the final 2023-24 NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
• Additionally, the Bruins will see no less than 12 national postseason teams from a year ago, including six who reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
• Former Belmont cross country and track and field assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Kate Bucknam is K-State's head cross country coach. During Bucknam's time leading the Bruins' women's distance squad, Belmont won both an MVC and Ohio Valley Conference Women's Cross Country Championship.

?? | Graduate guard @tutijones3 and HC @BartABrooks preview Thursday's season opener at nationally-ranked Kansas State ????#ItsBruinTime | #Splashville pic.twitter.com/KmECyDl85U

— Belmont WBasketball (@BelmontWBB) November 5, 2024

Versus Kansas State

• Thursday night will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Against the Big 12

• The Bruins are 4-10 all-time against current Big 12 Conference opponents. All four of Belmont's wins have come against recent Big 12 addition UCF. Brooks' first game as the Bruins' leader was at nationally-ranked Oklahoma (Nov. 10, 2017). Belmont has also faced Cincinnati three times prior to the Bearcats joining the Big 12.

About the Wildcats

• K-State is the preseason favorite in the Big 12 and began its season Monday morning with a dominant 92-45 home victory over formidable mid-major Green Bay.
• The Wildcats (1-0) went 26-8 overall last year and were 13-5 in the Big 12 with a 16-2 record at Bramlage Coliseum. Finishing the season ranked 19th in the AP Top 25 and 18th in the USA Today Sports/WBCA Coaches Poll, K-State was a No. 4 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament where the Wildcats reached the second round before bowing out to No. 5 seed Colorado.
• Led by 11th-year head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State features 6-foot-6 graduate center Ayoka Lee, who has been named to multiple national award preseason watch lists and is a preseason All-American. With over 2,200 career points and 1,100 rebounds, Lee is averaging 19.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game for her career one game into her fifth season. As a junior, she scored over 700 points and set the Division I single-game scoring record with a 61-point outing in a win over Oklahoma.
• Like Lee, senior 6-foot-2 guard Serena Sundell was also named to the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time. With over 1,200 career points and 550 assists, Sundell has averaged double-figure scoring and at least 5.0 assists in each of her first three seasons.
• Senior 6-foot-2 forward Temira Poindexter, a transfer from Tulsa, is a Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award Preseason Watch List member after earning WBCA All-America honorable mention recognition last season. She scored over 1,500 points in three seasons for the Golden Hurricane.

Up Next
The Bruins remain in the state of Kansas and travel to Wichita State Saturday. Tipoff from Charles Koch Arena in Wichita is set for 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Next Thursday, Nov. 14, Belmont hosts Kennesaw State at the Curb Event Center for its home opener.
 
Ticket Info
Season tickets are on sale now for $199 per seat and include all women's and men's basketball home games.
 
View available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2024-25 season are also on sale and can be purchased here.
 
For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.
 
How to Follow
Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on X, formerly Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.