Cats Thankful to See a Different Jersey, Excited for Improvement to Come
Nov 01, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State senior transfer Gabby Gregory scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds and sophomore Brylee Glenn added 15 points as the Wildcats opened their two-game exhibition season with a 74-63 win over Fort Hays State on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
Coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance but playing without All-America center Ayoka Lee, who will recover from surgery this season, the Wildcats unveiled their version of small-ball offense, utilizing multiple lineups steered toward jump shots and 3-point attempts. K-State shot 37.9% (25-of-66) from the floor, including 38.7% (12-of-31) from beyond the arc.
Preseason All-Big 12 guard Serena Sundell had seven points, seven rebounds and eight assists to just two turnovers in 31 minutes. Fellow sophomore Jaeyln Glenn added eight points, four rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes for the Wildcats, who led 34-28 at halftime and then by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter.
K-State head coach Jeff Mittie, who needs just one regular-season victory to reach 600 career wins as a head coach, spoke with reporters following the exhibition game.
What are you initial impressions of the game tonight?
Mittie: It was good to get on the floor against somebody else and get some film to see some things that we can get better at. Like a lot of exhibition games, we played a lot of rotations tonight, and we'll take a look at them to see which ones we end up liking. It's always tough to play a lot of people for both teams, but I thought for an exhibition game, they only had 12 turnovers and we only had 10. That's a pretty clean exhibition game for the most part.
What's the biggest improvement you've seen from the start of practice to now?
Mittie: Honestly, probably our conditioning level in terms of playing at the pace that we're trying to play at and get the shots up. It takes us some time to get that. I feel like we're in a better place there. I liked our early push up the floor. What I thought we struggled with was we took too many guarded shots in stretches and we took some off-balance rushed shots. We have to be able to separate that pace with better poise at the end. That's what we have to get better at from an offensive standpoint.
What did you like best about tonight?
Mittie: You get to see how they respond to another team making a run at them. You don't know what you're going to do and you have to be able to handle those things. I've been in this long enough that exhibition games are what they are, and you don't know what you're going to get. We know we're facing a really good Fort Hays State team. This is a team that was top 5 in the country last year and they're going to be around that top 10-15 mark this year, so we knew we were going to get a good quality-coached team. I was pleased to see our group respond when they made a run at us, and I was pleased to see some players make some big shots.
You started newcomers Sarah Shematsi and Gabby Gregory tonight. What did you like from them in their first game?
Mittie: I thought Gabby was really aggressive. I think she has a great mentality. She in stretches was a little hurried and I think she has to play with poise in those stretches because we're going to get her the ball a lot. I liked her aggressive mentality. Shematsi made two big 3s in the third or fourth quarter. She made some big shots and that was good to see out of her. All in all they were good performances.
How do you feel like players inside stepped up in place of Ayoka Lee?
Mittie: Well, I don't like our defense inside the arc right now. They shot 50% inside the arc. They were 17 of 35 inside the arc. Our interior defense wasn't good enough. We're not making people uncomfortable there. We've got to block some shots. We've got to defend the rim better and we're not doing that well enough. I thought they had moments. I thought Taylor rebounded the ball well with four defensive rebounds in her minutes. I thought Shematsi did some decent things. I thought our guards — Hays does a great job posting up guards, and our guards have to be better there. We weren't physical enough early and didn't have ball pressure, so my concern on the defensive end is inside the arc right now.
You had a small starting lineup. Was that based upon the opponent?
Mittie: I think the centers are going to rotate in, so I don't know who's going to start, but all three centers are going to play and whoever's night it is, is probably going to get a majority of the minutes. Shematsi can stretch it a little bit with the 3s, Heavenly Greer gives us an athletic rebounders, and Taylor Lauterbach gives us more size there. Taylor has a good understanding of the offense. We didn't run this offense a ton last year but we ran pieces of it late in the year so Taylor has been in it. I think we'll definitely be more small ball than we've been in the past.
Eliza Maupin and Ja'Mia Harris saw significant action. What did you like from them?
Mittie: I thought Maupin really gave us some energy with six rebounds and you can see the athletic ability and the activity level. I thought she played really, really well and got a couple and-1s in there. Harris and Emilee Ebert have both been hampered by injuries. They just got back to practice probably 10 days to two weeks ago, so their minutes are limited right now, but they're close to being no restrictions. It was good to see both of them get some minutes.
