SE: Goth Looks to Provide Top-Level Leadership Along with Point Guard Production
Nov 12, 2018 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Kayla Goth was having a great 2017-18 season. It was one where she would go on to set career highs in every statistical category, including an 11.7-point increase in her scoring average, and become the first K-State women's basketball player to record at least 500 points and 200 assists.
As a point guard, from a production standpoint, K-State really couldn't ask for much more from Goth. As a leader? That's another story.
"I'm going to be honest," Goth said at K-State's media day, "I was awful."
Fast forward a year, and Goth's self-evaluation of her leadership abilities last season is vastly different with how others view them now.
"You want to follow her," sophomore guard Rachel Ranke said. "She's a communicator and she's committed. She puts a lot of sacrifice into her game, so just looking at her makes you want to be better."
"I feel like she's done an amazing job being a leader," added freshman guard Christianna Carr. "She addresses us in more of a helpful manner to help you understand it more, and she makes it very open for you to come talk to her about anything. I really respect that."
Goth, by most accounts, is both extremely competitive and blunt. She's going to do everything in her power to win, and she's not afraid to speak her mind to someone she thinks is getting in the way of that, or simply not doing enough. This fiery approach has been a catalyst in her success as a player. At times last year, however, it got in her way when trying to lead.
"Through fatigue, I got mad really easily, whether I was frustrated with myself and I took it out on my teammates, or I was frustrated with myself and I took it out on Coach (Jeff) Mittie," she said. "That was something where we had to talk about it a lot and figure out how to handle that."
Mittie characterized it similarly.
"Her tolerance level for mistakes was not very good. She'd (get) too emotional about things during games," he said. "I joked last year that she'd come over (during timeouts) just ranting and raving, and I'd watch her in the huddle, watch her temperature lower, then I could go in and have an adult conversation with her, to some extent."
The boiling point, as Goth looked back, came after K-State lost at Oklahoma in a game where nothing seemed to go right. She scored 10 points, her second-lowest total of the season and lowest in conference play. The Wildcats lost by 19.
The next day, Goth said A.J. Kloss, the team's strength and conditioning coach, sat her down. Blunt person to blunt person, he told her what she needed to hear.
"You're not very coachable right now," he started, as Goth recalls. "Yes, you're scoring, you're getting all of those assists, you're having a great season, statistically, but leadership-wise you're not meeting the bar."
Hearing this, Goth said, was a wake-up call of sorts. In her first season at point guard, she knew she was getting frustrated a lot, "but I didn't know it was as bad as it was."
"There were plays I would make in a game where I would think I was right and so I wouldn't listen to Coach Mittie. I definitely went through all of that and that was kind of part of me stepping into that leadership role and just not doing it very well," Goth said, laughing. "But I can take all of those experiences now and do it better this season."
This season, Goth's last for K-State, starts at home against Omaha on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Goth enters it as one of the top returning point guards in the country. She's one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given out annually to the nation's top point guard.
Goth's production on the floor will obviously be vital to K-State's mission to return to the NCAA Tournament. Her leadership, however, may be just as important for a team with six newcomers and four freshmen. Thankfully, it's an area she's much more confident in and cognizant of how to handle now.
"I think I've gotten a lot better," she said. "I'm just trying to keep that more positive mindset. Basketball's a game of mistakes and whoever makes less mistakes wins the game, so I'm trying to stay positive through it, trying to talk to myself a little bit more, talk myself through it. I still get frustrated pretty easily but I'm definitely learning to handle it a little bit better."
Mittie agreed.
"She's competitive, you love that part of her fire. It matters to her. She takes pride in her craft, and I love that about her," Mittie said. "She's learned to control those emotions better, and she's learned to do it with her teammates much, much better. I think she's got a real chance to be a special leader."
K-State MBB Starts Season Where it Left Off: With Strong Defense
K-State's defense carried it to the Elite Eight last March. On Friday night, the Wildcats used a stingy defensive effort to start the 2018-19 campaign off with a 56-41 win over Kennesaw State at Bramlage Coliseum.
The last time K-State held an opponent to fewer points in a season opener at home they were playing in Ahearn Field House. K-State held Northern Iowa to 38 points on December 1, 1979.
"We were really good. We said we have to be tenacious defensively, we have to be the best defensive team in the country; I really believe we can do that," said K-State head coach Bruce Weber, whose Wildcat teams are now 63-7 when holding opponents under 60 points. "I think we have pride, the coaches do a great job, we have older guys with (good) habits, and we have defensive stoppers. That's got to be our constant."
K-State limited the Owls to just 14 points in the second half, which included them shooting 21.4 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. Kennesaw State also turned it over 21 times on the night, which K-State turned into 20 points.
"It starts off with defense," K-State senior Dean Wade said, as K-State hosts Denver on Monday at 8 p.m. "You get a couple stops, run outs, and easy layups, and it spreads the defense, gets you easy baskets and everyone's confidence up. So, it all starts on the defensive end."
