Kansas State University Athletics
Monday, December 14
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
5-2,0-0Big 12
74
vs
57
Kansas City
3-2,0-0Summit League
1
2
3
4
F
Kansas City
20
19
9
9
57
Kansas St.
15
22
25
12
74
Lee Powers K-State Past Kansas City
Dec 14, 2020 | Women's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kansas – Sophomore center and All-America candidate Ayoka Lee registered her first double-double of the season and K-State put together a high-scoring third quarter to overcome a halftime deficit on Monday night, as the Wildcats ended non-conference action with a 74-57 win over Kansas City in Bramlage Coliseum. With the win, K-State head coach Jeff Mittie registered his 575th career victory in his 29 seasons as a head coach.
Lee finished the game with a career-high 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting, a season-high 14 rebounds and two blocks. This was the 20th career double-double of Lee's career, as she ranks ninth in school history for career double-doubles. She was the 13th time a K-State player registered a double-double with 30 or more points and 10 or more rebounds.
"Coming into the third quarter, our guards moved the ball so well, it kind of did make it a little bit easier for me just because their defense couldn't recover very quickly," said Lee about her scoring production. "I definitely credit the guards for that because they moved the ball really well."
With the two blocks, Lee became the fastest player in program history with 100 career blocks and the eighth player to reach the century mark.
After trailing by two at halftime, 39-37, K-State (5-2) scored a season-high 25 points in the third quarter and shot 53.3 percent (8-of-15). The Wildcat defense was also strong, holding the Roos to a 15.4 percent (2-of-13) effort from the field in the third frame.
The Wildcats went to Lee to begin the third quarter, as she scored the first eight points for the Wildcats all on layups. K-State would outscore the Roos in the first five minutes of the third frame, 13-3.
"There's no doubt, at half I told the team, we better find a way in the paint and everybody had to be committed to that, and if you weren't you weren't going to play a whole lot, it was as simple as that," said Mittie about the team's emphasis in the third quarter.
Emilee Ebert connected on her second 3-pointer of the game to improve the K-State lead to 48-42 and then was followed by a pair of free throws from Jada Moore for K-State's largest lead through the first 25 minutes, 50-42. Ebert finished the night with a career-high 12 points, while also pulling in five rebounds and handing out four assists.
"I think we need her aggressiveness, when she's aggressive, I think good things happen with that," said Mittie about Ebert's play. "She has a nice feel for passing the basketball, she has a good feel for where the basketball needs to go, but if you're tentative and not a threat to score, those windows get smaller. They sagged off her some, and tonight I thought her aggressiveness and her mentality coming out was pretty good."
Lee would score register another layup to increase the K-State lead to 10, 52-42, with 4:12 remaining. After Kansas City (3-2) cut the deficit to seven, Christianna Carr buried a pair of three-pointers in the final two-and a half minutes to give the Wildcats a 62-48 lead.
In the fourth quarter, K-State's defense held Kansas City to nine points and a 17.6 percent (3-of-17) effort from the field.
K-State held a 13-7 lead early in the first quarter, but Kansas City rallied with a 13-2 run to hold a 20-15 lead at the end of the opening stanza. Laura Macke came off the bench to provide the Wildcats with two points, five rebounds and an assist.
The Wildcats trailed the Roos by seven, 27-20, but Lee would score nine straight points for K-State including a 7-of-8 effort from the foul line. Lee would score 11 points in the second quarter and 17 points in the first half.
K-State and Kansas City would exchange the lead five times in the last three minutes of the second quarter, as the Roos would hold a two-point lead, 39-37, at halftime on a Naomie Alnatas three-pointer with 15 seconds to play in the quarter.
For the night, K-State shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field and were a season-best 73.1 percent (19-of-26) from the free throw line. Kansas City shot 30.2 percent (19-of-63) from the field.
The Wildcats dominated the glass with a 57-33 advantage. This was a season-high for rebounds for K-State and were the most since hauling in 64 at TCU on February 1, 2020. K-State used a season-high 23 offensive rebounds to tally a 23-12 edge in second chance points.
K-State will begin its 2020-21 Big 12 schedule on Friday night at 6 p.m., as the Wildcats travel to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State. This is the earliest start to a league season for K-State in program history.