What's the addition of Gabby mean to this team?
Mittie: Gabby two years ago was one of the leading scorers in the Big 12 and played 36 minutes a game. She had some health things last year that really hampered her and she never really got on track. We have a healthy Gabby Gregory and what you saw tonight wasn't a surprise. I saw it from the other bench. This is a player who can score at all three levels. She brings a swagger and thinks every shot is going in and loves to compete and loves to play, so there's a lot of really good things. Her and the Glenn twins and Serena Sundell with that small ball are really going to be a tough group to defend.
This is the first time we've seen Serena Sundell, Jaeyln Glenn and Brylee Glenn as sophomores. How have you seen them make strides?
Mittie: Jaeyln got into foul trouble early and that hampered her and that's always tough when you're excited for the first game. Her maturity level coming out in the second half and playing better, that's what I told her at the half and told the whole team, whether you had a great first half or a poor first half, maturity — you go out and do your job the second half. I saw that from her tonight. Serena didn't get as many shots tonight. We're going to need to get her more shots, but she did a great job of running the offense tonight and only has two turnovers so she had a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, so there were a lot of good things from her tonight. Brylee is a lot like Gabby. She's aggressive. Something is always happening around Brylee. She's very active.
What's the next step for this team before Friday?
Mittie: We've got to improve our interior defense and our rebounding. We went in knowing people were going to have to rebound and I look at our numbers here and they're simply not good enough. They're not going to be good enough to compete like we want to. They've got to get that message. We did rebound drills for 53 minutes a couple practices ago and apparently 53 didn't get the message. Lot of rebound. Lot of rebound stuff and interior defensive stuff. In fairness to them, that's the area that because we were changing offense and because we were implementing new things, this is the area where we've been most behind. So we need to catch up quickly. At this time of the year, it's not really who you're playing Friday, but it's about us getting better and getting better at the things we need to improve upon. The players will be excited about Friday because they like the games. I'm more excited about practice here in preparation.
Kansas State senior transfer Gabby Gregory scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds and sophomore Brylee Glenn added 15 points as the Wildcats opened their two-game exhibition season with a 74-63 win over Fort Hays State on Monday at Bramlage Coliseum.
Coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance but playing without All-America center Ayoka Lee, who will recover from surgery this season, the Wildcats unveiled their version of small-ball offense, utilizing multiple lineups steered toward jump shots and 3-point attempts. K-State shot 37.9% (25-of-66) from the floor, including 38.7% (12-of-31) from beyond the arc.
Preseason All-Big 12 guard Serena Sundell had seven points, seven rebounds and eight assists to just two turnovers in 31 minutes. Fellow sophomore Jaeyln Glenn added eight points, four rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes for the Wildcats, who led 34-28 at halftime and then by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter.
K-State head coach Jeff Mittie, who needs just one regular-season victory to reach 600 career wins as a head coach, spoke with reporters following the exhibition game.
What are you initial impressions of the game tonight?
Mittie: It was good to get on the floor against somebody else and get some film to see some things that we can get better at. Like a lot of exhibition games, we played a lot of rotations tonight, and we'll take a look at them to see which ones we end up liking. It's always tough to play a lot of people for both teams, but I thought for an exhibition game, they only had 12 turnovers and we only had 10. That's a pretty clean exhibition game for the most part.
What's the biggest improvement you've seen from the start of practice to now?
Mittie: Honestly, probably our conditioning level in terms of playing at the pace that we're trying to play at and get the shots up. It takes us some time to get that. I feel like we're in a better place there. I liked our early push up the floor. What I thought we struggled with was we took too many guarded shots in stretches and we took some off-balance rushed shots. We have to be able to separate that pace with better poise at the end. That's what we have to get better at from an offensive standpoint.
What did you like best about tonight?
Mittie: You get to see how they respond to another team making a run at them. You don't know what you're going to do and you have to be able to handle those things. I've been in this long enough that exhibition games are what they are, and you don't know what you're going to get. We know we're facing a really good Fort Hays State team. This is a team that was top 5 in the country last year and they're going to be around that top 10-15 mark this year, so we knew we were going to get a good quality-coached team. I was pleased to see our group respond when they made a run at us, and I was pleased to see some players make some big shots.
