SE: Do-It-All Ebert Helps Cats to Fast Start

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Every team needs a "glue player." That brings us to the story of Emilee Ebert. One night she scores 16 points. Another night she has 8 rebounds. Assists? She has 41 so far this season. That ranks 10^th in the Big 12 Conference. She has just 13 turnovers. That's a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. And that ranks second in the conference.

Not bad for the 6-foot Ebert, who switched from shooting guard to more of a power forward role this season.

"She's a smart kid," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie says. "We can put her almost anywhere on the floor. She's a glue kid. We thought the middle of the floor would be good for her with the high-low spot with Ayoka Lee. She's found a really good rhythm and her confidence level is pretty high."

Her blend of talents will be on display again when K-State, 9-2, meets No. 23 Oregon, 6-3, on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum. K-State is off to its best start through 11 games since 2016-17 and will host a Pac-12 opponent for the first time since 2009.

Ebert, the only player to start all 27 games last season, came off the bench during the first seven games of this season while she adjusted to her role as an inside player. After a breakout 12-point, 14-rebound, 6-assist, 2-steal performance against Northwestern State on November 27, Ebert has assumed a starting spot over the past four games against North Dakota State, No. 1 South Carolina, Omaha and South Dakota State.

She's scored 23 points, added 14 rebounds, and has 17 assists and just 1 turnover over that four-game stretch.

She's the glue player. She's the player that every team needs.

"I take a lot of pride in that," she says. "I've definitely seen myself grow as a leader in a lot of ways and it's really important for me to be someone who can contribute to our team. I just want to give my teammates the best I have. Playing inside has definitely been different. I feel like myself and the rest of the team have transitioned really well. We're just meshing really well."

The adjustment began prior to the season. That's when Mittie decided to move Ebert inside.

"Before our first exhibition game, Coach Mittie pulled me aside and said, 'I might have to play you inside at the four (position)," Ebert says. "I just told him, 'Whatever you need me to do I'm going to try and give it my best.'"

Now it seems like Ebert is hitting her stride. She's averaging 6.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 21.3 minutes per game. Her first career double-double against Northwestern State marked the first double-double in three years by a K-State player when coming off the bench.

"She's playing at a higher level," Mittie said. "She's making really good decisions with the basketball. Her assist-to-turnover ratio has been fantastic, and her rebounding numbers have gone way up. Defenses are mixing man-to-man and zone, and she's finding a good rhythm in the middle of zones. Her play has really improved."

Her inside presence has paid dividends for 6-foot-6 Lee, who is the only player in the nation to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks this season.

"It's been an adjustment for her but it's a part of her game that she already had," Lee says. "She just wasn't always down there so she didn't use that as much. She's done very well and had grown into it really well. She's able to hit shots from anywhere on the floor. She's good at filling roles to the best of her ability.

"She's very good at making adjustments in games, adjusting to how the defense is playing on me and how the defense is playing her. When teams play zone and sag off, she knows the middle is wide open and she's in that spot and she passes really well."

Ebert has experience playing all over the floor — just not at the Division I level. A native of Frankfort, Kansas, and a basketball coach's daughter, Emilee was in the gym at an early age watching her father, Brian, serve as head coach at Frankfurt High School. It forged a special bond between father and daughter.

"It was amazing," Emilee says. "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. My dad and I have a very special relationship because I grew up doing the same thing every day. It was amazing. Being a coach's kid in a small town, it was perfect for me. I was the ultimate gym rat from the very beginning. I was very young and was at his games right away. Dribbling balls at practice. I felt like I had 14 older brothers. It was awesome."

Eventually, Ebert set the Frankfort school record with 1,648 career points and was a four-time Kansas Basketball Coaches Association honoree and was a McDonald's All-American nominee. However, she was lightly recruited. She received between nine and 11 offers from mid-major schools. Her finalists were Missouri State and Omaha.

Then she received a phone call that changed the game. K-State had an opening on its roster for the 2019-20 season. She arrived in Manhattan the following week. She played in 24 games as a true freshman.

"Coming to K-State was a very fast process but it was in God's hands, and I knew at that point that this was where I was supposed to be," she says. "The culture here is definitely about family. That's the first thing that comes to mind. When you think of K-State you think of family. It's very true. Everyone here is all about family."

And Ebert is emerging as one of the main members in the women's basketball family.

"I definitely want to keep a solid assist-to-turnover ratio," she says. "That's what I love to do — pass the ball. For me, just keeping that at a good place is my biggest goal. I don't really set a lot of personal goals because that's not what I'm all about. We want to win the conference and win the Big 12 and go to the NCAA Tournament.

"We have big goals as a team and whatever I need to do help our team get there I'm going to do."

She's the glue player. Every team needs one.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Emilee Ebert

Ayoka Lee

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