A Good Week for the Wildcats
Nov 21, 2023 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Four days after Kansas State toppled No. 2 Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, to tie for its highest-ranked win since the Wildcats beat No. 2 Old Dominion on December 4, 1982, the Wildcats were rewarded in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
K-State debuted at No. 16 in the poll, released Monday.
Almost one year to the day that the Wildcats stunned then-No. 4 Iowa State in Manhattan, they slayed the defending national runner-up Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 65-58, in front of a hushed crowd of 14,998 that saw K-State and star Ayoka Lee — not defending National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark — steal the show.
Lee had 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added two blocks as K-State became the first Division I women's program in the last 25 years to be unranked and defeat the same AP top-5 team in consecutive seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Wildcats, 4-0, then handed Wisconsin, 3-1, a 75-57 thumping on Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum.
"This has been a really good week for us," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said after the win over the Badgers. "When you have the emotional victory on Thursday night and you have a turnaround and read all your press clippings and read social media, you have to be careful to get back in there – and that's the world we're in right now – but we have a good group.
"I had to get on them a little bit early in practice (on Saturday), but they responded right away. I thought it was a really good performance after what has been a really good week for us."
Monday marked the highest debut in the AP Top 25 for the Wildcats since they entered the poll at No. 5 in the 2003-04 preseason poll. Monday also marked the highest that the Wildcats have been ranked in the poll since they were also ranked 16th in Week 14 of the poll in 2008-09.
K-State was ranked 25th for three weeks in 2021-22 and was ranked for two weeks last season at 25th and 24th, respectively.
The Wildcats' success this early in the season could be attributed to one key word: Belief.
"That day (at Iowa) my mindset was, 'This is just another game',' but also I was just so grateful to even have the opportunity to play there and to play in front of so many fans," said Lee, a 2021-22 All-American who missed last season after knee surgery. "Our strength coach prior to the game said, 'Yokie, this is why you came back,' and that's absolutely true — for moments to play with my teammates.
"Just the whole day I knew this was an amazing opportunity for us to not only play there but to know we could come in there and win. We just had to stay the course for 40 minutes and that's what we did. Those last couple minutes I was like, 'We're doing the dang thing.'"
Asked when it all sank in that K-State had defeated Iowa, Mittie replied, "I felt like we were going to beat them going in there."
"I felt like we'd have every opportunity to beat them," he continued. "You don't know how it's going to work out, but we had a meeting that morning. I told the assistants, 'You have your recruiting lists ready because when we beat Iowa tonight, I want to be on the phone with as many recruits as possible.' Surprise isn't the word.
"When it sunk in was just walking off the floor and saying we got it done. We came here to do this, and we got it done. It was pretty quick."
K-State has a busy week coming up. It will play three games in three days at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida. The Wildcats will play Western Kentucky at 10 a.m. Friday. Then they play either North Carolina or Vermont on Saturday and an opponent from the other half of the bracket of either Iowa, Florida Gulf Coast, Delaware or Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday.
The Wildcats now might have to adjust to being "the hunted" but…
"I don't know if we even think about it that way," senior guard Gabby Gregory said. "Just playing at K-State, no matter who you're playing, I think they have it out to beat you. They want to give us their best game, even more so now that we beat Iowa at Iowa, which is extremely tough to do. So, even more people are going to give us their best game.
"I don't think it matters. If we play our game, we can play with anybody."
Mittie believes his squad has the DNA to be a consistent competitor in any contest.
"Every team and every player needs to be reminded of what they've done to be successful and don't stop doing that," he said. "So many times in our world we reach a certain point and we reach success, and we stop doing the things that made us successful.
"I reference numerous times this team has been in the gym more as a team than any team I've coached here. They need to continue to do that."
Their hard work during the summer and early season certainly paid off in Iowa City.
"I don't know if it gets better," Lee said. "I mean, it gets better than that later in the season, but to have that kind of experience early on, that's just so memorable for us."
