SE: Last Year’s Road Trips Set Up Success for Goth, Williams this Season for K-State WBB
Mar 21, 2018 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
As road trip roommates last season, K-State's Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth figured out a lot about each other last season.
Within the many hotel rooms they shared, the two found expected differences but also some similarities that began a unique friendship. The strong chemistry developed since then has allowed them to become one of the best scoring tandems in K-State history.
Williams, a sophomore, and Goth, a junior, are the eighth duo in school history to score 1,000 or more points in a season. With 1,050 points currently, they rank seventh on K-State's single-season list and could pass Nicole Ohlde and Kendra Wecker's 2003-04 season (1,063) when the Wildcats (18-15) take on UC Davis (27-6) in the third round of the Postseason WNIT at Bramlage Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m.
"We lean on each other a lot," Goth (568 points in 2017-18) said of her relationship with Williams (482 points). "I think rooming with her on the road developed our friendship a little bit more. We'll hang out off the court now, where as before we probably wouldn't have. Just trying to get that chemistry, both on and off the court, is big for a relationship like that."
Before they could lean on each other, the two Wildcats had to first learn about one another.
As expected, there were differences.
Williams, who came in a year after Goth, is a 6-foot-4 forward who also plays volleyball at K-State. Of K-State's top two scorers, Goth admits Williams is the much more creative and nerdy one.
"Any trivia game, I would pick Peyton to be on my team. She knows a bunch of random little facts but she's also, when it comes to school, one of the smartest on our team," Goth said of Williams, who once organized a theatrical re-enactment of a scene from the show, "The Office," for a class project in high school. "There's a very broad range of what she's interested in. Last year when we roomed together, she would sing anything from classical to today's hip-hop in the shower. She's got a lot of different angles."
Goth, at 6-foot-1, grew up in Wisconsin and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Williams said, without a doubt, Goth is the tougher piece of the duo.
"She's endured countless injuries and she's always the one to kind of push through. I'm not like that. I really admire her for that. I think that makes her one of the best leaders on the team. I'm definitely not that way, not as tough as she is, for sure," Williams said of Goth, who has overcome major injuries to her knee and shoulder. "She's just a strong person, and I always admire that in her, 100 percent."
While their differences helped Williams and Goth understand one another, their similarities successfully propelled them into much larger roles this season.
"They're both pretty intelligent players. Both, I think, are realistic in their thought process. They're trusting players, so if we tell them they can do something, even if they don't quite believe it, they're, like, 'Well, Coach must see something in me that I can do this,'" K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said of his All-Big 12 duo. "Then they just put the work in. They're very much like players of the past, like a Kindred Wesemann. Their routine is very consistent day to day to get better."
Combined, the two averaged 9.5 points last season. Now, they account for 31.8 points a game — 46.8 percent of K-State's scoring — to go along with immeasurable leadership.
"Coach Mittie expected a lot from us this year, compared to last year, mainly in the scoring sense but also leadership-wise," Goth said. "Playing 35, 40 minute a game, you're kind of forced to be a leader on the team. You don't really have that opportunity to sit back and follow when you're playing that many minutes."
According to Stats, Inc., Goth and Williams are the only teammates in the nation this season to each increase their scoring average by at least 10 points a game from last season. It's also the first time in program history two players have boosted their scoring averages by double digits from one season to the next.
"Both of us are very driven people and very motivated people," Goth said of their shared improvement, which includes everything from a better feel for new positions — the point guard for Goth and the four-spot for Williams — to enhanced court vision and confidence.
Williams has added the 3-point shot to her game, hitting 14-of-45 (31 percent) for the year. She's also coming off back-to-back 20-plus point games — the first Wildcat to do so since Brittany Chambers — and has hit double figures in 10 of her last 11 outings.
On top of averaging 17.2 points and scoring in double figures 32 of 33 games this season, Goth has also dished out a Big 12-best 6.7 assists per game. Her offensive impact has allowed her to become the first Wildcat ever to record 500 or more points and 200 or more assists in a single season.
"They really never get too high or too low. That's probably more rare in players today. It's nice that we've had some of those in our program that have been a consistent force. They've kind of carried that forward," Mittie said of his go-to scorers. "You've seen it with their play. We know we can count on them each night to, at least, give us good, consistent looks at the basket and good, consistent team play."
Each individual improvement between Williams and Goth has buoyed their collective success. As a result, a youthful K-State squad has advanced to its first Round of 16 game of the WNIT since 2013.
"Trying to take those steps together, having someone to lean on helps. You can go to the seniors, you can go to coaches, but it helps when you have somebody so similar that's expected to do the same things that you are. She's definitely a sounding board and somebody to lean on," Goth said. "There's been multiple times where I'll text her after practice, ready to go absolutely insane, and she'll go, 'Nope, we're in the same boat. We're fine. We're going to go back into practice tomorrow and things are going to be better.'"
And to think, all of it started a year ago in random hotel rooms across the country.
"Getting to know each other and kind of figuring out that we weren't as different as maybe we had thought was really helpful," Williams said. "It was really helpful to get to know her outside of basketball and be around her in the moments where she's working on schoolwork and she's frustrated with accounting. You get to see that they work through problems in a similar way or maybe they work through this thing differently than I do, so, 'How can we complement each other?'