Friday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Well I think it was a decent performance by us. We still aren't shooting the ball well, I think that is my biggest concern right now. Coming in at 36%, until we get our ball movement better, and our shot selection, that is going to be a struggle for us. I'm not sure that that is going to be a point of emphasis, and it continues to be a point of emphasis at some point those things have to get better. We missed a lot of easy ones tonight. A lot of easy ones in the paint, guards in particular. This was the best 3rd quarter we've had, Kansas City comes in, they're a hot team, they come off hitting 15 threes. We don't do a very good job of cooling them off in the first half, but the second half we did an excellent job of cooling them off, and playing much smarter and better."
On the difference between the halves...
"I thought we had great energy most of the night quite honestly. I don't think that was an energy issue early in the game. I think it was a commitment to what we were talking about. A commitment to getting to the arc, a commitment to playing early, and getting them off the line. And recognizing that you have a hot shooter. I thought our energy was good, I thought we had legs early, the pace of the game was really fast early in this game. I think our commitment to doing things better in the 2nd half was much better."
On if there was a focus to get the ball to Ayoka Lee in the 2nd half...
"There's no doubt, at half I told the team, we better find a way in the paint and everybody had to be committed to that, and if you weren't you weren't going to play a whole lot, it was as simple as that. We have to be a better team in that area, sometimes we have success inside and we go away from that. We have to do those things better, and have an awareness of who's hot. Same thing for three point shooters, the things that we have to do better are when somebody hits a three, we have to do our best as a group to find that player again. Those are areas quite honestly that we have a lot of growing up to do as a team."
On Ebert's performance and future...
"I think we need her aggressiveness, when she's aggressive, I think good things happen with that. She has a nice feel for passing the basketball, she has a good feel for where the basketball needs to go, but if you're tentative and not a threat to score, those windows get smaller. They sagged off her some, and tonight I thought her aggressiveness and her mentality coming out was pretty good."
On if they shot too many 3's in the first half...
"Yes I do, and I think we are still shooting too many threes in stretches still. I think that it;s an area that we have talked about wanting to be better at. We knew coming out of last year that Lee was going to attract a lot of attention. So we a=worked hard to hopefully surround her with better three-point shooters. I think where our shooters have trouble is that they think every shot is going in. If it's not your night, find a different way to contribute. Sometimes our numbers it's hard to tell a shooter not to shoot, Sydney is struggling right now, but we got to do different things and you saw that with eight assists tonight. But yes, I would like to see that number get around 33-34% of our possessions are a better number for us."
On the defensive changes made at halftime...
"Well I thought our defense was much better. I think that we were capable of starting the game like that. I just did not see the commitment to get to the arc like we talked about for this game. Second half was much better, I mean obviously they cooled down a little bit, but they did not have as many open looks as they had in the first half. And I think that they did not have as many in-rhythm looks as they got in the first half. If you do that,m over time generally good things happen for your defense."
On having some extra time to rest before the next game...
"No there will not be a celebration, I'll ll go home like I always do and grab a bite to eat. Players will get a little bit of rest tomorrow and then get ready for conference play. We have two games before the Christmas break and we want to finish strong. It's different this year with conference play being at the end of December, but I know our group is excited to get through this stretch. Chrissy played limited minutes tonight, because of the calf injury. I got her out with about eight minutes left in the 4th. And I was going to put her back in but we extended the lead, so then there wasn't a need to get her back in. So I am hopeful that she will be 100% coming out of this with some rest. Hopefully Lee will be good, we kept her at 26 minutes tonight, I think that she is closer to 100% I think that she will be able to pugs into the 30's going forward."
On how comfortable they feel going into conference play...
"Comfortable would not be the right word, I would say that i am glad to get through this stretch, it's been a lot of basketball in a short amount of time. The way the schedule fell this year, you just did not have a whole lot of choices, and because of the unknown, I'm pleased that we got through this stretch. I'm pleased we are playing better basketball, we're playing better basketball than we were at the beginning of the stretch. We have been able to play some players that had significant time off, they had to get into shape through this stretch, and I think we have our legs under us better than we did. I think those are a couple of positives."
On coaching against former assistants and players...
"I can't say I enjoy it, you're wanting them to have success. Yet every shot they took tonight I wanted to miss. That is not one of the things I enjoy. I enjoy their success, they were both fantastic for us here. We will be rooting for them the rest of the way but I;ve never enjoyed that as a coach. Over the years I've gone against former assistants and former players on the bench. You're always rooting for them.it's good to see them but it's more fun to see them on the road recruiting, than it is going head-to-head tonight."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On if it was as easy as it looked during her career-high night …
"Yeah, I think at times, especially coming into the third quarter our guards moved the ball so well it kind of did make it a little bit easier for me just because their defense couldn't recover very quickly. I definitely credit the guards for that because they moved the ball really well.