Four days after Kansas State toppled No. 2 Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, to tie for its highest-ranked win since the Wildcats beat No. 2 Old Dominion on December 4, 1982, the Wildcats were rewarded in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
K-State debuted at No. 16 in the poll, released Monday.
Almost one year to the day that the Wildcats stunned then-No. 4 Iowa State in Manhattan, they slayed the defending national runner-up Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 65-58, in front of a hushed crowd of 14,998 that saw K-State and star Ayoka Lee — not defending National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark — steal the show.
Lee had 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added two blocks as K-State became the first Division I women's program in the last 25 years to be unranked and defeat the same AP top-5 team in consecutive seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Wildcats, 4-0, then handed Wisconsin, 3-1, a 75-57 thumping on Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum.
"This has been a really good week for us," K-State head coach Jeff Mittie said after the win over the Badgers. "When you have the emotional victory on Thursday night and you have a turnaround and read all your press clippings and read social media, you have to be careful to get back in there – and that's the world we're in right now – but we have a good group.
"I had to get on them a little bit early in practice (on Saturday), but they responded right away. I thought it was a really good performance after what has been a really good week for us."
Monday marked the highest debut in the AP Top 25 for the Wildcats since they entered the poll at No. 5 in the 2003-04 preseason poll. Monday also marked the highest that the Wildcats have been ranked in the poll since they were also ranked 16th in Week 14 of the poll in 2008-09.
K-State was ranked 25th for three weeks in 2021-22 and was ranked for two weeks last season at 25th and 24th, respectively.
The Wildcats' success this early in the season could be attributed to one key word: Belief.
"That day (at Iowa) my mindset was, 'This is just another game',' but also I was just so grateful to even have the opportunity to play there and to play in front of so many fans," said Lee, a 2021-22 All-American who missed last season after knee surgery. "Our strength coach prior to the game said, 'Yokie, this is why you came back,' and that's absolutely true — for moments to play with my teammates.
"Just the whole day I knew this was an amazing opportunity for us to not only play there but to know we could come in there and win. We just had to stay the course for 40 minutes and that's what we did. Those last couple minutes I was like, 'We're doing the dang thing.'"
Asked when it all sank in that K-State had defeated Iowa, Mittie replied, "I felt like we were going to beat them going in there."
"I felt like we'd have every opportunity to beat them," he continued. "You don't know how it's going to work out, but we had a meeting that morning. I told the assistants, 'You have your recruiting lists ready because when we beat Iowa tonight, I want to be on the phone with as many recruits as possible.' Surprise isn't the word.
"When it sunk in was just walking off the floor and saying we got it done. We came here to do this, and we got it done. It was pretty quick."
K-State has a busy week coming up. It will play three games in three days at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida. The Wildcats will play Western Kentucky at 10 a.m. Friday. Then they play either North Carolina or Vermont on Saturday and an opponent from the other half of the bracket of either Iowa, Florida Gulf Coast, Delaware or Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday.
The Wildcats now might have to adjust to being "the hunted" but…
"I don't know if we even think about it that way," senior guard Gabby Gregory said. "Just playing at K-State, no matter who you're playing, I think they have it out to beat you. They want to give us their best game, even more so now that we beat Iowa at Iowa, which is extremely tough to do. So, even more people are going to give us their best game.
"I don't think it matters. If we play our game, we can play with anybody."
Mittie believes his squad has the DNA to be a consistent competitor in any contest.
"Every team and every player needs to be reminded of what they've done to be successful and don't stop doing that," he said. "So many times in our world we reach a certain point and we reach success, and we stop doing the things that made us successful.
"I reference numerous times this team has been in the gym more as a team than any team I've coached here. They need to continue to do that."
Their hard work during the summer and early season certainly paid off in Iowa City.
"I don't know if it gets better," Lee said. "I mean, it gets better than that later in the season, but to have that kind of experience early on, that's just so memorable for us."
Players Mentioned
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