Kayla Goth was having a great 2017-18 season. It was one where she would go on to set career highs in every statistical category, including an 11.7-point increase in her scoring average, and become the first K-State women's basketball player to record at least 500 points and 200 assists.
As a point guard, from a production standpoint, K-State really couldn't ask for much more from Goth. As a leader? That's another story.
"I'm going to be honest," Goth said at K-State's media day, "I was awful."
Fast forward a year, and Goth's self-evaluation of her leadership abilities last season is vastly different with how others view them now.
"You want to follow her," sophomore guard Rachel Ranke said. "She's a communicator and she's committed. She puts a lot of sacrifice into her game, so just looking at her makes you want to be better."
"I feel like she's done an amazing job being a leader," added freshman guard Christianna Carr. "She addresses us in more of a helpful manner to help you understand it more, and she makes it very open for you to come talk to her about anything. I really respect that."
Goth, by most accounts, is both extremely competitive and blunt. She's going to do everything in her power to win, and she's not afraid to speak her mind to someone she thinks is getting in the way of that, or simply not doing enough. This fiery approach has been a catalyst in her success as a player. At times last year, however, it got in her way when trying to lead.
"Through fatigue, I got mad really easily, whether I was frustrated with myself and I took it out on my teammates, or I was frustrated with myself and I took it out on Coach (Jeff) Mittie," she said. "That was something where we had to talk about it a lot and figure out how to handle that."
Mittie characterized it similarly.
"Her tolerance level for mistakes was not very good. She'd (get) too emotional about things during games," he said. "I joked last year that she'd come over (during timeouts) just ranting and raving, and I'd watch her in the huddle, watch her temperature lower, then I could go in and have an adult conversation with her, to some extent."
The boiling point, as Goth looked back, came after K-State lost at Oklahoma in a game where nothing seemed to go right. She scored 10 points, her second-lowest total of the season and lowest in conference play. The Wildcats lost by 19.
The next day, Goth said A.J. Kloss, the team's strength and conditioning coach, sat her down. Blunt person to blunt person, he told her what she needed to hear.
"You're not very coachable right now," he started, as Goth recalls. "Yes, you're scoring, you're getting all of those assists, you're having a great season, statistically, but leadership-wise you're not meeting the bar."
Hearing this, Goth said, was a wake-up call of sorts. In her first season at point guard, she knew she was getting frustrated a lot, "but I didn't know it was as bad as it was."
"There were plays I would make in a game where I would think I was right and so I wouldn't listen to Coach Mittie. I definitely went through all of that and that was kind of part of me stepping into that leadership role and just not doing it very well," Goth said, laughing. "But I can take all of those experiences now and do it better this season."
This season, Goth's last for K-State, starts at home against Omaha on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Goth enters it as one of the top returning point guards in the country. She's one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given out annually to the nation's top point guard.
Goth's production on the floor will obviously be vital to K-State's mission to return to the NCAA Tournament. Her leadership, however, may be just as important for a team with six newcomers and four freshmen. Thankfully, it's an area she's much more confident in and cognizant of how to handle now.
"I think I've gotten a lot better," she said. "I'm just trying to keep that more positive mindset. Basketball's a game of mistakes and whoever makes less mistakes wins the game, so I'm trying to stay positive through it, trying to talk to myself a little bit more, talk myself through it. I still get frustrated pretty easily but I'm definitely learning to handle it a little bit better."
Mittie agreed.
"She's competitive, you love that part of her fire. It matters to her. She takes pride in her craft, and I love that about her," Mittie said. "She's learned to control those emotions better, and she's learned to do it with her teammates much, much better. I think she's got a real chance to be a special leader."
K-State MBB Starts Season Where it Left Off: With Strong Defense
K-State's defense carried it to the Elite Eight last March. On Friday night, the Wildcats used a stingy defensive effort to start the 2018-19 campaign off with a 56-41 win over Kennesaw State at Bramlage Coliseum.
The last time K-State held an opponent to fewer points in a season opener at home they were playing in Ahearn Field House. K-State held Northern Iowa to 38 points on December 1, 1979.
"We were really good. We said we have to be tenacious defensively, we have to be the best defensive team in the country; I really believe we can do that," said K-State head coach Bruce Weber, whose Wildcat teams are now 63-7 when holding opponents under 60 points. "I think we have pride, the coaches do a great job, we have older guys with (good) habits, and we have defensive stoppers. That's got to be our constant."
K-State limited the Owls to just 14 points in the second half, which included them shooting 21.4 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. Kennesaw State also turned it over 21 times on the night, which K-State turned into 20 points.
"It starts off with defense," K-State senior Dean Wade said, as K-State hosts Denver on Monday at 8 p.m. "You get a couple stops, run outs, and easy layups, and it spreads the defense, gets you easy baskets and everyone's confidence up. So, it all starts on the defensive end."
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