On if she feels extra pressure when coming back onto the court if the team is struggling…
"I think if anything it just makes me excited to get back on the court. I don't really know about pressure because I think I have confidence in my teammates the whole time and knew that we would get back to the scouting report and what we needed to do to get back up."
On if Kansas City's high-tempo style of play was frustrating …
"Good question. I don't really think it's frustrating. I think the games that we have played before this have definitely prepared me, especially as a big, for their style of play because they do like to stretch the floor. I think Coach Mittie said post-ups was like five percent of their offense. But I definitely think playing SDSU and our last game, they stretch the floor, too, so I think those games definitely prepared me for it."
On if it is more difficult to play against that style during a stretch with so many games…
"It's definitely different. It's not my favorite thing to do but you just have to go out there and play basketball. That's something Coach Mittie has pushed since the first day I got here. So, it's not my favorite but we go out there and get the job done."
EMILEE EBERT, SOPHOMORE GUARD
On her confidence with her offensive game after a career-high point total …
"I am feeling pretty confident. The team is starting to mesh well together, we are moving the ball a lot better, so things are starting to flow and get in the rhythm of things."
On her mentality on the defensive end …
"My mentality is just to do my job. I know what I'm supposed to do, so I just go out there and do it. My job's to not let them score, so I am not going to do that."
On if the coaches want her to shoot more and where they assess her game right now …
"They're always telling me to shoot the ball; shoot when you're open and shoot with confidence. I am looking to get the team the ball, I'll shoot when I'm open but I'll probably look to pass first."
On how to use tonight to build on offensive consistency …
"It helps build my confidence. We played well as a team and the ball movement was great, that led to opportunities for me to have open shots. We are just playing really good as a team, so that helps a lot."
Lee finished the game with a career-high 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting, a season-high 14 rebounds and two blocks. This was the 20th career double-double of Lee's career, as she ranks ninth in school history for career double-doubles. She was the 13th time a K-State player registered a double-double with 30 or more points and 10 or more rebounds.
"Coming into the third quarter, our guards moved the ball so well, it kind of did make it a little bit easier for me just because their defense couldn't recover very quickly," said Lee about her scoring production. "I definitely credit the guards for that because they moved the ball really well."
With the two blocks, Lee became the fastest player in program history with 100 career blocks and the eighth player to reach the century mark.
After trailing by two at halftime, 39-37, K-State (5-2) scored a season-high 25 points in the third quarter and shot 53.3 percent (8-of-15). The Wildcat defense was also strong, holding the Roos to a 15.4 percent (2-of-13) effort from the field in the third frame.
The Wildcats went to Lee to begin the third quarter, as she scored the first eight points for the Wildcats all on layups. K-State would outscore the Roos in the first five minutes of the third frame, 13-3.
"There's no doubt, at half I told the team, we better find a way in the paint and everybody had to be committed to that, and if you weren't you weren't going to play a whole lot, it was as simple as that," said Mittie about the team's emphasis in the third quarter.
Emilee Ebert connected on her second 3-pointer of the game to improve the K-State lead to 48-42 and then was followed by a pair of free throws from Jada Moore for K-State's largest lead through the first 25 minutes, 50-42. Ebert finished the night with a career-high 12 points, while also pulling in five rebounds and handing out four assists.
"I think we need her aggressiveness, when she's aggressive, I think good things happen with that," said Mittie about Ebert's play. "She has a nice feel for passing the basketball, she has a good feel for where the basketball needs to go, but if you're tentative and not a threat to score, those windows get smaller. They sagged off her some, and tonight I thought her aggressiveness and her mentality coming out was pretty good."
Lee would score register another layup to increase the K-State lead to 10, 52-42, with 4:12 remaining. After Kansas City (3-2) cut the deficit to seven, Christianna Carr buried a pair of three-pointers in the final two-and a half minutes to give the Wildcats a 62-48 lead.
In the fourth quarter, K-State's defense held Kansas City to nine points and a 17.6 percent (3-of-17) effort from the field.
