MANHATTAN, Kan. (KStateSports.com) – Holding a 10-point lead at halftime on Sunday afternoon in front of 5,424 fans at Bramlage Coliseum, K-State women’s basketball stepped on the accelerator in the third quarter and downed Wisconsin, 75-57, to improve its record to 4-0 on the season.
Senior center and All-American candidate Ayoka Lee led four Wildcats in double figures with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting. With her point total, Lee passed Laurie Koehn (2001-05; 1,733) for fifth on the K-State career points list as her career total now stands at 1,749.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– K-State (4-0) throttled the Badgers in the first seven and a half minutes of the third quarter, as K-State outscored Wisconsin, 21-4, to build a 56-29 lead with 2:44 remaining and forcing Wisconsin to call two timeouts.
– During a 14-2 run midway through the third quarter, Lee scored six points, while Jaelyn Glenn added five. Glenn ended the day with 11 points including three connections from beyond the arc, four assists and three steals.
– K-State would end the third quarter with a 60-34 lead, outscoring Wisconsin in the frame, 25-9. For the quarter, K-State shot 64.7 percent (11-of-17), as seven players registered points.
– Wisconsin (3-1) would register 23 points in the fourth quarter by shooting 53.8 percent (7-of-13) to close the final margin to 18. The Badgers were led by Serah Williams with 22 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
– For the day, K-State made a season-high 11 three-pointers and shot a season-best 44.0 percent (11-of-25) from long range. The 11 three-pointers were made by six different players.
– The Wildcats forced Wisconsin into 19 turnovers, resulting in 30 points for K-State.
QUICK FACTS
– K-State is 2-1 in the series against Wisconsin. The Wildcats are 76-60 against current members of the Big Ten Conference. K-State has won four straight games against members of the Big Ten Conference.
– K-State head coach Jeff Mittie owns a career record of 622-362 (.632) and is 168-127 (.569) during his 10-seasons at K-State.
– K-State owns a record of 382-154 (.713) during its 36-seasons in Bramlage Coliseum. Head coach Jeff Mittie is 112-46 (.709) in home games with the Wildcats.
– K-State has won 23 straight non-conference home games dating back to December of 2020. Kansas State is 223-29 (.885) against non-conference foes, while Mittie is 69-8 (.896).
TEAM NOTES
– K-State’s starting five consisted of guards: Jaelyn Glenn, Serena Sundell, Brylee Glenn, Gabby Gregory and center Ayoka Lee. This was the fourth time this starting five has been used this season. This was the 91st career start for Lee, the 82nd collegiate career start and the 36th start at K-State for Gregory, the 73rd career start for Sundell, the 69th career start for Jaelyn Glenn and the 63rd career start for Brylee Glenn.
– The Wildcats held a 35-25 lead at halftime on Sunday. Under head coach Jeff Mittie, K-State is 132-17 (.886) when leading at halftime.
– K-State dished out a season-high 25 assists. This marked the most assists by the Wildcats since handing out 28 against Oklahoma on January 23, 2022.
– The 11 made 3-point field goals by K-State were the 33rd time the Wildcats have made 10 or more 3-pointers in the Mittie era (29-4).
PLAYER NOTES
– Lee recorded her 40th career game with 20 or more points. This was Lee’s 83rd career game with 10 or more points. Lee has scored in every game of her career (91 games).
– Brylee Glenn registered 11 points on Sunday, her 28th career game with 10 or more points and her first this season.
– Brylee Glenn tallied two connections from 3-point range on Sunday. This was her 13th career game with two or more 3-point field goals made.
– Gregory scored 10 points, her 71st career game with 10 or more points.
– Gregory dished out a career-high eight assists on Sunday. Her eight assists were the most by a Wildcat this season.
– Gregory tallied three connections from 3-point range on Sunday. This was her 56th career game with two or more 3-point field goals made.
– Jaelyn Glenn tallied three connections from 3-point range on Sunday. This was her 36th career game with two or more 3-point field goals made.
– Jaelyn Glenn finished with 11 points, her 32nd career game with 10 or more points.
– Jaelyn Glenn pocketed three steals on Sunday. This was her 41st career game with two or more steals.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
K-State Head Coach Jeff Mittie
On the Wildcats performance…
“I’ve said this numerous times. I think we’re going to be a work in progress and when you’re trying to play a lot of people and you’re trying to rotate them in you’re just going to have to be patient and live with some of that. I do think for stretches of the game it was really good. It’s good to see six different players hit threes, we hit 11 on the day, and we’re showing that we can win different ways. We’ll take a look at the film. There were some dry stretches in there where I didn’t like our awareness. But I think we’re going to kind of see the hills and valleys of this offense for a while and hopefully, we can just keep getting better in practice and games.”