"Our success is tied together because we're both in this together and that's been our mindsets."
As road trip roommates last season, K-State's Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth figured out a lot about each other last season.
Within the many hotel rooms they shared, the two found expected differences but also some similarities that began a unique friendship. The strong chemistry developed since then has allowed them to become one of the best scoring tandems in K-State history.
Williams, a sophomore, and Goth, a junior, are the eighth duo in school history to score 1,000 or more points in a season. With 1,050 points currently, they rank seventh on K-State's single-season list and could pass Nicole Ohlde and Kendra Wecker's 2003-04 season (1,063) when the Wildcats (18-15) take on UC Davis (27-6) in the third round of the Postseason WNIT at Bramlage Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m.
"We lean on each other a lot," Goth (568 points in 2017-18) said of her relationship with Williams (482 points). "I think rooming with her on the road developed our friendship a little bit more. We'll hang out off the court now, where as before we probably wouldn't have. Just trying to get that chemistry, both on and off the court, is big for a relationship like that."
Before they could lean on each other, the two Wildcats had to first learn about one another.
As expected, there were differences.
Williams, who came in a year after Goth, is a 6-foot-4 forward who also plays volleyball at K-State. Of K-State's top two scorers, Goth admits Williams is the much more creative and nerdy one.
"Any trivia game, I would pick Peyton to be on my team. She knows a bunch of random little facts but she's also, when it comes to school, one of the smartest on our team," Goth said of Williams, who once organized a theatrical re-enactment of a scene from the show, "The Office," for a class project in high school. "There's a very broad range of what she's interested in. Last year when we roomed together, she would sing anything from classical to today's hip-hop in the shower. She's got a lot of different angles."
Goth, at 6-foot-1, grew up in Wisconsin and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Williams said, without a doubt, Goth is the tougher piece of the duo.
"She's endured countless injuries and she's always the one to kind of push through. I'm not like that. I really admire her for that. I think that makes her one of the best leaders on the team. I'm definitely not that way, not as tough as she is, for sure," Williams said of Goth, who has overcome major injuries to her knee and shoulder. "She's just a strong person, and I always admire that in her, 100 percent."
While their differences helped Williams and Goth understand one another, their similarities successfully propelled them into much larger roles this season.
"They're both pretty intelligent players. Both, I think, are realistic in their thought process. They're trusting players, so if we tell them they can do something, even if they don't quite believe it, they're, like, 'Well, Coach must see something in me that I can do this,'" K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said of his All-Big 12 duo. "Then they just put the work in. They're very much like players of the past, like a Kindred Wesemann. Their routine is very consistent day to day to get better."
Combined, the two averaged 9.5 points last season. Now, they account for 31.8 points a game — 46.8 percent of K-State's scoring — to go along with immeasurable leadership.
"Coach Mittie expected a lot from us this year, compared to last year, mainly in the scoring sense but also leadership-wise," Goth said. "Playing 35, 40 minute a game, you're kind of forced to be a leader on the team. You don't really have that opportunity to sit back and follow when you're playing that many minutes."
According to Stats, Inc., Goth and Williams are the only teammates in the nation this season to each increase their scoring average by at least 10 points a game from last season. It's also the first time in program history two players have boosted their scoring averages by double digits from one season to the next.
"Both of us are very driven people and very motivated people," Goth said of their shared improvement, which includes everything from a better feel for new positions — the point guard for Goth and the four-spot for Williams — to enhanced court vision and confidence.
Williams has added the 3-point shot to her game, hitting 14-of-45 (31 percent) for the year. She's also coming off back-to-back 20-plus point games — the first Wildcat to do so since Brittany Chambers — and has hit double figures in 10 of her last 11 outings.
On top of averaging 17.2 points and scoring in double figures 32 of 33 games this season, Goth has also dished out a Big 12-best 6.7 assists per game. Her offensive impact has allowed her to become the first Wildcat ever to record 500 or more points and 200 or more assists in a single season.
"They really never get too high or too low. That's probably more rare in players today. It's nice that we've had some of those in our program that have been a consistent force. They've kind of carried that forward," Mittie said of his go-to scorers. "You've seen it with their play. We know we can count on them each night to, at least, give us good, consistent looks at the basket and good, consistent team play."
Each individual improvement between Williams and Goth has buoyed their collective success. As a result, a youthful K-State squad has advanced to its first Round of 16 game of the WNIT since 2013.
"Trying to take those steps together, having someone to lean on helps. You can go to the seniors, you can go to coaches, but it helps when you have somebody so similar that's expected to do the same things that you are. She's definitely a sounding board and somebody to lean on," Goth said. "There's been multiple times where I'll text her after practice, ready to go absolutely insane, and she'll go, 'Nope, we're in the same boat. We're fine. We're going to go back into practice tomorrow and things are going to be better.'"
And to think, all of it started a year ago in random hotel rooms across the country.
"Getting to know each other and kind of figuring out that we weren't as different as maybe we had thought was really helpful," Williams said. "It was really helpful to get to know her outside of basketball and be around her in the moments where she's working on schoolwork and she's frustrated with accounting. You get to see that they work through problems in a similar way or maybe they work through this thing differently than I do, so, 'How can we complement each other?'
"Our success is tied together because we're both in this together and that's been our mindsets."
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