K-State held a 13-7 lead early in the first quarter, but Kansas City rallied with a 13-2 run to hold a 20-15 lead at the end of the opening stanza. Laura Macke came off the bench to provide the Wildcats with two points, five rebounds and an assist.
The Wildcats trailed the Roos by seven, 27-20, but Lee would score nine straight points for K-State including a 7-of-8 effort from the foul line. Lee would score 11 points in the second quarter and 17 points in the first half.
K-State and Kansas City would exchange the lead five times in the last three minutes of the second quarter, as the Roos would hold a two-point lead, 39-37, at halftime on a Naomie Alnatas three-pointer with 15 seconds to play in the quarter.
For the night, K-State shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field and were a season-best 73.1 percent (19-of-26) from the free throw line. Kansas City shot 30.2 percent (19-of-63) from the field.
The Wildcats dominated the glass with a 57-33 advantage. This was a season-high for rebounds for K-State and were the most since hauling in 64 at TCU on February 1, 2020. K-State used a season-high 23 offensive rebounds to tally a 23-12 edge in second chance points.
K-State will begin its 2020-21 Big 12 schedule on Friday night at 6 p.m., as the Wildcats travel to Ames, Iowa, to face Iowa State. This is the earliest start to a league season for K-State in program history.
Friday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be available on the K-State Sports Network and for free at kstatesports.com.
What They Said
JEFF MITTIE, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Well I think it was a decent performance by us. We still aren't shooting the ball well, I think that is my biggest concern right now. Coming in at 36%, until we get our ball movement better, and our shot selection, that is going to be a struggle for us. I'm not sure that that is going to be a point of emphasis, and it continues to be a point of emphasis at some point those things have to get better. We missed a lot of easy ones tonight. A lot of easy ones in the paint, guards in particular. This was the best 3rd quarter we've had, Kansas City comes in, they're a hot team, they come off hitting 15 threes. We don't do a very good job of cooling them off in the first half, but the second half we did an excellent job of cooling them off, and playing much smarter and better."
On the difference between the halves...
"I thought we had great energy most of the night quite honestly. I don't think that was an energy issue early in the game. I think it was a commitment to what we were talking about. A commitment to getting to the arc, a commitment to playing early, and getting them off the line. And recognizing that you have a hot shooter. I thought our energy was good, I thought we had legs early, the pace of the game was really fast early in this game. I think our commitment to doing things better in the 2nd half was much better."
On if there was a focus to get the ball to Ayoka Lee in the 2nd half...
"There's no doubt, at half I told the team, we better find a way in the paint and everybody had to be committed to that, and if you weren't you weren't going to play a whole lot, it was as simple as that. We have to be a better team in that area, sometimes we have success inside and we go away from that. We have to do those things better, and have an awareness of who's hot. Same thing for three point shooters, the things that we have to do better are when somebody hits a three, we have to do our best as a group to find that player again. Those are areas quite honestly that we have a lot of growing up to do as a team."
On Ebert's performance and future...
"I think we need her aggressiveness, when she's aggressive, I think good things happen with that. She has a nice feel for passing the basketball, she has a good feel for where the basketball needs to go, but if you're tentative and not a threat to score, those windows get smaller. They sagged off her some, and tonight I thought her aggressiveness and her mentality coming out was pretty good."
On if they shot too many 3's in the first half...
"Yes I do, and I think we are still shooting too many threes in stretches still. I think that it;s an area that we have talked about wanting to be better at. We knew coming out of last year that Lee was going to attract a lot of attention. So we a=worked hard to hopefully surround her with better three-point shooters. I think where our shooters have trouble is that they think every shot is going in. If it's not your night, find a different way to contribute. Sometimes our numbers it's hard to tell a shooter not to shoot, Sydney is struggling right now, but we got to do different things and you saw that with eight assists tonight. But yes, I would like to see that number get around 33-34% of our possessions are a better number for us."
On the defensive changes made at halftime...
"Well I thought our defense was much better. I think that we were capable of starting the game like that. I just did not see the commitment to get to the arc like we talked about for this game. Second half was much better, I mean obviously they cooled down a little bit, but they did not have as many open looks as they had in the first half. And I think that they did not have as many in-rhythm looks as they got in the first half. If you do that,m over time generally good things happen for your defense."
On having some extra time to rest before the next game...