On the points off turnovers…
“I think converting the turnovers was key. That’s an area that I haven’t felt like we have done well enough. I haven’t felt like we’ve run hungry or quick enough when we’ve gotten those turnovers. We did feel like some of the things they wanted to do offensively, there was a potential for some live ball turnovers out top that we could convert into points. So it was good to see us do that.”
On the rotation…
“I mean I have a good understanding in terms of where we’re at today. The rotation was tighter for Iowa, but we’ve got four games in seven days, so I wanted to get a look at some different things today. I feel bad that Imani Lester wasn’t able to play today because we need to get her on the floor to get some rotation. Hopefully, she’s feeling a little bit better and hopefully, she’ll be able to get back into practice tomorrow or Tuesday. She needs the reps, she sat out all last year. She’s a player that’s got a high ceiling. I think I was able to get some different rotations in there today to take a look at them. See how we could use them.”
On not letting the success distract them for future games…
“I think that every team and every player needs reminded of what they’ve done to be successful and don’t stop doing that. So many times in our world we reach a certain point and we reach success and we stop doing the things that made us successful. And I’ve referenced numerous times, this team has been in the gym more than any team I’ve coached here. They need to continue to do that. We saw six different players hit threes today that’s not by accident. They’re putting the work in, but it can be really easy to not put the work in if you get satisfied, so we got to stay hungry. Got to come in and have a great practice tomorrow and the next day before we step on that plane because we’ve got a lot of basketball coming quickly.”
FROM THE FLOOR
K-State Senior Center Ayoka Lee
On becoming more adjusted and established in the paint…
“Just like in our offense, we want it to flow well. I think I am trying to tie my posts up well with the guards, knowing when to look in. That’s the adjustment we’re trying to make.”
On outsourcing 25-9 in the third quarter…
“I think we were feeling really well and I think we’re taking advantage of a lot of opportunities. On both sides of the floor. We always emphasize the first five minutes coming out of halftime because we don’t want to let our opponents think that they can get back in the game, especially in the third quarter. We just flowed really well.”
On adjustments made this season…
“It definitely felt like a game by game thing. A couple weeks ago, we were playing teams that run a slow offense, and it’s not as hard to guard when we’re guarding guys every day in practice. In comparison to other teams like Iowa who want to run it in transition. It’s really just about continuing to improve in the areas that I may or may not be as confident in, and then continue to work game to game.”
K-State Senior Guard Gabby Gregory
On the first points this game…
“Great. I was just waiting for one to go too. I missed a few, and I made one so that’s okay.”
On momentum in the fourth quarter at Iowa..
“I’m not sure if I was coming off of that too confident, I had that one shot that was really good. I think I missed a lot of free throws, so I wasn’t feeling too hot. Once I hit that first three then I regained confidence.”
On her mentality as a shooter….
“I’ve been playing basketball a long time. I’ve put up a lot of shots, and I’ve worked really hard. Whenever I’m missing, I just think back to the work that I’ve put in and know that I deserve to make shots, because of just the shots that I have put up on my own. Not overthinking it too much, and just knowing that eventually it’s gonna fall.”
On being dominant with assists…
“Coach Mittie jumped at me there for a minute and really got on me. After that, I was just throwing it down to Ayoka and she scored so it’s pretty easy.”
K-State Junior Guard Jaelyn Glenn
On moving forward after the Iowa win…
“I felt like it was pretty easy. I just enjoyed getting back home. It was a good win for us and it was really exciting, but when the plane landed, we knew that we had to turn our focus to the next game coming up. That’s what Coach Mittie said to us as well. Waking up the next morning, I think all of our focus shifted to the next game, which is what we had to do so it was pretty easy.”
On the buzzer beater at the first quarter…
“I felt good coming off. Both of those two shots that I kind of like threw up. I think one was at the end of the shot clock. They both felt good coming off. I thought, ‘No, I don’t think those are gonna go in.’ It was exciting– I definitely didn’t expect it to be a swish, and to be that clean but I was like, ‘oh, that’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen."”
UP NEXT
K-State closes the month of November at the 2023 Clean Simple Eats Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida, at Hertz Arena. The Wildcats will open the event on Friday, November 24, as the Wildcats face Western Kentucky at 10 a.m. (CT).
All of K-State’s games can be seen on FloHoops (subscription required) and can be heard on the K-State Sports Network, on the K-State Sports app and on kstatesports.com.
