SE: K-State WBB Takes Step Forward with Six-Straight Big 12 Road Win
Jan 13, 2020 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Winter break is an opportunity K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie knew his team needed to take advantage of. The Wildcats' 76-72 win at Texas Tech on Saturday provided evidence they have done so.
The roughly month-long span without classes, when Mittie's players can focus solely on basketball, is the last real chance for consecutive stretches of extensive practices during the season.
The Wildcats, who play two games a week the rest of the regular season, followed their last full week of uninterrupted practice — part of which was spent at the Athletic Performance Ranch in Fort Worth — with their sixth-straight Big 12 road win dating back to last year. It tied a school record.
"I thought it was better. Better, no doubt," Mittie said on his postgame radio show on Saturday, adding: "A lot better."
K-State (7-6, 1-1), which hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., was better in a number of areas.
For starters, Mittie said his team, which had lost six of nine coming into its Big 12 road opener, responded better to adversity. More specifically, he appreciated how his team reacted to some scoring runs from the Lady Raiders.
Texas Tech, which trailed K-State by nine early in the third quarter, went on an 8-0 run to cut its deficit to one. Then, Peyton Williams knocked in a jumper. Texas Tech nailed a trey in response to tie the game at 55. Then, Savannah Simmons answered with a triple five seconds before the third quarter ended.
K-State successfully countered a trio of Texas Tech runs in the fourth quarter, too.
The Lady Raiders scored the first four points of the final quarter to take a one-point lead, only to see Wildcat redshirt freshman center Ayoka Lee convert back-to-back buckets. Texas Tech scored another four unanswered points before K-State's graduate transfer point guard Angela Harris scored six-straight points in a 50-second stretch. The Lady Raiders put together one last push, a 5-0 run to tie the game at 65 with under four minutes left. Lee, however, took over with six of her 20 points in about a 90-second span.
"The ebbs and flows of conference play, there are going to be bad stretches, and we have not been a team that has handled those stretches very well," Mittie said. "Hopefully this is a big step forward for us to doing those things better."
K-State's responses were built on a trio of factors.
To start, Mittie said the Wildcats stuck to the game plan better. Namely, they kept feeding their frontcourt duo of Williams and Lee in the paint, even when things got rocky. The two combined for 41 points on 16-of-29 from the field, 17 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
"I was proud of our group for really executing down the stretch on a couple plays there were critical when they made big threes," Mittie said. "We showed good poise in going to our strength and not trying to answer with a three. Once again, I'll talk about steps forward. This is one we can build off of."
Harris also provided an eye-grabbing stat line. She scored 17 points — her third straight game in double-digits and her fifth in six games — while dishing out six assists, grabbing four rebounds and recording three steals.
"I really thought she had a good overall game," Mittie said. "Certainly, the two plays where she got inside for the two floaters were answer-type possessions. Tech mixes defenses up and that was a real challenge. It was a real challenge for our group, but I thought we recognized things much, much better today."
K-State's bench also played a key role.
About a week after producing zero points in a loss to No. 19/21 West Virginia, the Wildcat reserves combined for six points between an and-one from freshman Emilee Ebert in the second quarter and Simmons' three to close the third. Simmons also dished out four assists, part of K-State's six assists off the bench compared to only two turnovers. As a team, K-State recorded 18 assists, its most since posting 30 on December 3 against Incarnate World, to only eight turnovers, a season-low and its fewest since late last season.
"I thought the bench brought energy. They still are not scoring the ball, but let's start with energy first. Let's start with that," Mittie said. "They made plays."
Winter break is an opportunity K-State women's basketball head coach Jeff Mittie knew his team needed to take advantage of. The Wildcats' 76-72 win at Texas Tech on Saturday provided evidence they have done so.
The roughly month-long span without classes, when Mittie's players can focus solely on basketball, is the last real chance for consecutive stretches of extensive practices during the season.
The Wildcats, who play two games a week the rest of the regular season, followed their last full week of uninterrupted practice — part of which was spent at the Athletic Performance Ranch in Fort Worth — with their sixth-straight Big 12 road win dating back to last year. It tied a school record.
"I thought it was better. Better, no doubt," Mittie said on his postgame radio show on Saturday, adding: "A lot better."
K-State (7-6, 1-1), which hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., was better in a number of areas.
For starters, Mittie said his team, which had lost six of nine coming into its Big 12 road opener, responded better to adversity. More specifically, he appreciated how his team reacted to some scoring runs from the Lady Raiders.
Texas Tech, which trailed K-State by nine early in the third quarter, went on an 8-0 run to cut its deficit to one. Then, Peyton Williams knocked in a jumper. Texas Tech nailed a trey in response to tie the game at 55. Then, Savannah Simmons answered with a triple five seconds before the third quarter ended.
K-State successfully countered a trio of Texas Tech runs in the fourth quarter, too.
The Lady Raiders scored the first four points of the final quarter to take a one-point lead, only to see Wildcat redshirt freshman center Ayoka Lee convert back-to-back buckets. Texas Tech scored another four unanswered points before K-State's graduate transfer point guard Angela Harris scored six-straight points in a 50-second stretch. The Lady Raiders put together one last push, a 5-0 run to tie the game at 65 with under four minutes left. Lee, however, took over with six of her 20 points in about a 90-second span.
"The ebbs and flows of conference play, there are going to be bad stretches, and we have not been a team that has handled those stretches very well," Mittie said. "Hopefully this is a big step forward for us to doing those things better."
K-State's responses were built on a trio of factors.
To start, Mittie said the Wildcats stuck to the game plan better. Namely, they kept feeding their frontcourt duo of Williams and Lee in the paint, even when things got rocky. The two combined for 41 points on 16-of-29 from the field, 17 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
"I was proud of our group for really executing down the stretch on a couple plays there were critical when they made big threes," Mittie said. "We showed good poise in going to our strength and not trying to answer with a three. Once again, I'll talk about steps forward. This is one we can build off of."
Harris also provided an eye-grabbing stat line. She scored 17 points — her third straight game in double-digits and her fifth in six games — while dishing out six assists, grabbing four rebounds and recording three steals.
"I really thought she had a good overall game," Mittie said. "Certainly, the two plays where she got inside for the two floaters were answer-type possessions. Tech mixes defenses up and that was a real challenge. It was a real challenge for our group, but I thought we recognized things much, much better today."
K-State's bench also played a key role.
About a week after producing zero points in a loss to No. 19/21 West Virginia, the Wildcat reserves combined for six points between an and-one from freshman Emilee Ebert in the second quarter and Simmons' three to close the third. Simmons also dished out four assists, part of K-State's six assists off the bench compared to only two turnovers. As a team, K-State recorded 18 assists, its most since posting 30 on December 3 against Incarnate World, to only eight turnovers, a season-low and its fewest since late last season.
"I thought the bench brought energy. They still are not scoring the ball, but let's start with energy first. Let's start with that," Mittie said. "They made plays."
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