"No there will not be a celebration, I'll ll go home like I always do and grab a bite to eat. Players will get a little bit of rest tomorrow and then get ready for conference play. We have two games before the Christmas break and we want to finish strong. It's different this year with conference play being at the end of December, but I know our group is excited to get through this stretch. Chrissy played limited minutes tonight, because of the calf injury. I got her out with about eight minutes left in the 4th. And I was going to put her back in but we extended the lead, so then there wasn't a need to get her back in. So I am hopeful that she will be 100% coming out of this with some rest. Hopefully Lee will be good, we kept her at 26 minutes tonight, I think that she is closer to 100% I think that she will be able to pugs into the 30's going forward."
On how comfortable they feel going into conference play...
"Comfortable would not be the right word, I would say that i am glad to get through this stretch, it's been a lot of basketball in a short amount of time. The way the schedule fell this year, you just did not have a whole lot of choices, and because of the unknown, I'm pleased that we got through this stretch. I'm pleased we are playing better basketball, we're playing better basketball than we were at the beginning of the stretch. We have been able to play some players that had significant time off, they had to get into shape through this stretch, and I think we have our legs under us better than we did. I think those are a couple of positives."
On coaching against former assistants and players...
"I can't say I enjoy it, you're wanting them to have success. Yet every shot they took tonight I wanted to miss. That is not one of the things I enjoy. I enjoy their success, they were both fantastic for us here. We will be rooting for them the rest of the way but I;ve never enjoyed that as a coach. Over the years I've gone against former assistants and former players on the bench. You're always rooting for them.it's good to see them but it's more fun to see them on the road recruiting, than it is going head-to-head tonight."
AYOKA LEE, SOPHOMORE CENTER
On if it was as easy as it looked during her career-high night …
"Yeah, I think at times, especially coming into the third quarter our guards moved the ball so well it kind of did make it a little bit easier for me just because their defense couldn't recover very quickly. I definitely credit the guards for that because they moved the ball really well.
On if she feels extra pressure when coming back onto the court if the team is struggling…
"I think if anything it just makes me excited to get back on the court. I don't really know about pressure because I think I have confidence in my teammates the whole time and knew that we would get back to the scouting report and what we needed to do to get back up."
On if Kansas City's high-tempo style of play was frustrating …
"Good question. I don't really think it's frustrating. I think the games that we have played before this have definitely prepared me, especially as a big, for their style of play because they do like to stretch the floor. I think Coach Mittie said post-ups was like five percent of their offense. But I definitely think playing SDSU and our last game, they stretch the floor, too, so I think those games definitely prepared me for it."
On if it is more difficult to play against that style during a stretch with so many games…
"It's definitely different. It's not my favorite thing to do but you just have to go out there and play basketball. That's something Coach Mittie has pushed since the first day I got here. So, it's not my favorite but we go out there and get the job done."
EMILEE EBERT, SOPHOMORE GUARD
On her confidence with her offensive game after a career-high point total …
"I am feeling pretty confident. The team is starting to mesh well together, we are moving the ball a lot better, so things are starting to flow and get in the rhythm of things."
On her mentality on the defensive end …
"My mentality is just to do my job. I know what I'm supposed to do, so I just go out there and do it. My job's to not let them score, so I am not going to do that."
On if the coaches want her to shoot more and where they assess her game right now …
"They're always telling me to shoot the ball; shoot when you're open and shoot with confidence. I am looking to get the team the ball, I'll shoot when I'm open but I'll probably look to pass first."
On how to use tonight to build on offensive consistency …
"It helps build my confidence. We played well as a team and the ball movement was great, that led to opportunities for me to have open shots. We are just playing really good as a team, so that helps a lot."
Cats Win!
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) December 15, 2020
K-State wins its third in a row behind 31 points & 14 rebounds by Ayoka Lee. Emilee Ebert added 12 points, 4 rebounds & 4 assists. #KStateWBB x Honor The Journey pic.twitter.com/VhUtiGjrhz
💯 Career Blocks
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) December 15, 2020
☝️ Ayoka Lee #KStateWBB x @Yokie50 pic.twitter.com/YU5498jBz2
That's a new career high for Ayoka Lee with 25 points!
— K-State Women's Basketball (@KStateWBB) December 15, 2020
The Cats have outscored Kansas City 13-3 in the quarter. #KStateWBB 50
Kansas City 42
4:41 | 3Q pic.twitter.com/SuumyihhRW
Team Stats
KC
KState
FG%
.302
.369
3FG%
.242
.233
FT%
.647
.731
RB
33
57
TO
10
13
STL
7
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
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