SE: K-State WBB Ready to Show Improvement Coming Out of Finals, Long Break Between Games
Dec 15, 2017 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
The stress of finals week can be a lot for any student-athlete to manage, especially when practices, workouts and film sessions are thrown in. With this in mind, K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie commended his team's ability to juggle responsibilities during this strenuous week.
"Finals week is a challenge but every school in the country is going through that. It's really how we manage it. I think they've come in, got their work done," he said. "We've tried to practice hard but we've also tried to rest them, so hopefully we'll come out of this well. I think we've come in with pretty good focus.
"Our group has handled it solidly."
For K-State's five freshmen, going through their first round of finals as a student-athlete, this week can be especially trying. Again, the Wildcats have made the most of the handful of hectic days.
"It's definitely different," K-State senior Shaelyn Martin said of this week. "They're not used to going into finals and having practice and having a different schedule this past week, but I think they've done a good job of controlling that balance."
"There's a lot going on," added junior guard Kayla Goth, "so understanding what it takes and understanding what finals week is, those are definitely areas they've taken strides in."
K-State, which hosts Little Rock (3-6) on Saturday at 2 p.m., last played on December 6, when they defeated UT Arlington, 70-56. Since then, the Wildcats (6-2) have been prepping for tests and using a lengthy gap between games to fine tune some specific areas.
"We definitely utilized the off time to get ready for finals and also to get our bodies right. We're coming in, getting a lot in, and kind of getting that balance with academics and athletics right now, which is really important finishing off the semester," Martin said, as the Wildcats will host Chicago State on Monday and Northern Iowa on Thursday to close out its non-conference schedule. "We're coming up to a big stretch where we have three games really close together, so our focus has to be really locked in."
Goth agreed.
"This 10-day stretch was really valuable for us to understand what we we're doing well at, minimally," she said, "and then what we need to improve on, like now, and what needs to get better right now."
During this lengthy break between games, K-State narrowed its focus to a few items to work on. Namely, pace and rebounding.
In terms of pace, Mittie said he wants to see better starts to games. The Wildcats have been outscored in the first quarter for five-straight games, a trend he hopes to reverse before Big 12 play begins on December 28, against Baylor.
"The pace with which we play, I've been a little concerned about that. I haven't been happy with our starts the last couple games," he said. "Those have been some things that we've tried to address."
Rebounding-wise, Goth said the team has showed improvement but still has a ways to go.
"Rebounding has been a big one," said Goth, whose team has been outrebounded by an average of 4.1 boards per game. "It's definitely not where it needs to be, but we focused on our (posts) boxing out and our guards rebounding down quite a bit because that's really where we struggle. Our bigs are usually the ones with all the boards when we do have good rebounding games, so our guards definitely need to rebound down. Rachel (Ranke), Cymone (Goodrich) and me are definitely improving in that area."
The stress of finals week can be a lot for any student-athlete to manage, especially when practices, workouts and film sessions are thrown in. With this in mind, K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie commended his team's ability to juggle responsibilities during this strenuous week.
"Finals week is a challenge but every school in the country is going through that. It's really how we manage it. I think they've come in, got their work done," he said. "We've tried to practice hard but we've also tried to rest them, so hopefully we'll come out of this well. I think we've come in with pretty good focus.
"Our group has handled it solidly."
For K-State's five freshmen, going through their first round of finals as a student-athlete, this week can be especially trying. Again, the Wildcats have made the most of the handful of hectic days.
"It's definitely different," K-State senior Shaelyn Martin said of this week. "They're not used to going into finals and having practice and having a different schedule this past week, but I think they've done a good job of controlling that balance."
"There's a lot going on," added junior guard Kayla Goth, "so understanding what it takes and understanding what finals week is, those are definitely areas they've taken strides in."
K-State, which hosts Little Rock (3-6) on Saturday at 2 p.m., last played on December 6, when they defeated UT Arlington, 70-56. Since then, the Wildcats (6-2) have been prepping for tests and using a lengthy gap between games to fine tune some specific areas.
"We definitely utilized the off time to get ready for finals and also to get our bodies right. We're coming in, getting a lot in, and kind of getting that balance with academics and athletics right now, which is really important finishing off the semester," Martin said, as the Wildcats will host Chicago State on Monday and Northern Iowa on Thursday to close out its non-conference schedule. "We're coming up to a big stretch where we have three games really close together, so our focus has to be really locked in."
Goth agreed.
"This 10-day stretch was really valuable for us to understand what we we're doing well at, minimally," she said, "and then what we need to improve on, like now, and what needs to get better right now."
During this lengthy break between games, K-State narrowed its focus to a few items to work on. Namely, pace and rebounding.
In terms of pace, Mittie said he wants to see better starts to games. The Wildcats have been outscored in the first quarter for five-straight games, a trend he hopes to reverse before Big 12 play begins on December 28, against Baylor.
"The pace with which we play, I've been a little concerned about that. I haven't been happy with our starts the last couple games," he said. "Those have been some things that we've tried to address."
Rebounding-wise, Goth said the team has showed improvement but still has a ways to go.
"Rebounding has been a big one," said Goth, whose team has been outrebounded by an average of 4.1 boards per game. "It's definitely not where it needs to be, but we focused on our (posts) boxing out and our guards rebounding down quite a bit because that's really where we struggle. Our bigs are usually the ones with all the boards when we do have good rebounding games, so our guards definitely need to rebound down. Rachel (Ranke), Cymone (Goodrich) and me are definitely improving in that area."
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