You started newcomers Sarah Shematsi and Gabby Gregory tonight. What did you like from them in their first game?
Mittie: I thought Gabby was really aggressive. I think she has a great mentality. She in stretches was a little hurried and I think she has to play with poise in those stretches because we're going to get her the ball a lot. I liked her aggressive mentality. Shematsi made two big 3s in the third or fourth quarter. She made some big shots and that was good to see out of her. All in all they were good performances.
How do you feel like players inside stepped up in place of Ayoka Lee?
Mittie: Well, I don't like our defense inside the arc right now. They shot 50% inside the arc. They were 17 of 35 inside the arc. Our interior defense wasn't good enough. We're not making people uncomfortable there. We've got to block some shots. We've got to defend the rim better and we're not doing that well enough. I thought they had moments. I thought Taylor rebounded the ball well with four defensive rebounds in her minutes. I thought Shematsi did some decent things. I thought our guards — Hays does a great job posting up guards, and our guards have to be better there. We weren't physical enough early and didn't have ball pressure, so my concern on the defensive end is inside the arc right now.
You had a small starting lineup. Was that based upon the opponent?
Mittie: I think the centers are going to rotate in, so I don't know who's going to start, but all three centers are going to play and whoever's night it is, is probably going to get a majority of the minutes. Shematsi can stretch it a little bit with the 3s, Heavenly Greer gives us an athletic rebounders, and Taylor Lauterbach gives us more size there. Taylor has a good understanding of the offense. We didn't run this offense a ton last year but we ran pieces of it late in the year so Taylor has been in it. I think we'll definitely be more small ball than we've been in the past.
Eliza Maupin and Ja'Mia Harris saw significant action. What did you like from them?
Mittie: I thought Maupin really gave us some energy with six rebounds and you can see the athletic ability and the activity level. I thought she played really, really well and got a couple and-1s in there. Harris and Emilee Ebert have both been hampered by injuries. They just got back to practice probably 10 days to two weeks ago, so their minutes are limited right now, but they're close to being no restrictions. It was good to see both of them get some minutes.
What's the addition of Gabby mean to this team?
Mittie: Gabby two years ago was one of the leading scorers in the Big 12 and played 36 minutes a game. She had some health things last year that really hampered her and she never really got on track. We have a healthy Gabby Gregory and what you saw tonight wasn't a surprise. I saw it from the other bench. This is a player who can score at all three levels. She brings a swagger and thinks every shot is going in and loves to compete and loves to play, so there's a lot of really good things. Her and the Glenn twins and Serena Sundell with that small ball are really going to be a tough group to defend.
This is the first time we've seen Serena Sundell, Jaeyln Glenn and Brylee Glenn as sophomores. How have you seen them make strides?
Mittie: Jaeyln got into foul trouble early and that hampered her and that's always tough when you're excited for the first game. Her maturity level coming out in the second half and playing better, that's what I told her at the half and told the whole team, whether you had a great first half or a poor first half, maturity — you go out and do your job the second half. I saw that from her tonight. Serena didn't get as many shots tonight. We're going to need to get her more shots, but she did a great job of running the offense tonight and only has two turnovers so she had a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, so there were a lot of good things from her tonight. Brylee is a lot like Gabby. She's aggressive. Something is always happening around Brylee. She's very active.
What's the next step for this team before Friday?
Mittie: We've got to improve our interior defense and our rebounding. We went in knowing people were going to have to rebound and I look at our numbers here and they're simply not good enough. They're not going to be good enough to compete like we want to. They've got to get that message. We did rebound drills for 53 minutes a couple practices ago and apparently 53 didn't get the message. Lot of rebound. Lot of rebound stuff and interior defensive stuff. In fairness to them, that's the area that because we were changing offense and because we were implementing new things, this is the area where we've been most behind. So we need to catch up quickly. At this time of the year, it's not really who you're playing Friday, but it's about us getting better and getting better at the things we need to improve upon. The players will be excited about Friday because they like the games. I'm more excited about practice here in preparation.
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